Pragmatic Sanction: Avoiding Learning Restrictions

Pragmatic Sanction

Decreed in 1713

In Austria

By Charles VI

Medium: Paper

            From the Louisiana Purchase, I pointed out that one can have all sorts of potential to learn if he or she makes room for it. But often we don’t.

            In the early 1700s, Charles VI realized that he wasn't going to have a son to succeed him after he died and the current law restricted him to allow his daughter, Maria Theresa, to rule. To remedy this, he made an executive decision (as King) and decreed that women would be allowed to succeed to the throne. This decree was known as the Pragmatic Sanction. After Charles VI passed away, Maria Theresa took over and become known as one of the most successful rulers in history.

            I bring this up to prove a point: before the Pragmatic Sanction no one thought that women would be good at ruling. This idea restricted their ability to learn how good women could be in a governing position. We often make restrictions like this on our learning. It could be a gender restriction, a racial restriction, or many other restrictions where we believe that one group of people is better at something than another. We need to keep an open mind and let everyone have an equal chance.