Atlantic Revolutions and Their Echoes 1775-1914
The Enlightenment was the intellectual movement in which A) the methods and questions of the Scientific Revolution were applied to human society. B) the methods and questions of the Confucian examination system were applied to society C) the methods and ideology of the Protestant Reformation were applied to society D) the ideas of the Renaissance were applied to society E) the ideas of the absolutist rulers were applied to society
Answer: A
Importance of the French Revolution The French Revolution was the centerpiece of a revolutionary process all around the Atlantic world between 1775 and 1875 Atlantic revolutions had an impact far beyond the Atlantic world Inspired efforts to abolish slavery, give women greater rights, and extend the franchise in many countries Nationalism was shaped by revolutions Principles of equality eventually gave birth to socialism and communism
Revolutions a Ripple Effect Revolutions of North America, Europe, Haiti, and Latin America influenced each other - they shared a set of common ideas Grew out of the European Enlightenment Idea that it was possible to engineer, and improve, political and social life, traditional ways of thinking were no longer untouchable
The Enlightenment was the intellectual movement in which A) the methods and questions of the Scientific Revolution were applied to human society. B) the methods and questions of the Confucian examination system were applied to society C) the methods and ideology of the Protestant Reformation were applied to society D) the ideas of the Renaissance were applied to society E) the ideas of the absolutist rulers were applied to society
Answer: A
Which of the following could be considered an expression of enlightened ideas about government? A) the Stamp Act of 1708 B) the Quartering Act C) the Declaration of Independence D) the Committee of Public Safety E) the Congress of Vienna
Answer: C
The American colonists won their bid for independence primarily because A) they had superior generals B) they were united in the cause of freedom C) colonial militias were more disciplined and better marksmen than British troops were D) the French and the Dutch decided to support them against the British E) all of the above
Answer: D
Which of the following was NOT one of the causes of the French Revolution of 1789? A) a staggering national debt B) accusation of treason against Louis XVI C) resentment at the privileges of the aristocracy D) the extravagance of Marie Antoinette and the court at Versailles E) the opportunity presented by the summoning of the Estates General
Answer: B
Which of the following was NOT accomplished by the new French constitution? A) It abolished the nobility as a hereditary class B) It put peasants in control of the government C) It dramatically limited the power of the monarchy D) It instituted economic reforms E) It made priests elected officials on state payrolls
Answer: B
Napoleon became Europe s first popular dictator because he A) threatened to overpower the French people B) was needed since France was occupied by foreign armies C) held the promise of a new French empire D) promised order to an exhausted society E) was strikingly tall and handsome
Answer: D
Popular Sovereignty Core political idea was popular sovereignty that the authority to govern comes from the people, not from God or tradition John Locke (1632 1704) argued that the social contract between ruler and ruled should last only as long as it served the people well Main beneficiaries of revolution were middle-class white males (except in Haiti) GOAL: extend political rights further than ever before, can be called democratic revolutions
North American Revolution, 1775 1787 Struggle fro independence from oppressive British rule Launched with the Declaration of Independence 1776 Military Victory against the British in 1781 Federal Constitution drafted in 1787 13 colonies become one nation
Conservative Political Movement of AR American Revolution was a conservative political movement Aimed to preserve colonial liberties, rather than gain new ones For most of seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British North American colonies had much local autonomy
Maintaining Status Quo Colonists regarded autonomy as their birthright Few thought of breaking away from Britain before 1750 because of security, protection in war, access to British Markets Colonial society - was far more egalitarian than in Europe, (all free people enjoyed the same status before the law) Less poverty, more economic opportunity, fewer social differences They were republican well before the revolution
Causes for Revolution Britain made a new drive to control the colonies and get more revenue from them in the 1760s Needed money for its global war with France, imposed a number of new taxes and tariffs on the colonies Colonists were not represented in the British parliament Challenged colonial economic interests Attacked established traditions of local autonomy British North America was revolutionary for society that had already emerged, not for the revolution itself - no significant social transformation came with independence from Britain Accelerated democratic tendencies - already established Political power remained in existing elites -property requirements for voting were lowered but remained intact
