State and Society on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution

1. New political ideas in the Early Modern era

   1. Europe and its empires

      1. Emergence of the nation-state

         1. dreams of reviving unity of Roman Empire fade

         2. no power - not the Church, not the Holy Roman Empire, nor any other single country strong enough

         3. Kings gained more power to tax

            1. build bigger bureaucracies, and armies - allows for greater control

            2. also enables them to gain loyalty by giving out jobs

         4. increasingly, central governments have stronger control over people and resources of the territory they control

         5. greater religious unity, spread of national languages helps cement link between people (nation) and government (state)

      2. Sovereignty seen as resting in the state - not in rivals like the church or the aristocracy

      3. Increasing belief that states may do whatever is needed to insure sovereignty - realpolitik

      4. tempered by belief in a natural "law of nation" that required states to recognize each other sovereignty

   2. Muslim Empires - the "Gunpowder Empires"

      1. Ottomans

         1. sovereignty lies in the Sultan

         2. government should pursue a rational exploitation of conquered people's resources

         3. Janissaries represent the centralized and rationalized training of an imperial bureaucracy to carry this out

         4. allows for a fair degree of stability in Early Modern period

      2. Mughals and Safavids

         1. empire as right of conquest - spoils of conquest to be divided among relations and allies of leaders

         2. more heavy handed in tribute demands than Ottomans, these methods ultimately foster instability and resentment

   3. China

      1. Traditionally, sovereignty claimed by the emperor

      2. This balanced by the power of the mandarins, Confucian bureaucrats dedicated to maintaining a peaceful balance of interests in China (and their own position)

      3. Manchu conquests in 1644 provide a tremendous shock

         1. conquest by the foreign Manchu and establishment of the Qing dynasty calls into question old ideas

         2. In response, some scholars propose that sovereignty lies in the people - Huang Zongxi (1610-95); Lu Liulang (1629-83)

         3. but this sovereignty was imagined as giving the the people the right to replace corrupt dynasties with new ones, not establish republics

2. New developments in Imperial Expansion in the Early Modern era

   1. The British in India

      1. Mughal power was weakened by rebellions, stirred by Mughal tribute demands and religious conflict

      2. British able to play on local rulers disaffection with Mughals, unite them in opposition

      3. British East India Company seizes control of resource rich Bengal in 1757

      4. Becomes nucleus of a growing land empire

      5. British gain access and control over a growing market for their goods

      6. Many local rulers ally with British

         1. prefer distant emperors to nearby ones

         2. British help them consolidate local rule

   2. Empires in the Americas

      1. British, Spanish, and Portuguese empires expand in 1600s and 1700s

      2. British and Portuguese expansion based on commerce

         1. Portuguese find gold and silver in interior of Brazil

         2. Fishing, tobacco, and forest products provide basis for British expansion in North America

      3. Spanish expansion primarily a products of religious work, as missions are built on the frontiers of empire

   3. Rebellion

      1. All three face rebellion in the late 1700s

      2. Creolization a factor - greater identification with local identities

      3. Reactions against increased intervention and direct control from mother countries

         1. increased taxation in British colonies after the Seven Year War (also called the French and Indian War)

         2. greater efforts and centralization in Spanish Empire (Bourbon Reforms) and Portuguese Empire (Pombaline Reforms)

      4. Successful rebellion in British colonies in 1770s and 1780s

      5. Rebellions temporarily frustrated in Spanish and Portuguese empires

      6. Napoleonic disruptions produce independence in Spanish and Portuguese zones c. 1807-1826

3. New social structures in the Early Modern

   1. Old social structures break down in Europe

      1. Medieval society based on "corporate" communities

         1. based on birth or profession

         2. united people from disparate income groups into single interest groups (making them vertically integrated)

         3. these interest groups - guilds, the aristocracy, the clergy - competed with each other for privilege

      2. increasingly in 1600s and 1700s, these corporate communities break down

      3. Family identity on a small, nuclear scale becomes more important - in part because of spread of Protestantism

      4. Protestantism also eliminates religious brotherhoods and fraternities, reorganizes the clergy, weakens guilds

      5. In part, this will pave way to both greater individualism and social organization based on economic status

   2. A commercial, pre-industrial society emerges in Japan (1600s-1700s)

      1. years of peace lessens importance of military classes that had dominated society

      2. increasing food supply allows for larger population

      3. larger population, surplus food allows for development of large commercial and manufacturing sectors with more labor and more customers

   3. Regional identities replaced by national identities

      1. Qing Dynasty China (after 1644)

         1. rulers are foreign - ethnically Manchu, from Manchuria

         2. sought to spread Chinese identity as way to unite empire and maintain legitimacy

         3. helped in part by large internal migrations

      2. In Europe, centralized governments and printing, allow for spread of national languages, replacing local ones

   4. Regional identities replace imperial identities

      1.  Creolization becomes stronger in European New World empires

         1. mixing of cultures creates new creoles cultures quite distinct from Britain Spain, Portugal, and France

         2. long periods of isolation also foster sense of self-reliance, local identity

         3. Maroon communities of escaped slaves establish de facto independence, develop heavily creolized cultures

      2. In Europe, breakdown if imperial power in "Germany" and "Italy" fosters local nationalism

   5. Overall, social and cultural norms on the eve if the Industrial Revolution are in an enormous state of flux