HIS 106 Chapter 24

1
HIS 106Chapter 24

• Revolutions in the Transatlantic World

2

• The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
  led to a series of revolutions for independence
  and a new way of governing between 1776 and 1824
  on 3 different continents

3
The American Revolution

• Britains American colonies rebelled initially in
  1775 after being taxed without representation in
  the British Parliament
• American colonies had always been drawn in to
  British wars and these wars were costly
• The British felt Americans should help pay for
  these wars and for their own protection

4

• The British Parliament voted to tax the colonies
• 1764, the Sugar Act was passed which lowered the
  tax on sugar, but the tax would be collected it
  had been ignored before
• Any smugglers would be tried in admiralty courts
  without juries

5

• 1765, the Stamp Act put a tax on legal documents,
  receipts, playing cards, newspapers, and
  pamphlets
• This tax affected more people, making them angry

6

• 1773, the Tea Act allowed the British East India
  Company to import tea directly to the colonies
• They even lowered the price of tea
• Americans cried, No taxation without
  representation
• As a result, Bostonians threw a shipload of tea
  into the Boston Harbor

7

• In reprisal, the British
• Closed the port of Boston
• Reorganized the government of Massachusetts using
  a military governor
• Quartered soldiers in private homes
• Did away with trials by jury, no more juries

8

• Colonies response
• Formed the First Continental Congress to deal
  with Britain diplomatically didnt work
• 1775, Battles at Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill,
  and Breeds Hill near Boston between Americans
  and the British
• Second Continental Congress was called to
  organize the American war effort
• 1776, Declaration of Independence

9

• After several years of fighting and with aid from
  France and Spain, the United States won its
  independence in 1781
• The new American government adopted many ideas
  advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers
• 3 branches of government with checks and balances
• Bill of Rights
• Voting rights

10
The French Revolution

• Inspired by the American Revolution, the French
  rebelled against their own absolute king who
  lived well while others couldnt afford bread
• The French people wanted
• Manorialism ended
• The power of the Catholic Church limited
• Rights and representation

11

• Feeling pressured, King Louis XVI called the
  Estates General after 150 years of not meeting
• Estates General had 3 groups
• The Clergy with 1 vote
• The Nobles with 1 vote
• The Middle Class with 1 vote
• The clergy and the nobles paid no taxes and
  always voted together against the middle class,
  2-1

12

• The people and the middle class rebelled in 1789
  and their revolution began
• Wrote a Bill of Rights called Declaration of the
  Rights of Man and Citizen
• Stormed the Bastille on 14 July to get weapons
  and to release political prisoners there were
  none there
• Stormed manors and burned records of which
  peasants owed money to the lord

13

• Aristocrats lost power and later, many lost their
  lives
• Church property was seized
• Voting rights were established
• 1792, the revolution turned more radical during
  the Reign of Terror led by Maximilien Robespierre
  and his Committee of Public Safety

14
Reign of Terror

• Few were safe
• Anyone deemed an enemy was guillotined, including
  Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette
• Leaders of the revolution and later Robespierre
  himself were guillotined

15

• Reforms
• Mass education
• Votes for all men
• Changes in fashion to reflect ancient Greece
• Changes in the calendar
• Military draft to fight for France against other
  European nations trying to stop the French
  Revolution

16

• Reign of Terror ended in 1795
• A moderate government ruled until 1799
• 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general from
  Corsica, took control and established a thinly
  disguised dictatorship

17
Napoleon

• Introduced reforms like a new law code, equality
  for men, and secondary schools, universities, and
  libraries
• He also tried to take over Europe
• He got as far as Moscow
• This French empire began to fall apart in 1812
  and was crushed by other European nations by 1815

18

• Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1815
• He returned to lead an army against the British
  at Waterloo
• He was again defeated
• This time exiled to the island of St. Helena in
  June of 1815
• Napoleon died there in 1821

19

• France continued to search for a workable
  governmental system throughout the 19th century
• On the whole, there were no wars among European
  nations after the demise of Napoleon for the rest
  of the century

20
Wars of Independence in Latin America

• By the mid-1820s, Latin America had driven out
  their colonial rulers and had broken the colonial
  trade monopolies
• Although rich in natural resources, the region
  did not achieve widespread prosperity and
  long-lasting political stability until the 20th
  century

21

• Their wars for independence were not grass-roots
  movements by the people
• They were started by the Creole elites who didnt
  want to lose any of their power or influence to
  European leaders when they reorganized their
  colonies
• Creoles also wished to keep the social structure
  that had them at the top

22

• Creoles wished to control and reap the benefits
  of their trade
• These Creole military leaders of the wars held
  much of the political power in the newly
  independent Latin American nations
• These wars for independence hurt their economies
  because mines were flooded, livestock depleted,
  and the work force disrupted

