Download Revolutions and National States in the Atlantic World

Revolutions and National States
in the Atlantic World
Chapter 28
Intro: Popular Sovereignty and Political
Upheaval
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Impact of Enlightenment ideas
Government for the people
Against monarchical and aristocratic regimes
North America: against British rule -> successful
France: against monarchy -> failed, but lasting
impact
Enlightened and Revolutionary Ideas
• Most settled, agricultural societies were monarchies
(justification through divine sanction)
• Enlightenment Ideas (from philosophes):
– Popular sovereignty: government as contract between
rulers/ruled
– religious tolerance and freedom of expression
– Against legal and social privileges of aristocrats
• But, not for all, just for those like them (educated
men)
• Ideas adopted by revolutionary leaders to justify
reform of political and social structure
The American Revolution
• Cause: weakening royal power (distance and
inefficiency), colonists were accustomed to some
autonomy
• 1760s: Britain tried to reassert control (needed $
after 7 years war) -> resistance
• Colonists’ argument: no taxation without
representation -> boycotts, protests, Continental
Congress, Enlightenment-inspired
Declaration of Independence,
American Revolution (supported
by other Europeans)
The American Revolution (cont.)
• Colonists won: 1781, British surrendered at
Yorktown and 1783, Treaty of Paris
• New state reflected Enlightenment principles
– Individual rights, popular sovereignty, equality (for
property-owning white men)
– But, British law, culture, and social organization
remained
The French Revolution
• Based on Enlightenment ideas, but more radical
than American: wanted new pol, soc, and cultural
structures (but had no experience with selfgovernment)
• 1780s: gov’t had fiscal problems (lots of debt and
huge bureaucracy) -> taxes on nobility -> protests
-> summoned the Estates General (1 vote per
estate)
– 3rd estate wanted pol and soc reform
The French Revolution (cont.)
• 6/1789: 3rd estate seceded and formed
National Assembly
• 7/1789: storming of the Bastille -> rebellion
throughout France
• 8/1789: Nat. Assem. – Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizen (equality for all, pop sov, indiv rights)
• 1789-91: Nat. Assem. reorganized society (abolished old
order, peasant obligations, church lands, 1st estate)
– Constitution: constitutional
monarchy, republic
The French Revolution (cont.)
• Response: nobles tried to get foreign support
– Nat. Assem. declared war on Austria, Prussia, Spain,
Britain, Netherlands
• The Convention (legislative body elected by
universal male suffrage)
– Universal conscription of people and resources for war
– Sought out enemies at home: executed many with
guillotine (Louis and Marie Antoinette)
The French Revolution (cont.)
• 1793-94: Robespierre and Jacobin party
dominated Convention
– Committee of Public Safety
– Sought complete restructuring: eliminate al Christian
influence – closed churches, forced priests to marry,
developed “cult of reason”, non-religious calendar, renumbered years, more rights
to women, Reign of Terror
(40,000 killed, including Robespierre)
The French Revolution (cont.)
• 1795-1799: conservatives took power and ruled
as The Directory
– Failed to solve problems, inconsistence policies,
challenges to authority
• 1799: overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte (army
officer, revolutionary supporter)
-> set up Consulate (3 consuls,
but he was in charge)
• 1802: declared himself emperor
The Reign of Napoleon
• Political stability, peace with and support of Roman
Catholic Church and pope
• 1804: revised body of law -> Civil Code
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Political and legal equality for adult males
Merit-based qualifications for education and employment
Protection of private property
Confirmed Nat. Assem.’s acts
Upheld patriarchal authority in family
• Adopted in New World and other European states
• But, limited free speech, approved secret police,
ignored elected bodies, set up a dynasty
The Reign of Napoleon (cont.)
• Wanted to expand authority in Europe: Iberian and
Italian peninsula, Netherlands, Austria, Prussia
– Sent brothers to rule conquered lands, formed alliances
with Austria, Prussia and Russia
– 1812: Invasion of Russia = FAIL
• 1814: Britain, Austria, Prussia, and
Russia armies formed coalition
and forced abdication
– Monarchy restored, Napoleon
exiled to Elba
The Reign of Napoleon (cont.)