Effects of Revolution Many Americans thought they were creating a new world order - some acclaimed the United States as the hope and model of the human race Declaration of the right to revolution found in the Declaration of Independence inspired other colonies around the world Latin America, Vietnam U.S. Constitution- Bill of Rights, Checks and Balances, separation of Church and State - was one of the first lasting efforts to put Enlightenment political ideas into practice
The French Revolution, 1789 1815 French soldiers had fought for the American revolutionaries Government was facing bankruptcy from helping with American Revolution Attempted to modernize tax system and make it fairer, but was opposed by the privileged classes King Louis XVI called the Estates General into session in a new effort to raise taxes First two estates (clergy and nobility) were around 2 percent of the population Third Estate was everyone else
National Assembly When the Estates General convened in 1789, Third Estate representatives broke loose and declared themselves the National Assembly - drew up the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, launched the French Revolution
French Revolution a Social Conflict Unlike the American Revolution, the French rising was driven by pronounced social conflicts Titled nobility resisted monarchic efforts to tax them Middle class resented aristocratic privileges Urban poor suffered from inflation and unemployment The peasants were oppressed Enlightenment ideas gave people a language to articulate grievances
Violent, Radical, French Revolution Ended hereditary privilege, Abolished slavery (for a time), the Church was subjected to government authority, king and queen were executed (1793) Terror of (1793 1794) - Maximilien Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety killed tens of thousands of people regarded as enemies of the revolution
A New France - French Revolution Effort to create a wholly new society - 1792 became Year I of a new calendar Briefly passed a law for universal male suffrage France was divided into 83 territorial departments Created a massive army (some 800,000 men) to fight threatening neighbors Nationalism, with revolutionary state at the center
Influence of French Revolution Napoleon Bonaparte (r. 1799 1814) seized power in 1799 Preserved many moderate elements of the revolution - kept social equality, but got rid of liberty, subdued most of Europe Imposed revolutionary practices on conquered regions Resentment of French domination stimulated national consciousness throughout Europe National resistance brought down Napoleon s empire by 1815
The first successful revolution in the Caribbean and South America was launched in: a) Haiti b) Argentina c) Cuba d) Colombia e) Jamaica
Answer: A
The Haitian Revolution, 1791 1804 Saint Domingue (later called Haiti) was a French Caribbean colony Majority of population were slaves - around 500,000 slaves, 40,000 whites, 30,000 free people of color French Revolution sparked a spiral of violence - revolution meant different things to different people Massive slave revolt began in 1791 - became a war between a number of factions Power gradually shifted to the slaves, who were led by former slave Toussaint Louverture
Haitian - Unique Revolution Only completely successful slave revolt in world history Renamed the country Haiti ( mountainous in Taino) Identified themselves with the original native inhabitants Declared equality for all races Divided up plantations among small farmers Haiti s success generated great hope and great fear - created new insolence among slaves elsewhere, inspired other slave rebellions, caused horror among whites, led to social conservatism, increased slavery elsewhere, as plantations claimed Haiti s market share Napoleon s defeat in Haiti convinced him to sell Louisiana Territory to the United States
Who was François Dominique Toussaint L Ouverture? A) the leader of a slave revolt in Saint Domingue B) the Caribbean delegate to the French Revolutionary council C) the great impressionist painter of the French Revolution D) the son of Robespierre and the Empress Josephine E) the French General who crushed the slave revolt in Saint Domingue
Answer: A
In leading the revolutions of South America, Simon Bolivar advocated A) that Spanish colonial rule be replaced with an indigenous monarchy B) that ethnic nationalism be the basis of the new states C) the popular sovereignty D) the abolition of slavery and full male suffrage E) all of the above
Answer: C
Revolutions in Latin America were frequently a power struggle between what two groups? A) masters and slaves B) peninsulares and creoles C) European and indigenous peoples D) Europeans and mestizos E) colonial militias and European mercenaries
Answer: B
In Latin America, leaders who were called caudillos A) were those most sympathetic to the old regimes B) ruled without the cooperation of the church C) were personalist leaders who held power without constitutional sanction D) were chosen by popular election E) were the sons of rich industrialists
Answer: C
