Sunday, April 21, 2013

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Chapter 17:In the period 1776-1822 a number of revolutions transformed countries ruled by kings or colonial powers into nations that governed themselves. In North America, the United States was formed when it threw off British colonial rule in its war of independence. This revolution influenced the French Revolution and the French Revolution in turn influenced the Haitian revolution, the Hidalgo-Morelos rebellion in Mexico and other uprisings. In the United States the American revolution is considered to be the greatest one. In fact, the revolutionary democratic government established by it continued many of the rights of the colonists they already had. The society already did not have a real aristocracy and the great amount of land provided economic opportunity and fewer social differences than in Europe. The revolution itself came when Britain tried to tighten its control over the colonies and to get more money from them to help Britain in its struggle with France. The American Revolution did not free its slaves but did develop the ideas of a representative democracy and later the separation of Church and State. The Bill of Rights put into practice many Enlightenment political ideas. These ideas were echoed in the Revolutions that followed such as the French Revolution. In France, the Revolution came from conflicts within French society between the nobility and the middle class and peasants. The nobles oppressed both these groups. The French Revolution ended Feudalism in France and also took away power from the Church and Priests. The French Revolution had even more influence than the American Revolution because France was a world power. Napoleon Bonapart he ruled 1799-1814, led military campaigns that conquered much of Europe. In doing so he brought along the revolutionary practices such as ending Feudalism, equality of rights, religious toleration and other reforms. As a French colony originally called Saint Domingue but later renamed Haiti. Haitis revolution was inspired by the French Revolution it was the worlds richest colony and produced forty percent of the worlds sugar and almost fifty percent of its coffee. Most of its people were slaves who worked on the plantations. There were free people of color who were often mixed race and then  the plantation owners. In some ways, the rich white land owners welcomed the ideas of the French revolution because they thought it would lessen French control. What then happened was shocking to them. There was a huge slave revolt that began in 1791 where many whites and mixed race people were killed. The Haitian revolution was the only "completely successful slave revolt in recorded history". Haiti became independent in 1804 and all Haitians were considered to be Black that is there was equality regardless of race, color or class. The plantation system was destroyed and Haiti became a nation of small scale farmers. The Spanish American revolutions also echoed the American and French revolutions. Many colonies in Latin America rose up to throw off Spanish or Portuguese rule. In Mexico, the move to become independent uprising due to a need of land and buy high food prices among the lower classes. The Hidalgo-Moralos rebellion was crushed but eventually Mexico and most of the Spanish colonies achieved independence from Spain. The Atlantic revolutions contributed to the end of slavery and also to the rise of a new idea of human community-the nation. The development of the nations came about when people felt themselves to have a particular culture and to citizens of a distinct political nation.

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