• 1815: escaped and rebuilt army, ruled France for
100 days
– Defeated by Brits at Waterloo
– -> exiled to St. Helena, died in 1821
Intro: The Influence of Revolution
• Enlightenment ideals appealed to people
throughout the Americas and Europe
• Revolution in Haiti
• Independence movements in Latin America
• Social reform movements (esp. for slaves and
women)
The Haitian Revolution
• Western Hispaniola = Saint Domingue – sugar,
coffee, cotton plantations
• Society: white colonials (administrators,
plantation owners, lower class), gens de couleur
– mulattoes and blacks (artisans, servants,
overseers, land/slave owners), and slaves –
mulattoes and blacks (terrible conditions, high
mortality, maroon communities)
The Haitian Revolution (cont.)
• Issues: gens de couleur (who had fought in Am. Rev.) wanted
equality), with French Rev. -> self-gov’t (but no equality) -> civil
war in 5/1791
• 8/1791: slave revolt
• 1792 and 93: French, British, Spanish troops tried to restore order
• Under Toussaint-Louverture, slaves overcame whites, gens de
couleur, and foreign armies
• 1801: T-L wrote constitution (equality and citizenship for all),
didn’t declare independence
• 1802: Napoleon sent troops to restore order;
yellow fever killed many troops, allowing Haitians
to win
• 1803: independence
Wars of Independence in Latin
America
• Peninsulares ruled, but creoles resented pol and
econ control of Spain and Portugal
• -> tax revolts and uprisings (didn’t really want
equality for all, just wanted to take peninsulares
place)
• 1810-1825: independence movements
-> creole-dominated republics
• Napoleon’s invasion of Iberia
weakened royal authority
Mexican Independence
• 1810: revolt of indigenous and mestizo peasants
led by Hidalgo against colonial rule (invoked
Virgin of Guadalupe and called for
death of Spaniards)
• 1821: Gen. Iturbide (Creole) declared
independence and himself emperor
• 1823: deposed by creole elites -> republic
• 1825: southern Mexico (C. Am.) declared
independence as Central American Federation
and as individual states in 1838
South American Independence
• Led by creole elite Simon Bolivar (inspired by
Enlightenment ideas of pop sov, republicanism)
starting in 1811
• 1819: defeated Spanish in Colombia
– Also campaigned in Venezuela,
Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Chile
• By 1825: success throughout South America
– Wanted to create U.S.-like confederation (e.g., Gran
Colombia), but too many regional difference
Brazilian Independence
• Portuguese royal court fled to Brazil when
Napoleon invaded
• 1821: king returned, leaving son Pedro as regent
• 1822: pressure from creoles for independence ->
Pedro agreed (became Emperor Pedro I)
Creole Dominance
• Independence did not mean social change
– Still stratified
– Military caudillos (with creole elite support) held
military authority
– Slavery continued
– Wealth and authority of Roman Catholic Church
continued
– Repression of lower classes continued
Emergence of Ideologies
• Theorists saw 2 general ideologies as result of revolutions
• Conservatism: change should happen very gradually by
general consensus
• Liberalism: Change = progress, conservatives try to
maintain elite classes and avoid dealing with inequality
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Pro-Enlightenment values (morality and prosperity)
Pro-republicanism and written constitutions
Concern with civil rights (maybe not pol and soc rights, tho)
Post-Industrial Revolution: more dependence on gov’t for
change and more concern with all rights (esp. suffrage)
Testing the Limits of Revolutionary
Ideals: Slavery
• Different understandings of equality and freedom
• Abolition movement began in 1700s by freed
slaves and Christian moralists
• Momentum after the revolution:
– 1807: Parliament voted to end slave trade
(Wilberforce); others followed
Abolition of Slavery
• Bigger challenge: ending slavery itself because of
owners’ property rights
– In Haiti and South American, mostly ended with
independence
– In Mexico, ended by 1829 (to stop Americans form
migrating)
– 1833: Parliament abolished and compensated owners
(Wilberforce), others followed
• Freedom without equality: freed slaves rights were
severely limited (no suffrage,
subordination, low paying jobs,
few owned land)
Testing the Limits of Revolutionary
Ideals: Women’s Rights
• Most philosophes held conservative views of women’s rights
• Women’s rights movement: wanted equal access to education,
professional occupations, suffrage, no absolutism in
government or family
• 1700s: Britain, France, North America: M. Wollstonecraft –
access to education
• Late 1700s: held important roles in revolution
– Gained, but then lost rights in French Rev.
