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History of Political Thought

The nineteenth century (1801-1900) began immediately after the upheaval of the American and French Revolutions. It started with the Napoleonic Wars, which were followed by the dramatic rise of the British Empire. Meanwhile, the United States was...

Western civilization has been described as the synthesis of Jerusalem and Athens. Athens represents the classical influences of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Jerusalem represents the Jewish and Christian influences. Western political thought...

Western civilization came into existence in the late Roman Empire, with the first synthesis of classical civilization and Christianity. When that empire disintegrated, the ancient world ended, and Western civilization nearly ended with it. As...

Numerous intellectual and practical developments in politics, law, and government occurred during the Middle Ages. However, the pace of change increased dramatically and often violently with the beginnings of the Renaissance and the Reformation....

Early Enlightenment figures such as John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, David Hume, and Francis Bacon, in dialogue or debate with the religious movements of the day, set the stage for the intellectual developments of the late 1700s. However, two...

The century from the mid-1600 to the mid-1700s set the intellectual stage for the American Revolution. The early 1600s had seen the English Civil War, which had resulted in the execution of the King and the temporary existence of an English...