Chapter 21: Revolutionary Changes in Atlantic World, 1750-1850

Essential Question:

• How did the costs of imperial wars & the Enlightenment challenge established political structures & forms of governance & religion in Europe & the American colonies?

Prelude to Revolution: Eighteenth-Century Crisis

• European rivalries increased• Dutch attacked Spanish & Portuguese in Americas & Asia• Britain:

– checked Dutch commercial & colonial ambitions– defeated France-Seven Years War (1756–1763)

• French & Indian War in N. America– took over French colonial possessions in Americas & India

• Huge costs drove them to seek new revenue• Enlightenment inspired people to question & protest new ways of

collecting revenue

The Enlightenment & the Old Order

• Enlightenment thinkers applied methods & questions of Scientific Revolution to study of human society

Enlightenment & Old Order

• Enlightenment encouraged reform, not revolution

• Women were instrumental• New ideas attracted

expanding middle class • Americas viewed as new,

uncorrupted- progress would come more quickly

• Benjamin Franklin was symbol of natural genius & potential of America

Folk Cultures & Popular Protest

• Most people didn’t support Enlightenment ideas– tax reforms, etc. were violations of sacred customs

• violent protests meant to restore custom/precedent, not revolutionary change

American Revolution, 1775–1800

• After French defeat in 1763, British faced two problems – Conflict between

settlers & Amerindians

– need to pay debts & defend colonies

• provoked protests in colonies

• policies undermined Amerindian economy

• led to attempts to restrict settlement

• Proclamation of 1763• Quebec Act of 1774

Road to Independence

• British government tried to raise new revenue– Stamp Act of 1765

• Colonists organized boycotts, staged violent protests, and attacked British officials– Boston Massacre

• East India Company granted monopoly on import of tea to the colonies– Boston Tea Party

Course of Revolution, 1775–1783

• Continental Congress formed• Thomas Paine’s pamphlet

Common Sense & Declaration of Independence

• Military sent to pacify colonies– won most battles

– unable to control countryside– unable to achieve compromise

political solution to problems of colonies

Course of Revolution, 1775–1783

• Amerindians allies to both sides

• France entered war as ally of US in 1778– Crucial to success – naval support enabled

Washington to defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia

• Treaty of Paris (1783), gave unconditional independence to former colonies

Construction of Republican Institutions, to 1800

• colonies drafted written constitutions

• Articles of Confederation served as constitution for US during & after war

• democratic but only minority of adult male population could vote

• protected slavery

French Revolution, 1789–1815

• Clergy/nobility controlled most wealth

• Clergy exempt from taxes• Third Estate, rapidly

growing, wealthy middle class (bourgeoisie)

• peasants (80% of population), suffered -poor harvests

• violent protests-not revolutionary

• expensive wars drove France into debt

• kings introduced new taxes & fiscal reforms to increase revenue

• met with resistance

Protest Turns to Revolution, 1789–1792

• King called Estates General for approval of new taxes• Third Estate & some members of First Estate declared National

Assembly-pledged to write constitution to incorporate popular sovereignty

• As king prepared to arrest members of National Assembly, common people of Paris rose up against government-peasant uprisings broke out in countryside

• National Assembly issued Declaration of the Rights of Man• As economic crisis grew worse, Parisian market women marched on

Versailles-captured king & family• National Assembly passed new constitution -limited power of

monarchy, restructured French politics and society. • Austria & Prussia threatened to intervene-National Assembly

declared war in 1791

The Terror, 1793–1794

• King’s attempt to flee, led to execution & formation of new government, the National Convention, which was dominated by radical Mountain faction of Jacobins, led by, Robespierre

• Under Robespierre, executive power placed in hands of Committee of Public Safety, militant feminist forces repressed, new actions against clergy approved, & suspected enemies imprisoned & guillotined

• In July 1794, conservatives in National Convention voted to arrest & execute Robespierre

Reaction & Rise of Napoleon, 1795–1815

• Convention worked to undo radical reforms of Robespierre years, ratified a more conservative constitution & created new executive authority, the Directory

• Directory’s suspension of election results of 1797 signaled end of republican phase of revolution

• Napoleon seized power in 1799-began another form of government: popular authoritarianism

• Napoleon provided internal stability & protection of personal/property rights• negotiated agreement w/ Catholic Church (Concordat of 1801)• Created Civil Code of 1804• declared himself emperor (also in 1804) • Napoleonic system denied basic political & property rights to women-

restricted speech & expression• stability depended on military & diplomacy• No single European state could defeat Napoleon-

– occupation of Iberian Peninsula turned into costly war w/ resistance forces

– attack on Russia ended in disaster • Alliance of Russia, Austria, Prussia, & England defeated Napoleon in 1814

Haitian Revolution, 1789-1804

• French Saint Domingue was one of richest European colonies in Americas

• one of most brutal slave regimes • political turmoil in France led to

conflict between slaves & gens de couleur & whites

• slave rebellion under François Dominique Toussaint L’Ouverture took over in 1794

• Napoleon’s attempt to reestablish French authority led to capture of L’Ouverture- failed to retake colony

• became independent republic of Haiti in 1804

1791-Slaves rebel, end slavery, create Western Hemispheres second

independent nation; Haiti

Congress of Vienna & Conservative Retrenchment, 1815–1820

• From 1814 to 1815, Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria met in Vienna to reestablish & safeguard the conservative order in Europe

• The Congress of Vienna – restored the French monarchy– redrew borders of France & other European states– established Holy Alliance of Austria, Russia, Prussia

• Holy Alliance defeated liberal revolutions in Spain & Italy in 1820• Tried, without success, to repress liberal & nationalist ideas

Nationalism, Reform, Revolution, 1821–1850

• Popular support for national self-determination & democratic reform grew

• Greece gained independence from Ottoman Empire • French monarchy forced to accept constitutional rule & extend

voting privileges• Democratic reform in both Britain & in US• In Europe, desire for national self-determination & democratic

reform led to series of revolutions in 1848

Conclusion: The American Revolution

• expense of colonial wars led to imposition of new taxes on colonials

• Resentment over taxation led British American colonies to fight & win independence

• New American government reflected for contemporaries the democratic ideals of the Enlightenment

Conclusion: The French Revolution

• Revolutionaries in France created more radical representative democracy than found in America

• Events in France led to Haitian Revolution & Haiti’s independence

• Entrenched elite forces within & foreign intervention from without, made French & Haitian Revolutions more violent & destructive than American Revolution

• In France, chaos led to rise of Napoleon

Aftermath of Revolution

• Conservative retrenchment after Napoleon prevailed in the short term in Europe-nationalism & liberalism could not be held in check for long

• New social classes that arose w/ industrial capitalism demanded a new social & political order

• New political freedoms were limited to a minority– Women could not participate until twentieth century– slavery endured until second half of 19th century in America