Political Revolutions
America
France
Caribbean
Spanish America
1750-1850
Revolutions and the modern world
• The two major European political
revolutions, the American (1775-1783)
and the French (1789-1815), inspired
revolutions in many parts of the globe
• Though fuelled by grand ideas of liberty
and equality, these proved to be elusive
ideas to put into practice (think about
slavery in America and the “Terror” in
France—or poverty in the modern world,
for that matter))
Ideologies
• By the beginning of the 19th century,
liberalism and nationalism become
powerful ideologies among European
states
• The basic ideas behind these ideologies
had been long-discussed in the 17th and
18th centuries and these revolutions start
to put those ideas into practice
To many who fought during these
revolutions, “liberty” was the main goal –
mirrored in slogans from a French
pamphlet (left) and the words of the
revolutionary general John Stark
Constitutionalism
The American Declaration of
Independence
The American Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizens
American Revolution
• The Revolution was started by colonists
who felt that their wealth was being
unfairly taxed by the English king – why
should they contribute to the upkeep of a
government in which they had no say
• But to King George III, the colonists were
his subjects (that was the situation when
the colonies were founded) and thus owed
taxes for the upkeep of the crown
In his book Common Sense,
Thomas Paine, a recent
immigrant to the colonies
advocated that it was “common
sense” for the colonists to govern
themselves, an idea that quickly
developed a strong following
Mixing a learned understanding of
the British Constitution and a
populist tone, Paine reflected the
enlightenment ideal of applying
natural law to the running of
government
Government
• The government set up by the Constitution
of 1776 was a compromise between those
who wanted a loose association and
those who wanted a strong, centralized
state
• Another major tension beneath the surface
was a major split on the question of
slavery – and between the urban north
and rural south
French Revolution
• The French Revolution was also a tax
revolt of sorts, and like Paine,
revolutionaries believed that it was
“common sense” for the people to govern
themselves
• However, this led to several experiments
with forms of government (constitutional
monarchy, republicanism, dictatorship) –
sometimes with drastic effects
Phases of the French Revolution
Phase I – July 1789-August 1792
Constitutional liberalism (peaceful)
Phase II – August 1792-September 1793
Radical Republicanism (violent)
Phase III – September 1793-July 1794
The Terror (fear)
Phase IV – July 1794-1799
The Directory (War with conservative Europe)
Phase V – 1799-1815
The Napoleonic Era (War and Empire)
• Though Napoleon’s personal
rule flew in the face of the
liberal ideals of the revolution,
he nonetheless reformed civic
law and public education
• His most important
achievement, however, may
have been to unite the French
nation and put monarchy up to
a new standard – personal
merit
Revolution in Haiti (1791-1804)
• News of events in France quickly spread
to the colonies – where white colonists
hoped for their independence and African
slaves hoped for emancipation; neither
would come about without a struggle
• Slaves led a revolt in Haiti in 1791and in
1793 the French National Assembly
abolished slavery – leaving Haiti to form its
own republic
Toussaint Louverture led a force against
Napoleon’s army that invaded in 1802
to bring the island back under French
control
Toussaint himself was tricked into being
brought back to France where he was
jailed and ultimately died
Here he is idealized as the bringer of a
modern constitution to Haiti. A great
supporter of Enlightenment thought,
Toussaint’s constitution reflected the
same sort of ideals as those of France
and the United States
Brazil – Constitutional Monarchy
• The Portuguese royal family saw the
writing on the wall – and granted Brazil
independence with a constitutional
monarchy in 1822
• The royal family and the elite landowners
worked closely together to crush all signs
of slave uprisings in order to keep their
privileged position
• Brazil was one of the biggest producers of
coffee in the world
Mexican War of Ind. (1810-1821)
• Opposition to Spanish overlords (which in
1810 was Napoleon’s brother) came from
a wide coalition of Mexican society –
Europeans, mestizos, and mulattos
• Uprisings raged for over a decade until
Spain could not hold on any longer
• In 1821, Mexico was granted its
independence
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was
captured by the Spanish in 1811 and
executed by a firing squad
He became a martyr to the cause – a
liberator-hero – and to this day is a
symbol of Mexican independence
Wars of liberation in the Americas
• By the end of the eighteenth century
Spanish colonial rule in the Americas was
taxing an already impoverished monarchy
• Resistance was influenced by the spirit of
the French Revolution and, closer to
home, the Haitian Revolution 1791-1803
• By 1826, the whole of South America was
independent from outside rule
Simon Bolivar (1793-1830)
• Following the example of
Napoleon Bonaparte,
Bolivar mixed passion for
liberty and patriotism with
military genius
• A romantic figure who led
armies to liberate several
counties
• He was elected president of
Venezuela, Columbia, and
Peru at different times
The legacy of liberation
• By mid-century there had grown up a class of
military leaders known as caudillos who
controlled large areas with the tacit consent of
the national government – the military could
make or break the government
• All parties tended to agree on liberty but had
very different visions of what liberty meant in a
civil society – precarious balance between
liberals and conservatives and a widening gap
between rich and poor
Conclusion
• The Revolutionary ideals that spread
across the Atlantic world between 1780
and 1820 made “the People” the prime
focus of politics
• This emphasis on “the People” also
promoted ideals of nationalism and
spawned a debate about what makes up a
nation