Download HIS 106 Chapter 24

HIS 106
Chapter 24
Revolutions in the Transatlantic World

The Scientific Revolution and the
Enlightenment led to a series of revolutions
for independence and a new way of governing
between 1776 and 1824 on 3 different
continents
The American Revolution
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Britain’s American colonies rebelled initially
in 1775 after being taxed without
representation in the British Parliament
American colonies had always been drawn in
to British wars and these wars were costly
The British felt Americans should help pay for
these wars and for their own protection

The British Parliament voted to tax the
colonies
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1764, the Sugar Act was passed which lowered
the tax on sugar, but the tax would be collected; it
had been ignored before
Any smugglers would be tried in admiralty courts
without juries
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1765, the Stamp Act put a tax on legal
documents, receipts, playing cards, newspapers,
and pamphlets
This tax affected more people, making them
angry
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1773, the Tea Act allowed the British East India
Company to import tea directly to the colonies
They even lowered the price of tea
Americans cried, “No taxation without
representation”
As a result, Bostonians threw a shipload of tea
into the Boston Harbor

In reprisal, the British:
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Closed the port of Boston
Reorganized the government of Massachusetts
using a military governor
Quartered soldiers in private homes
Did away with trials by jury, no more juries
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Colonies’ response:
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Formed the First Continental Congress to deal
with Britain diplomatically; didn’t work
1775, Battles at Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill,
and Breed’s Hill near Boston between Americans
and the British
Second Continental Congress was called to
organize the American war effort
1776, Declaration of Independence
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After several years of fighting and with aid from
France and Spain, the United States won its
independence in 1781
The new American government adopted many ideas
advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers
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3 branches of government with checks and balances
Bill of Rights
Voting rights
The French Revolution
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Inspired by the American Revolution, the
French rebelled against their own absolute
king who lived well while others couldn’t
afford bread
The French people wanted:
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Manorialism ended
The power of the Catholic Church limited
Rights and representation
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Feeling pressured, King Louis XVI called the
Estates General after 150 years of not meeting
Estates General had 3 groups:
The Clergy with 1 vote
 The Nobles with 1 vote
 The Middle Class with 1 vote
The clergy and the nobles paid no taxes and always
voted together against the middle class, 2-1

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The people and the middle class rebelled in
1789 and their revolution began
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Wrote a Bill of Rights called Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen
Stormed the Bastille on 14 July to get weapons
and to release political prisoners; there were
none there
Stormed manors and burned records of which
peasants owed money to the lord
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Aristocrats lost power and later, many lost
their lives
Church property was seized
Voting rights were established
1792, the revolution turned more radical
during the Reign of Terror led by Maximilien
Robespierre and his Committee of Public
Safety
Reign of Terror
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Few were safe
Anyone deemed an enemy was guillotined,
including Louis XVI and his wife, Marie
Antoinette
Leaders of the revolution and later
Robespierre himself were guillotined
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Reforms:
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Mass education
Votes for all men
Changes in fashion to reflect ancient Greece
Changes in the calendar
Military draft to fight for France against other
European nations trying to stop the French
Revolution

Reign of Terror ended in 1795
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A moderate government ruled until 1799
1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general
from Corsica, took control and established a
thinly disguised dictatorship
Napoleon
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Introduced reforms like a new law code,
equality for men, and secondary schools,
universities, and libraries
He also tried to take over Europe
He got as far as Moscow
This French empire began to fall apart in 1812
and was crushed by other European nations
by 1815
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Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1815
He returned to lead an army against the
British at Waterloo
He was again defeated
This time exiled to the island of St. Helena in
June of 1815
Napoleon died there in 1821

France continued to search for a workable
governmental system throughout the 19th
century
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On the whole, there were no wars among
European nations after the demise of
Napoleon for the rest of the century
Wars of Independence in Latin
America
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By the mid-1820s, Latin America had driven
out their colonial rulers and had broken the
colonial trade monopolies
Although rich in natural resources, the region
did not achieve widespread prosperity and
long-lasting political stability until the 20th
century
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Their wars for independence were not grassroots’ movements by the people
They were started by the Creole elites who
didn’t want to lose any of their power or
influence to European leaders when they
reorganized their colonies
Creoles also wished to keep the social
structure that had them at the top
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Creoles wished to control and reap the
benefits of their trade
These Creole military leaders of the wars held
much of the political power in the newly
independent Latin American nations
These wars for independence hurt their
economies because mines were flooded,
livestock depleted, and the work force
disrupted
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Previously, colonial Latin America was dependent
on Spain or Portugal for their exports and imports
The newly independent Latin America would
become economically dependent on the United
States and Britain
They would export raw materials and import
manufactured goods – Neocolonialism: politically
independent, economically dependent
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As a result, they were dependent on the world
market to set prices; they didn’t set the prices
If there were a depression or a recession in the
world, Latin America felt it
They did not develop their own
manufacturing until the 1930s during the
Great Depression
Independence

