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An Age of Revolution 18 th Century. Let’s Revisit: The World of the 18 th Century. European Colonies. British Colonial Government. Private investors had a lot of control over English colonial affairs. British colonies maintained their own assemblies.
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British Colonial Government • Private investors had a lot of control over English colonial affairs. • British colonies maintained their own assemblies. • They influenced the choice of royal governors. • There were no viceroys or audiencias. • However, colonies were subject to royal authority.
“Enlightened and Revolutionary Ideas” • John Locke • Second Treaise of Civil Government (1690) • “Government originated in the past when people worked together, formed a civil society, and appoint rulers to protect and promote common interests.” • Individuals granted political rights to their rulers but retained the rights to “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.” • Rulers received their authority from the consent of the people or governed (popular sovereignty).
“Enlightened and Revolutionary Ideas” • Voltaire • French writer • Resented persecution of religious minorities and censorship of royal officials. • He called for religious toleration and freedom to express view openly. • Last words: “For God’s sake, let me die in peace before expiring.”
Enlightened and Revolutionary Ideas • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • The Social Contract (1762) • Members of a society made up the sovereign. • In an ideal society, all individuals participate in the formation of policy and laws. • In the absence of the privileged elite, the general will of the people will naturally establish order.
Pre-Revolution America • Mid-18th Century • 13 British colonists were happy. • Regarded themselves as British subjects. • Recognized British law. • Read English-language books. • Visited friends in England. • Benefited from British rule and trade.
Prelude to Revolution • As a result of the Seven Years’ War, England experienced extreme financial difficulties. • British Parliament passed legislation to levy new taxes and to bring order to their expansive trading empire. • Parliament expected the colonists to pay their fair share of taxes.
Prelude to Revolution • Colonists resented: • Sugar Act (1764) taxed molasses • Stamp Act (1765) taxed publications and legal documents • Townshend Act (1767) taxed imported items • Tea Act (1773) taxed tea. • Quartering Act (1765) required colonists to provide housing for British troops.
The Colonists Respond • The colonists felt they should govern their own affairs. • “No taxation without representation.” • They boycotted British products. • They protested with the Boston Tea Party (1773). • They organized the Continental Congress (1774). • On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
The Declaration of Independence • “All men are created equal and endowed by their leader with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” • Because government derives its power from the people, “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new Government” if government doesn’t address the needs of the people.
The American Revolution • Britain had many advantages over the colonists: • A strong government • The most powerful navy in the world • A competent army • A sizable population of loyalists in the colonies. • But Britain faced many challenges: • They had to ship supplies and reinforcements across the seas. • The rebels benefited from the military and economic support of European states that were eager to chip away at British hegemony in the Atlantic Ocean, i.e. France, Spain, Netherlands, German principalities.
The War Ends • Worried that the French might form an alliance with the North American colonies, the British surrendered to George Washington in October of 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia. • The Peace of Paris (1783) recognized American independence.
The United States of America • Based on principles of the Enlightenment, the Constitution of the United States of America was drafted in 1787. • It guaranteed individual liberties such as freedom of speech, the press, religion, assembly, etc. • Only full rights were given to men of property.
The French Revolution • Drew inspiration from the Enlightenment. • More radical than American revolutionaries. • French revolutionaries rejected existing French society, referring to it as the ancien regime (the old order) • French revolutionaries sought new political, social, and cultural structures.
France: The Road to Revolution • In the 1780’s, half of the French government’s revenue went to pay off war debt. • Much of this debt involved French support of American Revolution. • King Louis XVI increased taxes on the French nobility. • Aristocrats protested. • Estates General, assembly that represented French population through estates, met to address crisis.
France: The Road to Revolution • Three estates of the ancien regime represented the people as follows: • First Estate: 100,000 Roman Catholic clergy • Second Estate: 400,000 nobles • Third Estate: 24,000,000 serfs, free peasants, urban residents • Each estate received only one vote.
France: The Road to Revolution • In May 1789, King Louis XVI called the Estates General into session at the royal palace of Versailles in hopes of authorizing new taxes. • Representatives for the Third Estate pushed for the assembly to vote with majority representation. • Fearful of rebellion, the king gave in after street riots in Paris in the summer of 1789.
A New Political Regime • The new assembly with its middle class majority devised a new political regime. • The assembly crafted The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. • This new law provided for natural rights of liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression, and free expression of ideas.
The French Republic is Born • A popular riot stormed a political prison, the Bastille, on July 14, 1787. • The riot at the Bastille sparked riots all over France. • Soon after this, peasants seized manorial records and many acquired estates. • This triggered a general proclamation abolishing manorialism. • Although aristocratic rule remained in place, the principles of aristocratic rule were in trouble. • The privileges of the church were attacked and church property was seized.
The French Republic is Born • Early reforms met resistance from the church and the aristocracy. • Civil wars broke out all over France. • Monarchs in Austria and Prussia invaded France to support the king and restore the ancien regime. • Revolutionary leaders established the Convention, a new legislative body. • The new constitution proclaimed France a republic and abolished the monarchy. • A strong parliament was set up giving about one-half the adult male population—those with property—the right to vote.