Spanish American Revolutions, 1810 1825 Native-born elites (creoles) in Spanish colonies of Latin America were offended at the Spanish monarchy s efforts to control them in the 18th century Latin American independence movements were limited at first because of: little tradition of local selfgovernment, society was more authoritarian, with stricter class divisions, whites were vastly outnumbered Creole elites had revolution thrust upon them by events in Europe 1808: Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal, put royal authority in disarray, Latin Americans were forced to take action, most of Latin America was independent by 1826
Spanish American Revolution It was a longer process than in North America Latin American societies were torn by class, race, and regional divisions In Mexico, move toward independence began with a peasant revolt (1810) led by priests Miguel Hidalgo and José Morelos - creole elites and clergy raised an army, crushed revolt Fear of social rebellion from below shaped the whole independence movement
Nativism and Reversal of Roles Leaders of independence movements appealed to the lower classes in terms of nativism: all free people born in the Americas were Americanos Lower classes, Native Americans, and slaves got little benefit from independence Proved impossible to unite Spanish colonies, unlike the United States - distances were greater, colonial experiences were different, stronger regional identities After Latin America gained independence, its relationship with North America gradually reversed The United States grew wealthier and more democratic, became stable Latin American countries became increasingly underdeveloped, impoverished, undemocratic, and unstable
Echoes of Revolution Voting rights: by 1914, major states of Western Europe, the United States, and Argentina had universal male suffrage Even in Russia, there was a constitutional movement in 1825 Abolitionist, nationalist, and feminist movements arose to question other patterns of exclusion and oppression
The Abolition of Slavery Slavery largely ended around the world between 1780 and 1890 Enlightenment thinkers were increasingly critical of slavery American and French revolutions focused attention on slaves lack of liberty and equality Growing belief that slavery wasn t necessary for economic progress Three major slave rebellions in the British West Indies showed that slaves were discontent; brutality of suppression appalled people Abolitionist movements were most powerful in Britain - 1807: Britain forbade the sale of slaves within its empire 1834: Britain emancipated all slaves other nations followed suit, under growing international pressure Most Latin American countries abolished slavery by 1850s Brazil was the last (1888) Resistance to abolition was vehement among interested parties in the United States, civil war to ended slavery 1861 1865
Results of Abolition Abolition often didn t lead to the expected results little improvement in the economic lives of former slaves Unwillingness of former slaves to work on plantations led to a new wave of global migration, especially from India and China Few of the newly freed gained anything like political equality
Nations and Nationalism (Change) Revolutionary movements gave new prominence to more recent kind of human community the nation Idea that humans are divided into separate nations, each with a distinct culture and territory and deserving an independent political life Before the nineteenth century, foreign rule in itself wasn t regarded as heinous most important loyalties were to clan, village, or region Independence movements acted in the name of new nations
Power of Nationalism 19 th Century Inspired political unification of Germany and Italy Otto Von Bismark Inspired separatist movements by Greeks, Serbs, Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians, the Irish, and Jews Fueled preexisting rivalry among European states - drive for colonies in Asia and Africa Nationalism took on a variety of political ideologies Civic nationalism identified the nation with a particular territory, encouraged assimilation
Feminist Beginnings Feminist movement developed in the nineteenth century, especially in Europe and North America Transformed the interaction of women and men in the twentieth century European Enlightenment thinkers sometimes challenged the idea that women were innately inferior During the French Revolution, some women argued that liberty and equality must include women First organized expression of feminism: women s rights conference in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848
Transatlantic Feminist Movement Argued for a radical transformation of the position of women 1870s, movements focused above all on suffrage - became a middle-class, not just elite movement, most worked through peaceful protest and persuasion By 1900: some women had been admitted to universities, women s literacy rates were rising, some U.S. states passed laws allowing women to control their property and wages, some areas liberalized divorce laws, some women made their way into new professions 1893: New Zealand was the first to grant universal female suffrage, Finland followed in 1906 Movement led to discussion of the role of women in modern society Opposition some argued that strains of education and life beyond the home would cause reproductive damage, some saw suffragists, Jews, and socialists as a foreign body in national life