Introduction to the Documents, Chapter 18

The seventeenth century was a time of deep crisis for Europe. The commercial and agricultural sectors suffered from prolonged economic stagnation, and many nations found themselves locked in expensive and devastating internal and external wars. In an effort to cope with these difficulties, European states instituted increased government growth and extended control over their populations through new forms of taxation, the military, and the state bureaucracy. The following documents reveal the different ways in which European governments engaged with the challenges of the seventeenth century. In countries like England, a system of constitutionalism envisioned political power as a careful balance of many forces. In France and eastern European states, the doctrine of absolutism stressed the divine and total power of the monarch. Despite their differences, both systems represented careful attempts to establish centralized states that claimed sovereignty over their territories and peoples.