The French Republic is Born • The guillotine was instituted to provide more humane executions. • King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine after being found guilty of treason.
The French Republic is Born • Maximilien Robespierre and his radical Jacobian party: • Used campaign of terror • Set up a cult religion to replace Catholicism. • Closed churches • Forced priests to take wives • He was executed by guillotine after he attempted to rid the government of moderate leaders. • He was abandoned by many who once supported him. • While in power, Robespierre: • Instituted metric system • Abolished slavery (reversed later) • Proclaimed universal military conscription. • brought about success with revolutionary armies.
Enter Napoleon Bonaparte • The fall of the radicals led to four years of moderate policies. • In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, a leading general, converted the revolutionary republic to an authoritarian empire. • He reduced Parliament to a rubber stamp. • He established a powerful police system that limited freedom of expression. • He used propaganda to manipulate public opinion. • However, Napoleon confirmed other liberal gains, including freedom of religion and equality for men in a series of law codes. • He developed a centralized system of secondary schools and universities.
Enter Napoleon Bonaparte • Napoleon was driven by ambition. • He devoted most of his attention to expansion abroad. • He was a brilliant military strategist and the greatest general of his time. • Under his leadership, France engaged in a series of wars against all of Europe’s major powers, including Russia. • Under Napoleon, France • Conquered the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, • Occupied the Netherlands, • Defeated Austrian and Prussian forces. • Forced Austria, Prussia, and Russia to ally with him and respect French hegemony in Europe.
Decline of Napoleon • In 1812, Napoleon decided to invade Russia. • He led an army of 600,000 soldiers to Moscow. • He captured the city but the tsar withdrew and refused to surrender. • Russians set Moscow on fire leaving Napoleon’s army without shelter or supplies. • Even though Napoleon surrendered, the Russian winter destroyed his army. • In the end, only 30,000 soldiers made it back to France.
Decline of Napoleon • A coalition of British, Austrian, Prussian, and Russian armies converged on France and forced Napoleon to give up his throne in 1814. • The French monarchy was restored and Napoleon was exiled to a tiny Mediterranean island near Corsica. • In March 1814, he escaped, returned to France, and re-established his army. • For a 100 days he ruled France. • A British army defeated him at Waterloo in Belgium. • He was banished again, this time to the isolated island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. • He died of natural causes in 1821.
Haiti: Prelude to Revolution 18th Century Hispaniola was a major center of sugar production Spanish colony of Santo Domingo occupied eastern part of island. The French colony of Saint-Dominigue occupied western part of island. Saint-Dominique was the richest of all European colonies in the Caribbean. Sugar, coffee, and cotton produced in Saint-Dominique accounted for 1/3 of France’s foreign trade.
Spanish Colonial Government • Two centers of authority in America: Mexico (New Spain) and Peru (New Castile) • Governed by a viceroy who answered to King of Spain. • Viceroys had considerable power. • Viceroys were monitored by audiencias, educated lawyers who conducted reviews and reported to the king. • Most Spanish colonists preferred to live in cities. • Cities had a dense network of bureaucratic government control.
Haiti: Prelude to Revolution • 1790 • 40,000 white French settlers • 30,000 gens de couleur (mulattoes and freed slaves) • 500,000 black slaves, most of whom were born in Africa • Social hierarchy • Wealthy planters • Gens de couleur farmed small plots of land • Slaves • Late 18th century • Saint-Domingue had large communities of maroons, runaway slaves.
Haiti: Prelude to Revolution • Colonial governors had sent 800,000 gens de couleur to fight in American war of Independence. • In North America, the gens de couleur became familiar with ideas of freedom and equality. • The French Revolution of 1789 inspired white settlers to seek the right to govern themselves. • White settlers, however, did not support equality for the gens de couleur.
Haiti: Prelude to Revolution August 1791 • 12,000 slaves killed white settlers, burned homes, and destroyed plantations. • 100,000 slaves joined rebellion. • Slaves had military experience from Africa. • French troops arrived in 1792 to restore order.
Enter: Toussaint Louverture Francois-Dominique Toussaint • son of slaves • Learned to read and write from Roman Catholic priest • Domestic servant • Rose to position of livestock overseer on plantation. • When slave revolt broke out, Toussaint helped his masters escape then joined the rebels. • He built a strong, disciplined army. • In 1797, he led an army of 20,000. • In 1801, he established a constitution that gave equal rights to all residents of Saint Dominique.
Haiti Becomes an Independent Republic • 1802 • Napoleon sent 20,000 troops to restore French authority. • Toussaint attempted peaceful settlement. • French commander arrested him and sent him to France. • Toussaint died in jail of maltreatment in 1803. • Yellow fever killed many of the French troops. • Toussaint’s successors drove out the remaining French troops. • In 1803, Haiti declared independence. • In 1804, they established Haiti, the second independent republic in the western hemisphere.
