History 242 Exam 1 Essay
Jonathan LaZor

What are absolutism and constitutionalism?  These very different forms of monarchy were important to the development of Europe in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. One put nearly all national power in the hands of a king, while another balanced power and rights between monarch, parliament, and people.  Constitutionalism and absolutism sound like polar opposites when they're defined, but both conformed in a similar way to (and promoted) the increasing nationalism of Europe.

In an "ideal" absolutism, the monarch's power was mostly unfettered by nobility or a legislature.  The monarch was the embodiment of the government. According to the justification of "divine right," the monarch was sanctioned by God and responsible to God alone.  Some considered opposition a form of sacrilege.

Cardinal Richelieu reorganized France into 32 districts and appointed royal commissioners to control them while reporting directly to the crown.  Louis XIV's rule, which followed Richelieu's, was, according to many, the zenith of absolutism.  Louis XIV was quoted, "I am the state."  He directed ambitious architectural projects, dramatically curbed nobility power, and through his appointees held enormous sway over French economy, administration, and culture.  His general of finances, Colbert, transformed France into a mercantilism.  As the textbook example of an absolutist, Louis XIV was also a tyrant, abolishing religious freedom and spending obscene amounts of money on Versailles, a monument to himself, while the people lived in poverty.  For many years during the peak of French absolutism, the French counterpart to parliament, the Estates-General, did not meet officially.

By contrast, the government and monarch of a constitutionalism were subject to the law.  The constitution protected the liberties and property of the people and checked government authority.  Within the government, the monarch was checked by parliament.  However, the right to vote was limited.

England was the classic example of constitutionalism, and limitations on monarchy were important in its culture.  When a king with absolutist tendencies, Charles I, took over, parliament demanded more power, and from 1642-1651 parliamentarians and royalists fought the English Civil War.  The parliamentarians won, and their leader, Oliver Cromwell, declared himself "Lord Protector."  He was a terrible and generally hated ruler, so the monarchy was restored in 1660, but for several years England had no family-appointed king or queen.

Both schemes developed in Europe in the age of exploration and allowed countries to move beyond feudalism.  The growing feeling of nationalism led to a centralization of power, culture, and military.  Absolutism, or "administrative monarchy," grew, decreasing the power of the nobility, building and maintaining national armies, supporting national culture, and forming bureaucracies.  While constitutionalism reduced the power of the monarch, its most important similarity to absolutism was that it still encouraged centralization.  Constitutionalism allowed those changes too, and while the nobility still retained power, they were no longer feudal warlords starting battles with each other.