Political Consolidation in Nineteenth-Century Europe and North America

1. Political Consolidation in Nineteenth-Century Europe and North America

2. Introduction • Two crucial developments: • Process of political consolidation • Made the nation-states strongest in world • Industrialization • Powerful new industrial economies • Society not based primarily on land • Led to unprecedented political, military, and economic influence

3. The Emergence of Nationalism in Europe

4. Emergence of Nationalism • Single most powerful European political ideology of nineteenth and twentieth centuries • Modern concept

5. Emergence of Nationalism (cont’d) • Nation composed of people joined by bonds of • Common language • Customs • Culture • History • Should therefore share the same government

6. Map 23–1. Languages of Europe

7. Meaning of Nationhood • Nationalists’ arguments • States would promote economic efficiency • Nations seen as distinct creations of God • Place for their states in divine order of things • Polish nationalists portrayed Poland as suffering Christ among nations • Main problem: which ethnic groups were “nations”?

8. Early Nineteenth-CenturyPolitical Liberalism

9. Political Liberalism • European liberals ideas came from • Enlightenment • Examples of English liberties • Principles of 1789 • Called for • Legal equality • Religious toleration • Freedom of the press • Limitation on arbitrary power of government

10. Female Liberal Political Activism

11. Nationalism and Liberalism • Liberalism and nationalism often complementary • Idea of popular sovereignty • Calls for representation and political liberty • French Revolution had shown how liberalism could spread across borders • Impact on other revolutions around world

12. Efforts to Liberalize Early Nineteenth-Century European Political Structures

13. Russia • Russian troops came into contact with ideas of Enlightenment, French Revolution • Came to view Russia as economically backward and politically stifled • Decembrist Revolt, 1825 • Nicholas I (1825–1855) • Moscow regiment refused to swear allegiance • Nicholas too conservative

14. Russia (cont’d) • Crushing of liberalism in Russia • Scared and shocked Nicholas = reacted harshly • Russia becomes policeman of Europe • Ready to suppress liberal or national uprisings

15. Decembrist Revolt

16. France • King Charles X (1824-1830) • Saw himself as divine right ruler • Liberals won victory in elections of 1830 • Four Ordinances (press, dissolved Chamber of Deputies; reduced franchise) • Rioting in Paris; 1,800 die • Abdicated and left France for exile in England

17. France (cont’d) • Louis Philippe (1830-1848) • Charter (constitution) – rights of the people • Censorship abolished • Franchise extended • Socially a conservative revolution • Liberal monarchy showed little sympathy for the lower classes

18. Liberty Leading the People

19. Britain • Great Reform Bill, 1832 • Exemplary liberal state of the world in nineteenth century • Blocked by House of Lords • King William IV pressured peers to pass it • Catholic Emancipation

20. Britain (cont’d) • Great Reform Act expanded electorate • By 200,000 persons or almost 50% • Basis of voting remained property qualification • Established foundation of political stability • Chartism • Second Reform Act,1867

21. Gladstone and Disraeli • William Gladstone (1809–1898) • Prime minister (1868–1874) • High point of classical British liberalism • Oxford, Cambridge opened to religions • Introduction of secret ballot • Education Act of 1870 – British government responsible for running elementary schools

22. A House of Commons Debate

23. Irish Question • Irish nationalists hoped for home rule • More Irish control of local government • Disruptive force in British politics

24. Irish Question (cont’d) • Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) • Member of Parliament • Irish Party decides balance in 1885 between English liberals and conservatives • Irish Party backs liberals • Failure to pass Home Rule Bill until 1914 • Even then it was suspended until end of war

25. Revolutions of 1848 • Series of liberal and nationalistic revolutions • Liberals appealed to urban working classes • Little in common – didn’t work • Failure to establish genuinely liberal or national states

26. Map 23–2. Centers of Revolution in 1848–1849

27. Revolutions of 1848 (cont’d) • Chief importance of failed revolutions • Emergence of conservative governments • Ended era of liberal revolution begun in 1789 • Accelerated split between nationalism and liberalism

28. Testing the New American Republic

29. American Sectional Conflict • USA continued republican experiment • But threatened by sectional tensions • Slavery in South was biggest threat • Constitutional Convention of 1788 • Three-fifths Compromise • Spread westward meant that slavery could not be ignored • Balance between slave and free states • Missouri Compromise, 1820

30. The Excelsior Iron Works

31. North and South • Economy of the North • Family farms • Free labor • Commerce • Early industrialization

32. North and South (cont’d) • Economy of the South • Overwhelmingly rural economy • Dependent on cotton and slavery • Could expand only if slavery expanded as well

33. Map 23–3. The United States, 1776–1850

34. Slavery in American South • Institution of slavery survived for several reasons • Economically viable • No easy way to abolish it • Commitment to protection of private property • Racist thinking

35. Slavery in American South (cont’d) • Slaves regarded as chattel property • No recourse to law or constitutional protection • Routine beating, sexual exploitation • Separation of slave families • Slave communities helped preserve family life and inner personalities of the slaves

36. Scars of Slavery

37. Abolitionist Movement • Militant antislavery movement in 1830s • Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator • Ex-slaves: Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth • Balance between free and slave states • Compromise of 1850 • Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 • “Bleeding Kansas” • Dred Scott decision, 1857 • John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry

38. U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) • Republican Party opposed slavery • Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) • South saw his election to presidency as victory for those attacking slavery • Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter • Start of most destructive war in U.S. history

39. U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) (cont’d) • Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 • Transformed Northern cause from suppressing a Southern rebellion to that of extending liberty

40. Reconstruction • South occupied by Northern armies • Thirteenth Amendment • Freed the slaves • Fourteenth Amendment • Granted citizenship to former slaves • Fifteenth Amendment • Granted slaves the right to vote

41. Reconstruction (cont’d) • Fifteenth Amendment • Allowed former slaves to vote • Achieving true equality would not be so easy

42. Importance of the Civil War • Besides TaipingRebellion, US Civil War was the largest war between the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) and World War I (1914-1918) • Establishment of continent-wide free labor market • North America open to economic development • Free labor would become American norm

43. Importance of the Civil War (cont’d) • American political and economic interests developed without distraction of debates over states’ rights and morality of slavery

44. The Canadian Experience

45. Canadian Experience • Treaty of Paris of 1763 • All of Canada under British control • English- and French-speaking populations • 30,000 English loyalists fled to Canada • Larger English presence, loyal to Crown • Constitutional Act of 1791 • Upper Canada – primarily English • Lower Canada – primarily French

46. Canadian rail passengers

47. Canada’s Road to Self-Government • British determined to avoid another revolution • Earl of Durham sent to make reforms • 1839: Report on the Affairs of British North America • Proposed both provinces should be united • Durham felt it would lead to thoroughly English culture throughout Canada

48. Canada’s Road to Self-Government (cont’d) • Canada Act of 1840 • Same approach later in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa

49. Canada’s Distinctive Culture • Canadians exercised self-government • Distinctive England and French cultures • Fear of American expansionism • Move in 1862 to unite Maritime Provinces • North American Act of 1867 • Created a Canadian federation • Less emphasis on states’ rights than in U.S.

50. Canada’s Distinctive Culture (cont’d) • John A. MacDonald (1815-1891)‏ • In power for most of period from 1867 to 1891 • Important in shaping new government