Download Political Revolutions of the First Global Age American Revolution

Political Revolutions of the First Global Age
American Revolution
The war that gave birth to a new nation in North America marked a turning point in world history, as for the first time a colony
wrested independence from its imperial master. The American victory over formidable odds became a symbol of the fight for
freedom the world over.
Great Britain’s colonial policy toward its North American holdings changed dramatically after the conclusion of the French and
Indian War in 1763, prompted in part by the enormous war debt Britain had accumulated. Prime Minister George Grenville advocated raising additional funds from the colonies themselves. In 1765, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act, which imposed taxes on a wide variety of printed materials. The American colonists were outraged over the new levy, and their protests led
to the Stamp Act riots. In 1766, Parliament admitted that the Stamp Act had proved unenforceable and repealed it, but it did not
abandon its attempts to exert greater control over colonial affairs.
Throughout the tension over the Townshend Acts in 1768, the Boston Massacre in 1770, the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and the
Coercive Acts of 1774, the Americans became more and more divided from their British brethren, and the radicals gained greater
acceptance among colonial political circles. Slowly, a new ideology began to emerge from this struggle to defend colonial
rights—independence. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and became the first
colonial-wide governing body. The Second Continental Congress, which convened in May 1775, took significant steps toward
advancing the cause of independence.
The month before the second congress convened, the British Army had engaged colonists from the towns of Lexington and Concord, just 20 miles outside Boston, in the first armed conflict of what would become the American Revolution. The Battles of
Lexington and Concord had been relatively small but held tremendous symbolic significance, and they were widely publicized as
an effort by colonial farmers to defend their homes from aggressive British regulars. As British officials and Americans loyal to
British rule barricaded themselves in Boston, thousands of men flocked to the Boston area from around New England to fight the
British.
A second and more organized conflict occurred in June 1775, when the British Army attempted to retake the hills surrounding
Boston in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Although the colonists eventually were forced to surrender their position, the cost of British
victory was extremely high, with far more British killed in action than Americans. Recognizing the march of events, the Continental Congress created the Continental Army and appointed Virginian George Washington its commander in chief. Over the
course of the following year, Washington managed to force the British to evacuate Boston in March 1776 following the Battle of
Dorchester Heights. By mid-1776, a groundswell of public support began to emerge for independence. On July 4, 1776, the congress announced its adoption of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
MLA Citation “American Revolution.” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Haitian Revolution
The series of events that transformed the French colony of Saint-Domingue into the independent nation of Haiti lasted from 1791
to 1804. In the context of the expectations raised by the French Revolution, the enslaved Africans and free mulattoes of the colony not only abolished slavery but liberated themselves from French rule. Perhaps the most important event in the history of 18thcentury Atlantic slavery, the revolution served as an inspiration for countless other revolts in the Caribbean and North America.
In addition to the 500,000 slaves and 30,000 whites who lived in France’s most prosperous sugar colony in 1789, there was also a
group of free blacks and mixed bloods almost equal in number to the whites on whom the white leadership often depended for
military service. The egalitarian ideology of the French Revolution inspired many people in Saint-Domingue to rethink their positions. In 1791, the French National Assembly passed a law that entitled all men born of free parents to be considered full citizens
in the colonies. The whites in Saint-Domingue refused to apply this legislation, and in July and August, fighting between them
and free blacks broke out in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
At the same time, slaves began to revolt against their masters on the islands’ plantations. Faced with widespread disorder, the
white government needed the free black militias and extended full citizenship to all free men of color in April 1792. By early
1793, as Spain and Britain entered into war with France, Spanish officials began to offer assistance to the ex-slave armies. As the
French revolutionary government worked to gain the allegiance of the population by abolishing slavery in 1794, white planters
appealed to Britain for help.
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Leadership of the revolution passed to Toussaint L’Ouverture after 1794. In addition to being a brilliant general, L’Ouverture
showed considerable skill in manipulating the French government and managing the tensions between Haiti’s different social
groups. L’Ouverture was betrayed during the French invasion of 1802 sent by the government of Napoleon Bonaparte. His arrest
provoked intense colonial war led by L’Ouverture’s general Jean-Jacques Dessalines. The French were forced to abandon the
colony in 1803, and on January 1804, Dessalines proclaimed the independence of the new country of Haiti.
MLA Citation “Haitian Revolution.” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Revolution of 1830
The term Revolution of 1830 refers to a series of revolts against conservative governments in Europe, starting with the July Revolution in France. Only in France and Belgium, however, did the Revolution of 1830 have lasting effects.
