During the seventeenth century, England
and France underwent divergent political (and economic) evolutions. While absolutism emerged
powerful in France, a constitutional system developed in England; simultaneously
mercantilism emerged in France while capitalism expanded in England. These contrasting trends set
the stage for over two centuries of rivalry, usually played out as war,
between the two countries
and between conservative and liberal political forces
throughout the Western world. Liberals
consistently championed the English constitutional system as a
model, while conservatives supported the example of the French monarchy (See
Jean Domat (1625-1696), On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy,
1697). Liberals also tended to
support a laissez-faire, capitalist economic system as supposedly existed in England. Some recommended online lectures and websites:
|
This
page is copyright © 2008, C.T. Evans
For information contact cevans@nvcc.edu