23

• Previously, colonial Latin America was dependent
  on Spain or Portugal for their exports and
  imports
• The newly independent Latin America would become
  economically dependent on the United States and
  Britain
• They would export raw materials and import
  manufactured goods Neocolonialism politically
  independent, economically dependent

24

• As a result, they were dependent on the world
  market to set prices they didnt set the prices
• If there were a depression or a recession in the
  world, Latin America felt it
• They did not develop their own manufacturing
  until the 1930s during the Great Depression

25
Independence

• Latin America was also influenced by the
  Enlightenment and they wanted
• Representative government
• Freedom to trade with different countries
• Freedom to choose their own careers
• Right to private property
• Right to be free and independent

26
Mexico

• First tried for independence under the guidance
  of Father Miguel de Hidalgo in 1810
• United Indians and mestizos
• Won some victories
• Was captured by Creole elites and executed

27

• After 1820, when Spain seemed weak, the Creoles
  worked for independence under Augustin de
  Iturbide
• United various forces
• Occupied Mexico City in 1821
• Proclaimed Emperor over the Mexican Empire that
  included Central America
• Lasted until 1824 when Central American states
  pulled away from Mexico 1830, they formed
  independent states

28
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador

• Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), a Creole officer,
  became the leader of the revolt against Spain in
  northern South America
• He mobilized those in Venezuela, Colombia, and
  Ecuador
• Won a series of victories there between 1817 and
  1822
• These 3 areas initially formed Gran Colombia
  until 1830 when they broke into 3 states

29
Argentina or Rio de la Plata

• 1806, citizens of Buenos Aires fought off a
  British invasion and did it without Spanish help
• Learned they could look to themselves for
  effective military and political action
• 1810, people in Buenos Aires threw off the
  Spanish authority there and sent liberation
  forces to Paraguay and Uruguay

30

• Their armies were defeated there, but Spain still
  lost control of these 2 areas
• Paraguay asserted its own independence
• Uruguay was eventually absorbed by Brazil
• Government was determined to liberate Peru, the
  greatest stronghold of royalist power and loyalty
  in South America

31

• By 1814, Jose de San Martin (1778-1850), the
  leading general of the Rio de la Plata forces ,
  had organized and led an army over the Andes
  mountains into Chile
• By 1817, he helped to establish Chilean
  independence leader, Bernardo OHiggens, as
  supreme dictator
• Then San Martin constructed a naval force to
  carry his army to Peru in 1820

32

• 1821, San Martin drove out the royalist forces
  and assumed the title of Protector of Peru
• By 1825, all of Spanish South America had gained
  political independence
• They all began as republics with representative
  governments, putting the ideas of the
  Enlightenment into action

33
Brazil

• Brazilian independence came rather peacefully and
  simply by comparison
• The Portuguese royal family, several thousand
  government officials, and members of court took
  refuge in Brazil in 1807 when French troops under
  Napoleon invaded Portugal
• Their arrival in Rio de Janeiro transformed the
  city into a court city and capital of the
  Portuguese Empire

34

• Prince regent, Joao (r. 1816-1826), made Brazil a
  kingdom so that it could no longer be seen as a
  colony of Portugal
• Brazil was more prosperous than Portugal
• 1820, a revolution occurred in Portugal and Joao
  had to return home leaving his son Pedro (r.
  1822-1831) to rule in Brazil
• Joao encouraged Pedro to be sympathetic to the
  political aspirations of the people

35

• He was
• Pedro embraced the idea of Brazilian independence
  and declared himself emperor of an independent
  Brazil at the end of 1822
• Brazil remained a monarchy until 1889 with a
  centralized government whose political and social
  elite were determined to keep slavery
• Wars of independence elsewhere led to the
  abolition of slavery or closer to the abolition
  of slavery

36
Consequences of Latin American Independence

• Wars left them
• Free from direct European control
• Economically exhausted
• Politically unstable
• Weak and vulnerable

37

• Overseas trade had been interrupted and changed
• Trade among republics was difficult because of
  poor roads, no railroads there were mountains
  and rivers
• There was no money for investment
• Latin American governments looked to Britain for
  protection, markets, investment

38

• Life didnt change much for the lower classes
• There were caste and racial distinctions despite
  having been removed from the law
• Indian population was not brought into political
  life
• Slave trade had been abolished in most areas
• However, slavery, itself, did not disappear from
  former Spanish Empire until 1850s and not from
  Brazil until 1888

39

• Landowners became the major governing group
• Much of the population felt no loyalty to the new
  regimes
• These new regimes operated mostly in the
  interests of the Creole elites that had created
  them