The Atlantic Revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries, inspired by Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty, led to revolutions in North America, France, Haiti, Spanish America, and echoes like the abolition of slavery. These revolutions contributed to the rise of modern nationalism by giving rise to new nations like the United States and establishing national identities in France. Industrialization and new technologies further strengthened nationalist sentiments across Europe and in colonized lands.

1. The Atlantic Revolutions and
Their Echoes
1750-1914
Strayer: Chapter 17

2. Chapter Overview
• Part 1: Comparing Atlantic Revolutions
– The North American Revolution 1775-1787
– The French Revolution 1789-1815
– The Haitian Revolution 1791-1804
– The Spanish American Revolutions 1810-1825

3. • Part 2: Echoes of Revolution
– The abolition of slavery
– Nations and Nationalism
– Feminist Beginnings
• Part 3: Reflections Pros and Cons

4. Comparing Atlantic Revolutions
• 1750-1850: A century of revolutions
• Political revolutions occurred in North America,
France, Haiti, and Spanish South America
• The Columbian Exchange accelerated cultural
diffusion and led to radical ideas
• All were inspired by Enlightenment ideas
• Each attempted to form Enlightened republican
governments with varying levels of success

5. • Enlightenment Ideas That Shaped Revolutions
– Liberty
– Equality
– Free Trade
– Religious Tolerance
– Republicanism and “Popular Sovereignty”
– Human Rationality
– Ending arbitrary rule of divine right monarchs
– Ending special aristocratic privileges

6. • The World by 1750
– Atlantic basin = center of cultural, intellectual,
and biological exchange
– Enlightenment ideas shared in newspapers,
essays, pamphlets, and books
– People began to believe they could actively shape
the world around them
– Arbitrary rule of kings, and singular authority of
the Church questioned
– Huge emphasis on popular sovereignty

7. • New questions arose:
– Were liberty and equality compatible?
– How far should liberty be extended?
– What kind of government- unitary and centralized
or federal and decentralized- would best ensure
freedom?

8. • Major similarity:
– Propelled by Enlightenment ideas
• Major differences to explore:
– Triggered by different circumstances
– Expressed different social and political tensions
– Varying levels of experience with democracy prior
to revolution
– Varied in their outcomes

9. Question
1. In what ways did the ideas of the
Enlightenment contribute to the Atlantic
Revolutions?

10. North American Revolution (1775-1787)
• 1776- Declaration of Independence
– What Enlightenment ideas are found in this
document?
• 1781- Americans win an unlikely military
victory
• 1787- Federal Constitution joins thirteen
colonies into a single nation

11. • Triggered political revolutions around the
Atlantic
• Was politically conservative:
– Originated out of an effort to preserve original
liberties of colonies, not create new ones
– Less profitable than Britain’s West Indian colonies,
the 13 North American colonies benefitted from a
huge amount of autonomy
– American colonists benefitted from trade, and
protection
– American colonists came to see this autonomy as
their birthright

12. – Availability of land led to less poverty and fewer
economic differences between classes than in
Europe
– Revolution DID NOT grow out of class tension, but
from the sudden and unexpected attempt of the
British government to take greater control over its
colonies

13. • So what made it revolutionary?
– The society that emerged in North America prior
to the revolution
– The acceleration of democratic tendencies already
present in the colonies
– Although power remained largely in the hands of
the wealthy, lower property requirements for
voting allowed more small landowners to vote and
hold office
– Widening of political participation eroded the
traditional power of he landed gentry

14. • Successes of the American Revolution:
– Declaration of Independence sets precedent for
the right of people to revolt against unjust rule
– US Constitution was one of the first sustained
efforts to put Enlightenment ideas into practice
• Bill of Rights
• Checks and Balances
• Separation of Church and State
• Federalism
• Unresolved Issues:
– Slavery

15. Questions
1. In what ways was the American Revolution
revolutionary?
2. In what ways was the American Revolution
not revolutionary?

