Deck 17: E: Atlantic Revolutions, Global Echoes 1750-1914

Question 1

Historical Comparison: What accounts for the different goals of the Atlantic revolutions despite the common commitment to Enlightenment ideals?

Answer 1

•Although the Atlantic revolutions were inspired by Enlightenment ideas,political,social,and economic differences account for the different goals of the revolutionaries.
•American Revolution
oGoals: Colonists want local autonomy in their political and economic affairs;independence
oSudden and unexpected interference of British government in colonial affairs perceived as a threat
oSparse population,abundant land,and absence of aristocracy mean fewer social conflicts within colonial society,so there is a stronger basis for unified action in the struggle for independence
•French Revolution
oGoal: Destroy all and start anew
oHostility toward monarchy eventually leads to creation of republic
oSocial conflicts among the three estates leads to social leveling
•Haitian Revolution
oGoals: Independence and abolition of slavery
oSlavery basis of economy
oMost of the population is composed of slaves who identify colonialism with slavery
•Latin American Revolutions
oGoals: Independence and keep nonwhite population under control
oWhite population outnumbered-and feeling threatened-by vast nonwhite population
oInvoke Enlightenment ideas enough to garner popular support

Question 2

Historical Analysis: How did the Atlantic revolutions inspire change in the rest of the world?

Answer 2

•The principles of liberty,equality,and natural rights articulated by Enlightenment thinkers and championed by the Atlantic revolutionaries had a profound impact on many regions,as manifested in the idea of the constitution as the basis of political authority,the establishment of republican governments,and the extension of voting rights first to men and then later to women.
•The ideals that animated the Atlantic revolutions inspired efforts in many countries to abolish slavery.
•The Atlantic revolutions,through their promotion of ideas of equality and natural rights,provided a foundation on which women in these regions based their efforts to secure greater equality and the right to vote.
•Nationalism was nurtured in the Atlantic revolutions,becoming a powerful ideology that shaped much of nineteenth- and twentieth-century world history.

Question 3

Personal Reflection: Do you consider the abolition of slavery,the rise of nationalism,or the beginnings of the feminist movement as the most important echo of the Atlantic revolutions of the nineteenth century? Why?

Answer 3

•Assess the three echoes of the revolutionary era,recognizing the importance of each.
•offer a reasoned case for the echo perceived as most important.
A really good answer will pick up on the question's emphasis on nineteenth-century outcomes.
A really good answer might also recognize the ways in which these three movements emerged from a common pool of ideas and interacted with each other,to the degree that no single movement can be regarded as the most important.