Latin America was also influenced by the
Enlightenment and they wanted:
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Representative government
Freedom to trade with different countries
Freedom to choose their own careers
Right to private property
Right to be free and independent
Mexico
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First tried for independence under the
guidance of Father Miguel de Hidalgo in 1810
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United Indians and mestizos
Won some victories
Was captured by Creole elites and executed
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After 1820, when Spain seemed weak, the Creoles
worked for independence under Augustin de Iturbide
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United various forces
Occupied Mexico City in 1821
Proclaimed Emperor over the Mexican Empire that
included Central America
Lasted until 1824 when Central American states pulled
away from Mexico; 1830, they formed independent states
Venezuela, Colombia, & Ecuador
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Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), a Creole officer,
became the leader of the revolt against Spain
in northern South America
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He mobilized those in Venezuela, Colombia, and
Ecuador
Won a series of victories there between 1817 and
1822
These 3 areas initially formed Gran Colombia
until 1830 when they broke into 3 states
Argentina or Rio de la Plata
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1806, citizens of Buenos Aires fought off a
British invasion and did it without Spanish
help
Learned they could look to themselves for
effective military and political action
1810, people in Buenos Aires threw off the
Spanish authority there and sent liberation
forces to Paraguay and Uruguay
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Their armies were defeated there, but Spain
still lost control of these 2 areas
Paraguay asserted its own independence
Uruguay was eventually absorbed by Brazil
Government was determined to liberate Peru,
the greatest stronghold of royalist power and
loyalty in South America
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By 1814, Jose de San Martin (1778-1850), the
leading general of the Rio de la Plata forces ,
had organized and led an army over the Andes
mountains into Chile
By 1817, he helped to establish Chilean
independence leader, Bernardo O’Higgens, as
supreme dictator
Then San Martin constructed a naval force to
carry his army to Peru in 1820
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1821, San Martin drove out the royalist forces
and assumed the title of Protector of Peru
By 1825, all of Spanish South America had
gained political independence
They all began as republics with
representative governments, putting the ideas
of the Enlightenment into action
Brazil
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Brazilian independence came rather
peacefully and simply by comparison
The Portuguese royal family, several thousand
government officials, and members of court
took refuge in Brazil in 1807 when French
troops under Napoleon invaded Portugal
Their arrival in Rio de Janeiro transformed the
city into a court city and capital of the
Portuguese Empire
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Prince regent, Joao (r. 1816-1826), made Brazil a
kingdom so that it could no longer be seen as a
colony of Portugal
Brazil was more prosperous than Portugal
1820, a revolution occurred in Portugal and Joao had
to return home leaving his son Pedro (r. 1822-1831)
to rule in Brazil
Joao encouraged Pedro to be sympathetic to the
political aspirations of the people
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He was
Pedro embraced the idea of Brazilian independence
and declared himself emperor of an independent
Brazil at the end of 1822
Brazil remained a monarchy until 1889 with a
centralized government whose political and social
elite were determined to keep slavery
Wars of independence elsewhere led to the abolition
of slavery or closer to the abolition of slavery
Consequences of Latin American
Independence
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Wars left them
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Free from direct European control
Economically exhausted
Politically unstable
Weak and vulnerable
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Overseas trade had been interrupted and
changed
Trade among republics was difficult because
of poor roads, no railroads; there were
mountains and rivers
There was no money for investment
Latin American governments looked to
Britain for protection, markets, & investment
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Life didn’t change much for the lower classes
There were caste and racial distinctions despite
having been removed from the law
Indian population was not brought into political life
Slave trade had been abolished in most areas
However, slavery, itself, did not disappear from
former Spanish Empire until 1850s and not from
Brazil until 1888
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Landowners became the major governing
group
Much of the population felt no loyalty to the
new regimes
These new regimes operated mostly in the
interests of the Creole elites that had created
them