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Age Of Absolutism Dbq Essay

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Their Voice
The Enlightenment changed and challenged the way that people thought or acted during the Age of Absolutism. During the Age of Absolutism, the only things kings cared about was power and wealth. They had complete disregard for their subjects. In all six DBQ excerpts, the reader sees people either challenging the king or the King getting upset that people are starting to stand up for themselves instead of just taking his word as the gospel truth. The Enlightenment caused people to start questioning and thinking of different types of governments such as a democracy. This was unlike the Age of Absolutism where people did whatever the King said and didn’t question it. During the Enlightenment people began to speak out against the government …show more content…

Machiavelli wrote about a fictitious prince, describing how he is a terrible being who has no respect for people who have a lower status than him. He is described as being selfish and untrustworthy. His writing about this prince was supposed to replicate princes and kings that were ruling and open he reader’s eyes to real issues occuring. In Document 1 there is an excerpt from The Prince, written by Machiavelli, telling about how terrible the Prince of England. Document 1 states, “For all men in general this observation may be made: they are ungrateful, fickle, and deceitful, eager to avoid dangers, and avid for gain, and while you are useful to them they are all with you, but when it [danger] approaches they turn on you”. This statement describes how corrupt and cruel men are, and how these terrible actions are also greatly reflected upon royalty. During the 15th century, royalty believed they were all that mattered which when mixed in with Machiavelli caused a lot of controversy with the people during the Enlightenment. An example of this would be King James I in Document 2 who describes all the good things about the monarchy and how it is the best thing in the world. He calls the monarchy the, “supremest thing on earth,” trying to convince people of how great this form of government

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Then for Machiavelli he talks about how a prince should show no fear instead for him to show that he is the one with power. That a prince's people should fear him. Both authors go on to talk on how their people react based on the prince and princesse act. The authors then go on to explain how they should view and run their people. Both authors also reflect the fact that the way their people are going to act towards them is mainly based off of how they treat them.

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Machiavelli argues the perfect prince will be both feared and loved by his people, and if unable to be both he will make himself feared and not hated. Machiavelli believes it is much safer to be feared than to be loved because people are less likely to offend and stand up against strong characters, also people are less concerned in offending a prince who has made himself loved. Accordingly, Machiavelli believes generosity is harmful to your reputation and the choice between being generous or stingy, merciful or cruel, honest or deceitful, should only be important if it aids the prince in political power. All in all, Machiavelli believes the ruler must be a great deceiver and do what is essential to uphold power over the

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? ? ? ? ? Machiavelli (2003) states that people everywhere are anxious not to be dominated or oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles are out to dominate and oppress the people. This quote causes us to believe that nobles were manipulative of the common people. Machiavelli (2003) then states that the opposing ambitions could bring one of three results: a principality, a free city, or anarchy.?

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Different factors had a part to play in starting or even propelling ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, including the rule of the Church and State which experienced a power struggle among them, in addition to the Western discovery of latest societies with noticeably exclusive cultural traditions and norms. Many intellectuals felt unhappy with the fixed social styles amongst their very own collectives, and angry at their governments' refusal to provide non-public rights. The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France.

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In 1513, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote “The Prince,” telling rulers how they should rule. (Document 1) Many of the ideas in his book are shown in the ways these rulers governed their people. King Louis XIV believed if there were multiple people had power more would take advantage of it (Document 3) which is a major idea from “The Prince,” stating “for love is held by a bond of obligation, which, as men are wicked, is broken whenever personal advantage suggests it.” (Document 1).

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But since it is impossible to have and exercise them all, because the conditions of human life simply do not allow it, a prince must be shrewd enough to avoid the public disgrace of those vices that would lose him his state” (p 43). Here, Machiavelli again portrays his view of human nature. He emphasizes that since it is impossible, due to human limitations, for one to have all the qualities which we think a ruler should have, one should simply focus on avoiding the bad qualities which will cause him to lose the support of the people. Both of these passages show that Machiavelli believes that most men are not good, and that even the best of man cannot have all the positive qualities which a good ruler should have. Thus, instead of spending time and energy on a quest to change human nature (a quest which does not have guaranteed success), Machiavelli suggest a more simple, direct, and pragmatic solution: A prince should not try to be good, instead he should be cruel when necessary in order to maintain authority, control and peace.

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Concerning The Prince: Love and Fear In The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, he discusses and describes several pieces of advice on how to be a successful prince. While there is plenty of advice to look at in The Prince, this paper will just focus on Machiavelli’s advice and thoughts on being a prince in chapter 17. In chapter 17 he discusses the question of which is better for a prince; to be loved or to be feared. Machiavelli believes both should be the answer, but since it is difficult for one person to achieve both, it is a better choice to be a feared prince because of the connections one would have with his people and less chance of betrayal, but being feared should not be misused as cruelty and hate should be avoided.

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The Prince, a brilliant book written by Machiavelli, was primarily concerned with the issue of how to keep order, and how a leader of a state should control its state. Machiavelli describes to the reader the types of leaders that have achieved their way to being a leader either through their hard work of virtue or by the lucky chance of fortune. Machiavelli approaches fortune by putting a negative connotation towards the kings who have achieved their power by their inheritance and the chances and opportunities that God gives them. As for virtue, it is described as the better way of achieving and continuously keep the power, it relies on one’s own skills and talents rather than the help of outside forces. The issue with achieving a leader’s

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The Enlightenment questioned authority and ordered for natural rights. There were important thinkers of the Enlightenment who impacted the way people think today. John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Paine were all of the major thinkers. John Locke believed experiences will cause more knowledge which is how his idea of the blank slate is. He also believed everybody was born with natural rights.

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The Age of Absolutism is defined as a time period in Europe in which monarchs gained all of the power and wealth over the state for themselves, expanding the idea of single rule. The Enlightenment, on the other hand, is defined as a movement during the 18th century that rejected traditional social, religious, and political ideas, and introduced a desire to construct governments free of tyranny (or single rule). Document 3, a primary source written by King Louis XIV of France in 1660, is describing the idea of monarchy stating,“ The more you grant . . . [to the assembled people], the more it claims . . . The interest of the state must come first” (Document 3).

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As the least harsh description we have Quentin Skinner’s ideas. He explained Machiavelli’s thoughts about the human nature and his advices of cruelty to the princes by saying acts can be seen reasonable through seeing them as a “last best” option. By his words ‘ Machiavelli prefers conformity to moral virtue ceteris

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The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over

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While Machiavelli advises a ruler to be feared by his people in order to best consolidate his power, I argue that the best way to live a political life depends largely on the circumstances: with different situations calling for the prince to employ different characteristics that would be most effective to each circumstance. Machiavelli’s call for vigilance and distrust may be valuable to a prince and the state he governs in some situations, but toxic in other situations, as it hurts the society he attempts to better. Machiavelli argues that while the prince may superficially have allies and advisors, he must remain alone and independent at heart. This seems to assume that Machiavelli wants the prince to harbor a fundamental distrust of others, encouraging constant vigilance in order for him to keep his place on the throne.

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I. Machiavelli In his famous work the Prince Niccolo Machiavelli exposes what it takes to be a good prince and how only this good price and keep control over his state. There are many different qualities that make a man a good ruler but there are some that are more essential than others. In this work Machiavelli stresses the importance of being a warrior prince, a wise prince, and knowing how to navigate the duality of virtù and vices. Without these attributes there was no way that a prince could hold together their state and their people.

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