16. The French Revolution (1789-1815)
• Causes
– Enlightenment thought
– Humiliating loss in the Seven Years War
– Debt from giving monetary aid to American
Revolutionaries
– Increasing taxes
– Consecutive years of bad weather and poor
harvests
– Emergence of middle class who resent their lack
of power

17. • Louis XVI attempts to solve problems
– Calls the Estates General to raise taxes
– Third Estate refuses to vote unless demands for
greater equality are met
– Louis XVI bans Third Estate from meeting
– Members of the Third Estate and some
sympathizers write The Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen
• National Assembly formed as planning for a
new government, a limited monarchy, begins

18. Distribution of Wealth and Population in France
before the French Revolurion
1.5
98
10
20
70
0.5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1st Estate 2nd Estate 3rd Estate
Population
Wealth

19. • French Revolution: More violent and far-reaching
than the American Revolution
– Original goal: create a constitutional monarchy and
promote harmony
– Ideals faded as the revolution turned radical
• Urban crowds protested violently
• Peasants attacked castles of their lords, “The Great Fear”
• National Assembly abolished noble titles and formally end
feudalism
• Church lands seized and sold
• Civil Constitution of the Clergy made priests government
employees
– 1793, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette executed

20. • 1793-1794: The Reign of Terror, the
radicalization of the French Revolution
– Most violent and politically radical phase of the
revolution
– Turned of many of the revolution’s supporters like
Thomas Jefferson
– Dominated by Robespierre and the Committee of
Public Safety
– Tens of thousands of “enemies of the revolution”
die on the guillotine, most were just normal
people

21. • Radical attempts to create a new French
society
– Differed from America in its attempt to totally
recreate the social order
– New revolutionary calendar attempts to break
with the Roman calendar
– Became a republic and briefly passed universal
male suffrage
– Created a citizens army of over 800,000 people
(service was mandatory for all male citizens)
– State replaced the Church in registering all births,
deaths, and marriages

22. • Moved politics into the public sphere for the
first time ever as people…
– Joined political clubs
– Served on public committees
– Ran for public office
– Began to think of themselves as citizens of a
nation

23. The Hymn Of Liberty
Oh Liberty, sacred Liberty
Goddess of an enlightened people
Rule today within these walls.
Through you this temple is purified.
Liberty! Before you reason chases out deception,
Error flees, fanaticism is beaten down.
Our gospel is nature
And our cult is virtue.
To love one’s country and one’s brothers,
To serve the Sovereign People-
These are the sacred tenets
And pledge of a Republican!

24. • The influence of the French Revolution
spreads through Napoleon’s conquests (1799-
1815)

25. • Napoleon’s accomplishments
– Seizes power in a coup d'état but becomes emperor
through a plebiscite
– Tamed the French Revolution
– Conquered a huge empire spanning most of Europe
– Ended feudalism
– Codified laws into the Napoleonic Code
– Insisted on legal equality and religious tolerance
– Formed rational governments
– Stimulated national consciousness throughout
Europe

26. • Despite all of this, Napoleon is only considered
politically moderate
• Napoleon’s liberal ideas
– Civil equality, secular law code, religious freedom,
freedom of occupation and promotion based on
merit
• Napoleon’s rejected radical ideas
– Did not grant suffrage to women or abolish slavery
• Embraced social equality but rejected liberty
• Became an emperor

27. Questions
1. In what ways was the French Revolution
similar to the American Revolution?
2. In what ways was the French Revolution
different from the American Revolution?

28. The Haitian Republic (1799-1804)
• A unique, and unprecedented event in world
history
• Marks the only time a revolution completely
changed the social order by granting the
lowest group within the society full equality
and liberty
• Made Haiti the first independent nation to
reject slavery

29. • Haiti before the revolution
– Richest colony in the world
– More than 8,000 plantations
– Produced 40% of the world’s sugar
– Produced 50% of the world’s coffee
– Enormous inequality
• 500,000 slaves
• 40,000 whites including plantation owners, merchants,
lawyers, and petits blancs (poor whites)
• 30,000 gens de couleur libres (free blacks)

30. • How the Haitian Revolution was inspired by
the American and French Revolutions
– Grands blancs (rich white landowners) wanted
more autonomy and fewer trade restrictions
– Petits blancs wanted equality and citizenship for
all whites
– Entrenched racism kept both white groups from
considering extending the “rights of man” to all
free people
– Slaves wanted to end slavery

