Revolutions and National States in the Atlantic World

THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE

Revolutions shook the Atlantic world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, bringing unprecedented political and social changes. The American Revolution brought independence from Great Britain and the creation of a new republic. Shortly thereafter a revolution broke out that radically transformed French society and shook Europe to its core. Central and South America, including the Caribbean, would undergo similar transformations. These revolutions spread Enlightenment ideals and promoted the consolidation of national states.

OVERVIEW
Popular Sovereignty and Political Upheaval Obviously, much of the intellectual foundation for this revolutionary age relates back directly to Enlightenment thinkers. Enlightenment ideals such as popular sovereignty, individual freedom, political and legal equality, and the social contract formed the core of the philosophy of these revolutionary thinkers. The American Revolution proved a natural, although at the time surprising, expression of these concepts. The overwhelming victory in the Seven Years War pushed the British ahead in the race for world hegemony, but it also increased tension with their North American co lonies. Jeffersons Declaration of Independence mirrored the influence of Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke as well as the growing colonial dissatisfaction with the nature of their constitutional relationship to England. The colonial victory in the resulting wardue to a combination of American grit, British indecisiveness, and French aid stood as an example for other thinkers dreaming of a new world. The French were inspired by the American example but also pushed to carry out change on a much more profound and radical level. The French Revolution attempted to transform every aspect of the ancien rgime. As expressed in the ideals of The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen , the National Assembly strove to ensure popular sovereignty, the equality of all individuals, and the sanctity of individual rights. Eventually, as is so often the case in revolutions, the French Revolution took a more radical turn that left many of its original and more moderate proponents mystified. The Convention declared France a republic, established the leve en masse, and eventually executed Louis XVI. Maximilien Robespierres establishment of the cult of reason would be the most radical phase of the revolution. The Directory marked a turn back toward a more moderate, if politically indecisive, direction. Napoleon Bonapartes usurpation of power brought the revolution almost full circle. A complicated figure, Napoleon stands somewhere between reformer and dictator. At the height of his power Napoleon controlled most of continental Europe. The disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 turned the tide on his glorious career, and he would eventually die in exile on St. Helena in 1821. The Influence of Revolution The inspiration for revolutionary change was not a European or North American monopoly. The uprising in Saint-Domingue would prove to be the only successful slave revolt in world history. What is more, the efforts of Boukman and especially Louverture in creating an independent Haiti brought about a level of social change even greater than that accomplished by their American or French counterparts. The other Latin American revolutionaries were concerned mainly with political independence and not as committed to social upheaval. Mainly, the creoles hoped to displace the peninsulares while maintaining their own privileged place in society. Leaders such as Augustn de Iturbide, Simn Bolvar, Jos de San Martn, and Bernardo OHiggins carved off most of Latin America from European control. No revolution met the expectations of its early leaders, however. After failing to put together a powerful Latin American federation, Simn Bolvar complained that those who have served the revolution have plowed the sea.

The revolutionary fervor also spawned new political philosophies. The English philosopher Edmund Burke, although a supporter of the colonial position in the American Revolution, decried the extremism of the French Revolution and became the chief early spokesman for conservatism. Liberalism grew from the writings of John Stuart Mill and others. A call for the end to the slave trade and even slavery itself attracted many followers during this period. In 1807 William Wilberforce pushed a bill through Parliament that ended the British slave trade. The British abolished slavery in 1833. Other countries followed suit on both measures. Political freedom and social equality for ex-slaves would be much more difficult to attain. Writers such as Mary Astell and Mary Wollstonecraft, through her A Vindication of the Rights of Women, championed the cause of womens rights. Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls conference in 1848 and demanded rights equivalent to those of men. Once again though the goal of equality would prove elusive.