You need to recognize the past enough to understand what we are studying. For example, you will not catch on to that primary in Chapter 1 if you don’t review the context for the 1500s and servitude and religion and land and vassalage. That is what this webpage is for.
You do not have to memorize this beyond recognizing the order. You do have to read enough and understand enough that when you read that primary in Chapter 1 you understand:
· The words used in that primary and covered here
· When the Spanish read this declaration to the Native Americans, the Spanish (and citizens of other nations would also be fine) are fine (no guilt at all):
o That the Spanish reading the declarations are subjects of a great king
o That their king owns the Native Americans’ land because the pope gave the land to their king
o That the Native Americans can either accept that they are subjects of the Spanish king (but a lesser level than the Spanish stating that declaration) and obey or the Spanish will kill them or make them slaves
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Eras in Order |
Brief Definition |
Why You Want to Know About This |
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Roman Republic |
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The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
defines a republic as “a government in which supreme power resides in a body
of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and
representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.” The Romans had Senators—a familiar word—and a republic.
As its public buildings and terminology in the Constitution reveal, the U.S.
was created as a republic with its people electing representatives who wrote
the laws. |
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Roman Empire |
Classical is the adjective associated with Rome and also
with Greece. |
Rome had an empire (a word you need to know) to the late
400s AD when their empire collapsed. Empires
relied on servitude (forms of
forced labor where the person is forced to work for no pay except survival
for another day). They are fine
(no guilt at all): ·
with slavery for those they
conquered ·
with demanding tribute and slaves
from those conquered ·
with war to take riches and raw
materials ·
with colonies (peoples who were not
Roman) governed by the Romans to enrich the Romans ·
with government controlling religion
(If the emperor thinks he is a god, the monotheistic religions will have
difficulty in accepting they have to worship the emperor. Among the
monotheist religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Islam however
develops after the Roman Empire is gone.) |
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Middle Ages |
It is associated with feudalism. Its adjective is
medieval. |
Circa 500 AD to 1300 in the Italian city states and to
1500 in England and northern Europe. They are fine (no
guilt at all): ·
with slavery (those in bondage as
forced labor but could be sold anywhere) ·
with serfdom (those who were
landless and in bondage as forced labor and bound to the land and listed like
the cattle on the manor) ·
with levels of nobility who were
bound to an upper noble as subjects
or vassals (concepts you need to
know) ·
with land ownership determining
power because land meant people had a place to grow food and have animals for
food ·
with land being passed down to the
1st born male only so that the estates remained large (They were
not split among the sons.) ·
with the pope at Rome as the head
of the Church Looking ahead: Feudalism is attempted in the Americas
by: ·
The Spanish (North, Central, and
South America) ·
The French (in Canada and the
Mississippi Valley) ·
The Dutch (in New Amsterdam) ·
The English (in Maryland, the
Carolinas, and New York). Feudalism’s laws about land ownership and having any
power in decisions (voting) will be applied in the new world in the late
1500s and early 1600s. ·
In the old world, land was scarce
and people were surplus. ·
In the new world, land was surplus
and labor was scarce. In those early years, what that shift meant was more
people had a chance. |
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Renaissance |
It is associated with rebirth of the classical world
(Greek and Roman) and the rise of nation-states and the rise of science. |
Circa 1300 in the Italian city states and to 1500 in
England and northern Europe. The rebirth of the classical world means the rebirth of
values of the Roman Empire. What you will have is new nation states (Spain
and Portugal initially and later England and France and the Netherlands)
rising up and trying to create their own empires. |
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Protestant Reformation |
It is an era of protests against the Roman Catholic Church. It begins with a few new forms of Christianity but results in many new forms. |
1500s on with continued splintering by the Protestant
faiths through today Nation states (notice the term) will have not just a
national language but a national religion. They will go to war to suppress
another nation’s religion or keep their own religion. They are fine (no
guilt at all): ·
with slavery (those in bondage as forced labor but could be sold
anywhere) ·
with serfdom (those who were
landless and in bondage as forced labor and bound to the land and listed like
the cattle on the manor) ·
with servants (those who were
landless and officially free but with limited chance of improving their
condition—unless they went to the new areas of the Americas) ·
with levels of nobility or with
individuals being born into the status of their fathers ·
with land ownership determining
power because land meant people had a place to grow food and have animals for
food – With some exceptions of what the Pilgrims and the Puritans did in the
new world. ·
with government controlling
religion o
With Roman Catholics believing the
head of the church is the pope at Rome o
With Protestants believing the head
of their religion is the king himself (England) or the church group’s leader |
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WCJC Department: |
History – Dr. Bibus |
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Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu
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Last Updated: |
2017 |
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WCJC Home: |