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elections
1. past history rather than population determined the
number of delegates from each borough
2. one borough with six people might get two
representatives, while new industrial centers like the
city of Manchester may have no representatives
3. the increasing influence of the kings ministers
was a political development of 18th Century Great
Britain
f. since the ministers were responsible for exercising
the kings patronage, who became his chief ministers
took on great political significance
g. Robert Walpole
1. served as prime minister from 1721 to 1742
2. relied on by both George I (1714-1727) and George
II (1727-1760) as their prime minister
3. pursued a peaceful foreign policy to avoid new land
taxes
h. William Pitt the Elder
1. served as prime minister from 1757 to 1761
2. furthered imperial ambitions by acquiring Canada
and India in the Seven Years War
3. despite his successes was removed from office by
King George III (1760-1820) and replaced by a
favorite of the king, Lord Bute
i. William Pitt the Younger
1. served as prime minister from 1783-1801
2. had the support of merchants, industrial classes,
the king who used patronage to get him the support of
the House of Commons
3. The Decline of the Dutch Republic
a. after its century in the sun, the Dutch Republic
suffered a decline in economic prosperity
b. both local and national politics were dominated by
the oligarchies that governed the towns
c. the House of Orange controlled the executive branch
d. aided by the Prussians the Orangists were able to
put down a democratic movement and keep the old system in tact
C. Absolutism in Central and Eastern Europe
1. Prussia: the army and the bureaucracy
a. A continuing trend throughout 18th Century Prussia
was the social and military dominance of the Junker
nobility
b. Two able Prussian kings in the 18th Century,
Frederick William I and Frederick II, further
developed the army and the bureaucracy that made up
the backbone of Prussian society
c. Frederick William I (1713-1740)
1. under his direction, Prussia became a highly
centralized European state
2. he promoted the evolution of Prussias highly
III.
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a. France
1. for the majority of the century it controlled
Canada, the Louisiana Territory, as well as the
islands of St. Dominique, Martinique, and
Guadeloupe in North America
2. on the islands, France had developed a
plantation economy driven by African slave
labor which produced tobacco, cotton, coffee,
and sugar
3. on the mainland, France ran the colonies in an
autocratic manner with these colonies
producing furs, leather, fish, and timber
4. had difficulty getting French people to migrate
to colonies in North America
b. Great Britain
1. holdings in North America consisted of 13
colonies along the eastern seaboard of the North
American mainland as well as the islands of
Jamaica, Barbados, and Bermuda
2. supposedly run by the British Board of Trade, the
Royal Council, and Parliament, the 13 colonies had
legislatures that tended to act independently
3. 13 colonies were thickly populated with over 1.5
million people by 1750.
4. due to its larger population and the fact that it was
more agriculturally based the British colonies
were more stable than the French colonies
c. Both the North American and West Indian colonies of
Britain and France were assigned roles in keeping with
mercantilist theory
d. The system was supposed to provide a balance of
trade favorable to the mother country
e. The British and French rivalry was also evident in the
Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires in Latin
America
1. Due to the Bourbon Family connection, France
was able to make trade inroads into Spanish
colonies
2. the British were able to get the Portuguese to
permit them access to the lucrative Brazilian
trade market
f. Their rivalry also extended to the Far East where
Britain and France competed for the tea, spices,
cotton, hard woods, and luxury goods of India and the
East Indies.
6. Global Trade
a. to justify the term global economy, historians have
usually pointed to the patterns of trade that
interlocked Europe, Africa, the East, and the American
continents
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