Chapter 17 and 18

Chapter 17

This chapter focused on the Atlantic revolutions. It reviewed the North American Revolution, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, and the Spanish American Revolution. The commonality between these revolutions was "'popular sovereignty'...the authority to govern derived from the people rather than from God or from established tradition." (p. 500) Besides this commonality, the revolutions arose for different reasons. The following paragraphs will discuss the revolution of each area.

North American Revolution (1775-1787)

Those running the British colony did not see reason to not be part of Britain as it had "few drawbacks." (p. 502) Britain did not micro manager or over control North American colonies, so the colonies were not as strict as Europe was. Due to the lack o control from Britain, the British colonists revolted with Britain put more restrictions on them.

This revolution was different than the other revolutions because the people running the government and the government foundation did not change after the revolution. There was change in how much land one needed to vote which lead to more people being able to vote. With more voters that were not wealthy, the colonies became more equal than they had been (for white men).

The "U.S. Constitution -- with its Bill of Rights, checks and balances, separation of church and state and federalism -- was one of the first sustained efforts to put the political ideas of the Enlightenment into practice."

French Revolution (1789-1815)

This revolution started when part of France's "legal orders" "organized themselves as the National Assembly." (p. 504) This assembly made up about 98% of France. They went on to make "the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen." (p. 504)

Taxes were raised on everyone so the people were all treated equally and one could not "gorge themselves...while the hungry...goes in want of necessities." (p. 505) This notion was not liked and brought fighting to France.

After the death of two leaders, France started to see major changes. Streets were renamed, and people stopped using their names. More people involved themselves in politics, and this lead to people "belonging to a nation" rather than to "their local community." (p. 506) This also lead to less power from the Church.

Hatian Revolution (1791-1804)

Haiti had thee social groups before the revolution: the slaves, the white which included the rich and the "petits blancs...poor whites," (p. 507) and the "gens de couleur libres...free people of color." (p. 507-508)

The Haitian revolution started with "the Rights of Man" as this term "meant different things to different people." (p. 508) The whites did not believe that the slaves should be equal and this led to much fighting. The slaves fought over many years and eventually won. This revolt became known as "the only completely successful slave revolt in world history." (p. 509)

The slaves changed the countries name to "Haiti," and "all Haitians... (were) black". (p. 509) The country moved from a plantation nation to a self producing nation.

Spanish American Revolution (1810-1825)

Latin America did not have a strong "self-government" (p. 510) so this led to a revolt. The Latin Americans were fighting control from the Spanish and Portuguese. This revolution was "forced" onto Latin America when "the Portuguese royal family was exiled to Brazil." (p. 511)

The "differences of race, culture, and wealth" (p. 512) stopped Latin America from becoming united as one nation as Simon Bolivar wanted to do.

The North American and Spanish revolutions caused the nations to change. Initially the North American area was lacking that of Spanish South America. After the revolutions, North America gre and prospered while South America fell and became "unstable." (p. 513)

The revolutions gave birth to ideas that lead to the end of slavery, and the oppression of women.

Abolition of Slavery

The focus of "liberty and equality" (p. 514) in the American and French revolutions led to people recognizing that slavery was wrong. The growth in England and New England without slaves showed others that "slavery was not essential for economic progress." (p. 514) Britain was one of the strongest voices to end slavery. After Britain ended slavery many countries followed:

·   "most Latin American countries"

·   Brazil

·   Russia (serfdom)

·   eventually the U.S.

Many colored people did not prosper even though slavery ended. There was not land for the colored (except in Haiti). Many were forced into "sharecropping" (p. 514) where they were paid little and dependent on the crops owner. Without the free work of slaves, India and China imported workers into different areas "to work in mines, on sugar plantations, and in construction projects." (p. 515)

Though slaves were freed, they still were restricted. In the Caribbean they had no "local authority." (p. 515) In the U.S. slavery was abolished, but segregation took its place. Beyond segregation, they also were not allowed to vote and many were killed by lynching.

Feminist Beginnings

Women of the 1700's and 1800's started to advocate for women's rights. They were looked to end patriarchy and be considered the same as men. They wanted to have equality in "schools, universities, and the professions." (p. 521) Feminism started in the late 1800's, but it flourished in hte 19th century and is still a powerful force throughout the world.

Chapter 18

This chapter reviewed the Industrial Revolution and looked and how it changed Europe, the U.S., Russia, and Latin America.

Europe was equal to many other areas until the Industrial Revolution. It is thought that Europe was the first to overly expand because:

·   Their states were not united and competed with each other.

·   Europe needed more money so they made more deals with merchants which led to merchants competing to get new ideas.

·   Trade between Europe and other countries was larger than trade elsewhere.

Britain was the first European country to see great leaps during the Industrial Revolution. Some ideas on why this is are:

·   They were more open to other religions and had laws that "protected the interests of inventors." (p. 533)

·   They put the study of "science and technology" together rather than as separate areas. (p. 533)

·   They had an abundant "supply of coal and iron." (p. 533)

·   They were more apt to protect themselves from invasion since they were on an island. (p. 533)

In Europe there were three main classes: The "individual landowning aristocrats", the "middle class", and the "laboring class." The aristocrats owned large pieces of land; during the Industrial Revolutions they focused less on large amounts of land and looked more to industrialized work as "businessmen, manufacturers, and bankers." (p. 535) The middle class gained the most at this time as they already worked in the areas that were seeing great increases. The laboring class ended up with poor working and living conditions due to the increased capitalism with the revolution. The poor living and working conditions of the laboring class led to unions and law that helped them and their families. This in turn lead to cleaner water for them and parks.

In the U.S. Industrial Revolution pioneers wanted to allow everyone a chance to have the products that were now being mass produced. They created companies like "Sears Roebuck's and Montgomery Ward's" (p. 543) which brought clothes to anyone. The "Model T" was also created, and this brought cars to "ordinary people." (p. 543) Division of classes increased in the U.S. during this time and this led to unions, but no laws were made to help the lower class until "after 1900." (p. 545) "Progressive" helped the lower laboring classes get fairer laws, but they were thought to be "socialists" and this was "un-American." (p. 545)

Russia did not change their political system during the Industrial Revolution, so they stayed under the rule of one, the tsar. In Russia change came from the top of their political system rather than the people. The middle class grew, "but they were...dependent on the state for contracts and jobs." (p. 546) The work place was strict and "unsanitary" (p. 546) and the workers had no protection though they were "often erupt in...strikes." (p. 546) These conditions led some to create "an illegal Russian Social-Democratic Party." (p. 546) This party helped workers and led to a "strike (that)...created their own representative councils, called soviets." (p. 547) This strike created a revolution that "forced the tsar's regime to make...reforms." (p. 547) The tsar's reforms did not last and another strike happened; this led to a revolution in 1917 were a "socialist group" (p. 547) took power.

The Industrial Revolution did not lead Latin America to great change or wealth. They were able to take control of their country from those who had immigrated there. Their crops increased, but they did not prosper in other areas as Europe, U.S., and Russia did.