Enlightened Absolutism

          There were many monarchs that may have claimed to be "enlightened" absolutists, however many of them committed acts that could have shown them to be either more absolutists or enlightened. We decided to discuss this as a unit. Using the three rulers Joseph II, Frederick The Great, and Catherine the Great. We read a few documents on them each, and wrote a few notes on their decisions and how it either related to Absolutism or Enlightened behavior. The Venn Diagram is below. The pink font is Frederick the Great, blue is Catherine, and Green is Joseph II.

          An enlightened monarch is a ruler that exemplifies examples of enlightened behavior over absolutism. An enlightened ruler is generally a benevolent person. The choices they make are, for the most part (at least they say) for the greater good of the people. Even though they try to make choices that are of a certain belief, each one commits at least one act whether it is absolutist or enlightened. 

          I chose the ruler Joseph II. The propaganda poster I created portrays his enlightened actions because one of the major things he did was fight for the end of censorship. It was an very enlightenment driven move because it is driving for freedom of speech for everybody. However, there were some things Joseph did that could be considered absolutist. Although he did do many things for the good of the people, his motives were, ultimately, for absolute royal control. Although he sold the properties of the monasteries and convents out from under them, which is illegal, he did use it to build hospitals, which is also a very enlightened thing.