The July Revolution was a popular uprising against the increasing autocracy of French king Charles X, who sought to reestablish
for the monarchy the privileges and position it had before the French Revolution. Charles had come to the throne in 1824, after
the death of his older brother, Louis XVIII. Charles had allied himself with the ultraloyalists, who sought a return to absolutism
and rejected constitutional government. The reactionary policies of Charles were not popular among many elements of the French
population. Radicals sought a return to the republic established in the 1790s, members of the liberal middle class sought a greater
role in government, and the working class and poor wanted improved economic conditions.
Charles became more reactionary as the calls for reform grew louder. On July 26, 1830, Charles published several ordinances that
threatened to undermine the Charter of 1814, which called for France to become a constitutional monarchy. He dissolved the
Chamber of Deputies, disenfranchised a large portion of the electorate by allowing only the rich and privileged to vote, and restricted freedom of the press.
The reaction was swift. Riots erupted in Paris on July 27, and royal forces were unable to control the armed insurrection that
followed. Charles was surprised by the strength of the uprising. The last Bourbon king of France, he abdicated the throne on August 2. The French Parliament proclaimed the duke of Orléans, Louis-Philippe, the “King of the French”—a title meant to indicate that his affiliation with the people of France was stronger than with the country itself. Louis-Philippe had been a supporter of
liberal reform and was widely popular in Paris.
The revolution in France foreshadowed uprisings in other European countries in 1830. Not all were successful. Revolts in Italy,
Germany, and Poland were suppressed. In Belgium, revolutionaries rose up against the government of the Netherlands. On October 4, Belgium declared its independence, and William I of the Netherlands prepared to go to war to end the revolt. On December
20, the other European powers intervened and imposed an armistice. One month later, at an international conference, Belgium
was declared an independent and neutral state.
MLA Citation “Revolution of 1830.” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Revolutions of 1848
In 1848, a series of revolutions swept across Europe. It was an extraordinary universal upheaval, the likes of which Europe had
never seen. Only Great Britain and Russia remained unscathed. In general, the revolutions were prompted by economic depression, crop failures from the prior three years, and political discontent of the liberal middle classand nationalistic groups. The revolutionaries shared several goals in common: the establishment of constitutional governments, the independence and unification
of national interests, and an end to serfdom and manorial limitations.
The revolutions began in February in Paris against the monarchy of King Louis-Philippe. Under tremendous pressure, LouisPhilippe abdicated, and revolutionaries proclaimed the French Second Republic, establishing government-sponsored workshops
to provide work for the unemployed. Socialist workers invaded the Constitutional Assembly and proclaimed a new revolutionary
state.
Over the next several months, revolution spread quickly to other European countries. Hungarians demanded autonomy from the
Austrian Empire, and a huge uprising of Viennese students and workers marched in the streets with their own demands. Prince
Metternich, the most prestigious figure in the Austrian government, fled to London as Emperor Ferdinand I abolished serfdom
and promised reforms. In Prussia, King Frederick William IV was forced to agree to a liberal constitution and merger into a new
German state, and workers in Berlin issued a series of socialist demands.
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Though the revolutionary forces badly frightened conservative governments, they were defeated without great difficulty. In Paris,
the French government abolished the national workshops, which led to another uprising. The French Army quickly defeated the
rebellious Parisian working class. Conservatives assumed power in France as Louis Napoleon (soon to become Emperor Napoleon III) won a sweeping victory in the French presidential election.
The Austrian government also reasserted its authority in mid-summer. The Austrian Army crushed a working-class revolt in Prague in June, and in October, it besieged the students and working-class radicals in Vienna. Austrian conservatives forced Ferdinand I to abdicate in December in favor of Franz Joseph I. By the summer of 1849, Austrian and Russian forces had defeated the
Hungarian independence movement.
Conservatives also gained control in Prussia when Frederick William IV disbanded the Prussian Constituent Assembly and issued
a conservative constitution. In the spring of 1849, the Frankfurt Assembly elected Frederick William emperor of the new German
state, but he refused to accept the principle of election and reasserted royal authority in Prussia.
Thus, the Revolutions of 1848 were unsuccessful in the sense that they united conservative forces and failed to bring about democratic reform.