• mid-1800s: grew alongside abolition movement
– Stanton organized conference in Seneca, NY demanding equality with
men
• Limited success, esp. in education
Intro: The Consolidation of National
States in Europe
• Revolutions inspired citizens to develop national
identities
• Leads to nationalism, which can be used by
political leaders
Nations and Nationalism
• Previously, identity was based on family, clan,
city, region, religion
• 1800s: national identity (based on language,
customs, values, history, sometime religion)
– -> nationalism: political loyalty, belief in common
destiny and interests, set territory, promoted by gov’t
(sometimes thru conflict with “others”)
– - showing distinctiveness through history, the arts =
volksgeist (e.g., brothers Grimm stories)
Political Nationalism
• 1800s: nationalism became more political than
cultural
• Focus on increasing loyalty and solidarity, esp.
among minorities or when under foreign rule ->
tried to establish independent states and
sometimes created conflict with other groups
– E.g., Jews: nationalists encouraged distrust of
minorities -> anti-semitism (e.g., pogroms) -> some
migrated elsewhere (W. Europe/N.A.) and some
started Zionist movement (formation of Jewish state
in Palestine)
The Emergence of National
Communities
• Encouraged by French revolutions and subsequent
wars and invasions-> patriotism with flags, anthem,
etc. => national identity
• Congress of Vienna (1814-15): meeting of leaders of
countries who had defeated Napoleon to restore
order
– Dismantled French empire, sovereignty to royal families,
balance of power, suppress national identity in Austrian
empire
– Limited success: balance of power until WWI, censorship
and spies to suppress revolutions, but couldn’t suppress
formation of national identities and ideas of pop sov
Nationalist Rebellions
• 1820s-40s: wave of rebellions
– 1821-30: Greeks gained independence
(with help) from Ottomans
– 1830: France, Spain, Portugal, German states,
Belgium, Italy, Poland – wanted constitutional gov’t
based on pop sov, or independence
• Largely unsuccessful
– 1848: brought down French monarchy, threatened
Austrian empire, plus uprisings in Italy, Prussia, and
German states
– 1849: rebellions put down, but ideas remained
The Unification of Italy
• Disunited since fall of Roman Empire -> regional kingdoms, citystates, ecclesiastical states
• With Congress of Vienna, Austria controlled north and Spain
controlled south
• Increasing nationalism -> call for independence
• Di Cavor (prime minister of K. of Piedmont and Sardinia) united
with nationalists
– With France, kicked Austria out in 1859
• Garibaldi led red shirts in south
conquering Sicily and southern Italy
– Gave south to King of Piedmont and
Sardinia -> Kingdom of Italy (continued
to absorb more territory)
The Unification of Germany
• Previously, semi-autonomous princes ruled
under Holy Roman Emperor
• Otto von Bismarck (Prime Minister of Prussia):
“realpolitik”, reformed and expanded army
– Provoked 3 wars (with Denmark, France, and Austria)
and won -> increased nationalism
– 1871: Prussian king proclaimed
himself emperor of the 2nd Reich
(of all German-speaking people
outside of Austria and Switzerland)
Unifications of Italy and Germany
• In both cases, pol, diplomatic, and mil leadership
combined with nationalism = lots of potential
– National identities developed: flags, anthems, holidays
– Also, took national censuses, schools, army
recruitment
• -> nation-state became principal
form of political organization (and
still is)