How Did European Society Change Throughout The 17th And 18th Century

Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries new ideas and discoveries led to revolutionary changes. The evolution from the previous ways of thinking to these contemporary innovations developed through numerous adaptations, inspired by significant persons and groups of people. Through the influence of those like Napoleon, Parliament, and the Luddites, there were tremendous progressions in European society. Through outstanding movements and people, many social reforms were instated and adopted over time. Through the progression of individual persons and groups of people, they were able set the foundations that lead us to the modern day. As mentioned in David Smith’s “Change & Continuity in 17th Century English Parliaments,” The Commons
had grown in size, from 462 in 1603 to 513 in 1689… [and] most of the members of the two Houses thus continued to be drawn from England's landed elite.” He states, “The 1701 Act of Settlement prevented those who held 'an office or place of profit under the King', or received 'a pension from the Crown', from sitting in either House of Parliament.” The reformation of the English Parliament helped the shift from the policies of absolutism to obtaining England’s constitutional monarchy. Also, Napoleon’s determination to restore France set up the foundation needed for its success. In “Napoleon the Man,” Gemma Betros states, “he reduced the number of newspapers, repaired relations with the Catholic Church, and, through institutional innovation that ranged from creating a central bank to reorganizing Frances police, returned stability to French society and safeguarded it for the future.” “[He was] a man whose temperament was not so much extraordinary as stretched by a period that opened the way for a new type of society while being unable to abandon the old” (Betros). Groups such as the Luddites communicated their messages to provoke change throughout dissatisfying systems and norms. “[The] machine breakers were motivated by a desire to avoid unemployment and to maintain an existing standard of craftsmanship rather than by simple opposition to technology,” according to Richard Jones in his article “At War with the Future.” “The chief motivation for the Luddites attacking machinery was not an objection to the machinery itself but an attempt to protect their own, relatively privileged, status” (Jones). Inspired by these prominent figures, political advancement prospered throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Parliament’s consummation of a balance of power with the monarch was originally obtained through the execution of Charles I. Smith stated, “The Commons could exercise sovereign powers unilaterally, without the consent of either the Crown or the Lords,” which led to their eventual adoption of power over the law making progresses and the ability to determine the personal religion of their monarch. “[The] Crown and Parliament together comprised a single 'body politic', in which Parliament served not only as the 'representative of the whole realm' but also as the 'physician for the ills of the commonwealth'” (Smith). According to Betros, “[Napoleon] abandoned the more authoritarian measures of his rule and instituted new ones that signaled a more liberal and peaceful era. Although short-lived, it provided the foundation of the Napoleonic legend and, through it, the ideological basis for Bonapartism.” He helped lay the foundation France needed to accelerate their reconstruction. Also, with his enforcement of his Napoleonic Code, he developed the main influence on European and Latin civil codes throughout the nineteenth century. The Luddites and other equivalent groups expressed their lust for reform through rebellion. According to Jones, “Angered by the breakdown of an agreement with industrial hosiers about wages, small groups of workers gained illicit
entry to workshops and simply removed jack wires from the knitting frames, often hiding them in local churches.” He states, “[They believed that] their activities were not only desirable, but somehow 'right', or even legal, in the face of the decline in their status and importance;” their refusal to become submissive to the severe, deleterious working conditions, sparked reform and implantation of fundamental codes and laws within factories. Along with social and political reforms, influential persons induced economic rehabilitation as well.
“In 1690, the House of Commons established a Commission of Public Accounts to monitor the fiscal probity of the Crown and its advisers, and to investigate any signs of mismanagement. Linked to this greater accountability was Parliament's much tighter control over how the revenues it had voted were actually spent,” as stated by Smith “The financial leverage that Parliament was able to bring to bear on the Crown [was massively increased].” Also, Napoleon’s “institutional innovation[s] [such as] creating a central bank,” began to reestablish a sense of stability amidst France’s economy (Betros). Enlightened rulers such as Napoleon instated what they deemed appropriate legislation in order to spark progression within their country. The Luddites in particular began rebellion in response to “the increasing prevalence of shearing frames and gig mills to replace their skilled labor” (Jones). According to Jones, although the Luddites revolts were not entirely successful “the new machinery released workers for other parts of Britain's expanding industrial economy and led to textiles becoming more accessible to ordinary
consumers.” As a result of influential persons and groups of people, multitudes of social, political, and economic reforms have guided the progression to the modern day. In their articles, Betros, Jones, and Smith exhibit examples of those who have catalyzed some of these ameliorations. The evolution from the old thought to the contemporary would not have been possible without those of particular prominence and their indomitable efforts. Since the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, society has progressed unto unimaginable realities, of which are owed to those individuals whom devoted themselves to attempting to transform the world around them into that of which all of society could benefit.