MLA Citation “Revolutions of 1848.” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Revolutions in Latin America (Overview)
The Stage for Revolution
In Latin America. In the Spanish colonies, there was a class of people called Creoles. They were people born in South Ameri-
ca of Spanish parentage. As landowners, mine owners, and merchants, the Creoles made up a certain class of elite who benefited
from Spain’s commercial dealings with its colonies. At the same time, Creoles were not treated like peninsular Spaniards. They
were not allowed to hold certain government or church posts.
In Spain. A series of events led up to political changes in Spain that permanently affected its ability to maintain its South
American colonies. First, Spain allied with France in 1796. As Napoleon I gained power, he reduced the effectiveness of Spain’s
throne. He also used Spain’s weakness to get at Portugal. The Portuguese royal family escaped to Brazil. The Spanish king Carlos
IV abdicated, and his son, Ferdinand VII, was also removed from power. Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, then became
king of Spain. Resistance to the French occupation led to the formation of a Cortes, or parliament. Barely able to hold its own
against the French presence, the Cortes was certainly unable to control the Spanish colonies. The Creoles, eager to take their
rightful place as leaders instead of as commercial tools for the peninsular Spaniards, sought to take advantage of the Cortes’ instability.
Independence—One Step at a Time
Northern South America. In 1811, a newly established Creole-dominated government proclaimed Venezuela’s indepen-
dence. It was short-lived, though, as royalists—Spaniards and colonists still loyal to Spain’s dominance over its South American
colonies—regained control within a year. Then followed a decade of strife as patriots—the revolutionaries—and royalists fought
to control one area after another. It wasn’t until June 1821 that the patriot leader Simón Bolívar and his troops put down the final
stronghold of Spanish resistance in the North. Not long after, the provinces that would become Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela,
and Panama emerged as independent republics.
Southern South America. In 1810 in Buenos Aires, a junta was formed. The Creole-dominated junta set about to secure
control of the entire region. The Creoles in one region were able to win domination quite quickly. As a result, the independent
republic of Paraguay was formed in 1811. It took several years to flush Spanish loyalists out of the interior regions of Argentina.
That republic claimed its independence in 1816.
The junta’s greatest challenge was to secure the mountainous regions of what would become Chile and Peru. Brilliant strategic
moves by several patriot military leaders, including José de San Martín, subdued Spanish resistance in the mountains as well as
on the western coast. Chile gained its independence in 1818 and Peru in 1821.
Brazil. By contrast, Brazil’s path from colony to independent republic was a very smooth road. Brazil was not a Spanish colony
but a Portuguese one. In 1808, when the Portuguese royal family fled to Rio de Janeiro, the colony benefited from their presence.
The prince regent João VI established trade with friendly nations and encouraged local industries. The Creoles were pleased at
the status they gained from the royal family’s proximity. At the same time, they resented the thousands of Portuguese who
flocked to Brazil to share that status.
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A revolution in Portugal in 1820 sparked Brazil’s move for independence. The revolutionary government took actions that made
the Creoles feel that they were being “demoted” to colonial status—back to where they had been before 1808—both socially and
economically. João returned to Portugal at the new government’s behest. He left behind his son and heir, Pedro I. The Brazilians’
fears were realized, so they urged Pedro to resist the Portuguese government’s demands (to return to Portugal) and to become
Brazil’s leader instead. December 1822 saw Pedro as the constitutional emperor of Brazil.
Mexico. Mexico’s bid for independence is marked by a significant difference from the South American movements. In Mexico,
Creoles, Indians, and mixed-blood peoples all joined in the revolution, making it as much a social as a political effort.
Taking advantage of the 1820 revolution in Spain, certain factions organized under the Creole officer Augustín de Iturbide. Diplomatically, Iturbide reconciled with rebel leader Vicente Guerrero. He suggested independence from Spain and forming a Mexican monarchy along with the religious supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church. The united forces squelched royalist holdouts
and proclaimed Mexican independence on September 28, 1821.
Central America. The new “state” included the captaincy general of Guatemala, which comprised the modern nations of Cos-
ta Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Iturbide could not maintain his power base, however, and fled the
country. The captaincy general of Guatemala declared its own independence and formed the United Provinces of Central America
in 1823. Lacking a central government, industry, and a military structure, that organization soon dematerialized. By 1837-1838,
the United Provinces had dissolved and left five independent nations in its place.
The Independent Nations
Whether the revolution took a decade, as in Venezuela, or closer to a year, as in Brazil, the results were no less significant to the
Latin American states and to their former ruling nations. What is perhaps most striking is that though different groups were acting
independently, almost the entire continent attained its independence within a decade.
MLA Citation “Revolutions in Latin America (Overview).” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
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