31. • In 1791, a rumor spreads among the slaves of
Haiti that the king of France has abolished
slavery sparking revolution

32. • Revolution spreads turmoil through Haiti
– Factionalization
– Spain and Britain attempt to grab territory
– Confusion and brutality
• 1000 plantations destroyed
• Thousands killed in massacres
• Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave,
emerges as the leader
– Overcomes internal division
– Turned back Napoleon’s army

33. • Positive effects of the Haitian Revolution on
Haiti
– Slavery ends- full equality and citizenship granted
– Becomes the first non-European state to emerge
from Western colonialism
– Private and public lands redistributed to former
slaves and free blacks  small scale farms
• Negative effects of the Haitian Revolution on
Haiti
– Violence and distrust and division between racial
groups
– Weak economy
– Unstable authoritarian government

34. • Legacy of the Haitian Revolution
– Source of hope for slaves in the Atlantic world
– Source of fear for slave owners in the Atlantic
world
– Boosted abolitionist movements
– Increased Creole fear of non-European peoples in
Spanish and Portuguese Americas
– Increased slavery in Cuba as Haitian sugar
declined
– Increased slavery in the USA following the
Louisiana Purchase

35. Questions
1. In what ways were the origins of the Haitian
Revolution similar to the French and
American Revolutions?
2. What makes the Haitian Revolution different
from the other Atlantic Revolutions?

36. Spanish American Revolutions (1810-1825)
• Inspiration for the revolutions
– Success of American, French, and Haitian
revolutions
– Creoles angered over Spanish monarchy’s attempt
to take greater control over colonies
– Creoles familiar with Enlightenment ideas

37. • Why did it take so long for the revolutions to
begin?
– Unlike 13 colonies, little tradition of self
government
– Societies more stratified and more authoritarian
– Whites fearful of losing control of much larger
non-white populations, especially after Haitian
Revolution Peninsulares
Creoles
Mestizos and Mulattoes
Free Native Americans and Africans
Slaves

38. • Napoleon’s actions in Europe thrust the
revolution upon the colonists
– 1808- Napoleon invades Portugal forcing the royal
family into exile in Brazil
– 1808- Napoleon invades Spain deposing king
Ferdinand VII
– Lack of royal authority threw Spanish colonists
into disarray
– Creoles work to establish control  independence
movements

39. • Mexico’s journey to independence
– Began in 1810 as a peasant insurrection led by
priests Miguel de Hidalgo and Jose Morelos
– Creole landowners raise an army, crush the
rebellion and execute Hidalgo
– Later, Creole elites control the movement to
independence in 1821
– Creole military leader Augustin de Itrubide
becomes emperor of Mexico
– In 1825, Mexico became a republic

40. • In South America, Creoles break the Spanish
imperial state but maintain colonial social order
– Most Creole leaders were liberals inspired by
Enlightenment ideas
– Creole leaders like Jose de San Martin and Simon
Bolivar gain the support of “the people”
– Relied on nativism to unite Americanos against the
Spanish
– Mestizos joined the revolution believing promises
of greater social status
– Few promises of the revolutions were kept

41. • Geography made uniting the Spanish colonies
impossible
– To many different regions with distinct local
identities and different needs

42. Questions
1. How were the Latin American Revolutions
shaped by the American, French, and Haitian
revolutions that occurred before them?
2. Describe the major issues that delayed the
beginning of the Latin American revolutions

43. Echoes of the Atlantic Revolutions
• Abolition of slavery
• Rise of nations and nationalism
• Emergence of feminism

44. Abolition of Slavery
• Between 1790 and 1890 slavery lost its
legitimacy and was largely ended
– Enlightenment though was critical of slavery
– American and French revolutions focused on
liberty and equality raising more questions
– Quakers and other Protestant sects found slavery
repugnant to their religion
– Emergence of industrial society further made
slavery obsolete

45. • Actions of slaves also helped end slavery
– Haitian revolution followed by three more major
slave revolts in the British West Indies
– Illustrated that enslaved people were not content
– Brutal suppression outraged the British public

