Western Civilization II / Unit 6 WC2 0529 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds

Sequencing the Enlightenment, 1687 to 1789

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The idea

The exam hands you the century's books and reforms out of order. The method is two fixed points, the Principia of sixteen eighty-seven and the Revolution of seventeen eighty-nine, with the Encyclopédie's first volume in seventeen fifty-one as the midpoint.

In practice

Place six events. Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws: seventeen forty-eight, three years before the Encyclopédie. Beccaria's Crimes and Punishments: seventeen sixty-four, after the Encyclopédie began and before it finished in seventy-two. The first partition of Poland: seventeen seventy-two, the Encyclopédie's last year. The Wealth of Nations: seventeen seventy-six, the year of American independence. Joseph II's serf decree: seventeen eighty-one, after Smith and before Kant. Kant's essay: seventeen eighty-four. Wollstonecraft's Vindication: seventeen ninety-two, after the fixed endpoint. The order reads Newton, Montesquieu, the Encyclopédie, Beccaria, the partition, Smith, Joseph, Kant, the Revolution, Wollstonecraft.

Where people slip

Three of these dates rest on the witness where the anchor is silent or wrong: Montesquieu entirely, Joseph's decree entirely, and Wollstonecraft's seventeen ninety-two against the anchor's ninety-one. The order holds.

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