46. • Britain, the nation that once dominated the
slave trade brings about its end
– Puts international pressure on other nations to
end slavery
– 1807- Britain bans sale of slaves within its empire
– Strongest navy in the world actively patrols oceans
disrupting international slave trade
– 1834- Britain emancipates all slaves in its empire

47. • Coerced labor comes to an end outside the
British empire
– Most Latin American countries abolish slavery in
the 1850s
– Russian Czar Alexander II emancipates serfs
– Emancipation Proclamation ends slavery in the
USA in 1863
– In 1888, Brazil becomes the last nation in the
Americas to end slavery

48. • Resistance came from slave owners and slave
traders in the colonies and in West Africa
• Kingdoms like Asante began to use slave labor
to build plantation economies
• Haiti was the only nation to abolish slavery and
grant full equality to formerly enslaved people
• For former slaves in other nations,
emancipation meant little more than freedom
• Reluctance of former slaves to continue
plantation work  a new wave of global
migration and an influx of indentured servants
from India and China

49. • Former slave trading kingdoms began to rely
on slave labor as they transitioned to
plantation economies
– Ironically, Europeans would use the need to end
slavery in Africa as an excuse to establish colonies
throughout the continent in the late 19th century

50. Questions
1. Describe how the end of slavery came about
in the Atlantic world
2. How did the end of slavery affect the loves of
formerly enslaved peoples?

51. Nations and Nationalism
• Nation: A group of people who
share culture, ethnicity and language, often possessing
or seeking its own independent government
• A nation is not necessarily a country. A country is a
state ruled by a centralized government within defined
borders.
• Although "nation" is also commonly used as a synonym
for state or country, a nation is not identical to a state.
• Countries where the social concept of "nation"
coincides with the political concept of "state" are
called nation states.

52. • Atlantic revolutions gave rise to modern
nations
– Represented a major shift away from local
loyalties with little connection to the empires that
controlled them, often associated with the early
modern era
– Revolutions gave rise to new nations in the
Americas and a new sense of nation in France
– Resistance to Napoleon’s army across Europe also
led to nationalism

53. • Emergence of industrial society further aided
the rise of nationalism
– Urbanization broke local bonds and traditions
– Emerging sciences weakened the hold of religion
for some
– Printing standardized the vernacular and helped
create shared national narratives
– A reawakening of older cultural identities was
cultivated as part of the creation of collective
identity

54. • Nationalism became a flexible tool for
governments and independence seeking groups
– Inspired the unification of Italy and Germany in 1871
– Encouraged Greeks and Serbs to rebel against
Ottoman rule
– Czechs and Hungarians demanded greater
autonomy from the Austrian empire
– Poles and Ukrainians became increasing aware of
Russian oppression
– Irish efforts to gain “home rule” from the British
increased
– A small Zionist movement of Jewish people seeking
a homeland in Palestine began

55. • Rivalries between European nations grew and
fueled competition for colonies in Africa and Asia
• Governments acting on behalf of their nations
sought to instill national loyalties
– Increased emphasis on establishing schools, public
rituals, mass media, and military services
• Nationalism was not limited to Europe
– “Egypt for Egyptians” movement in the 1870s against
British and French presence
– Desire to protect Japanese culture against foreign
influences
– Western educated Indians began to think of their
diverse area as a nation deserving of independence

56. Questions
1. How did the Atlantic Revolutions help bring
about nationalism?
2. How did industrialization bring about
nationalism?

57. Feminism Begins
• Feminist thought originates in the
Enlightenment
– Condorcet argued that women were equal to men
– Mary Wollstonecraft wrote The Vindication of the
Rights of Women during the French Revolution
arguing for greater rights and equality for women
– Olympe de Gouges wrote The Declaration of the
Rights of Women in direct response to The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
demanding basic legal protection for women in
France

58. • Women participated in revolutions and social
movements as a way of trying to gain more
power in their societies
– Angry Parisian women marched on Versailles and
forced Louis XVI to swear allegiance to the
revolution
– Were active participants and sometimes leaders in
abolition movements
– Shared ideas across national boundaries forming
international organizations

59. • Although women briefly gained suffrage
during the French Revolution, they would not
gain full legal and political equality in most
parts of the Western world until the 20th
century

60. Question
1. What factors contributed to the emergence
of the feminist movement in the West?