Chapter 16 Blog
The book reveals that “modern” societies are a result of the intersection of the Scientific,
French, and Industrial Revolutions and had transformative ideas that guided human
behavior. The modern era thrust western Europe into a prominent role and led to a new
age some called “anthropocene”, or “age of man”. This means that humans are slowly
becoming active agents of biological evolution on Earth. Because of the power of
Europeans in this era, they have been able to rewrite history, and geography; they have
given themselves the image of being leaders of progress by implying that history is a
race towards modernity. The modern era may be seen as Eurocentric, but there are
ways to counter this view. For one, We must remember that eurocentrism in the scale
of global history is brief. It also depended on the cooperation of local elites from other
nations. Third, it was met with resistance and rebellion. Fourth, European ideas were
adapted for other purposes to fit the uses of other communities. And lastly, other
societies also made progress during the time of Eurocentrism.
The overall theme of chapter 16’s first half is on the Atlantic revolutions: The North
American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Spanish
American Revolution. These rebellions are all connected to one another and share a
set of common ideas, with the core notion of popular sovereignty as its driving force.
They are largely seen as democratic revolutions.
The North American Revolution was a struggle by colonists for independence from British
rule. This revolution originated from an effort to preserve already-existing liberties when Britain
was trying to tighten its control over the colonies. The colonies considered Britain’s greatest
offense to be taxation without representation in Parliament. The lack of class distinctions in
North America, compared to other parts of the world, made everyone more open; everyone
enjoyed the same status under the law. As a result, it was easier more the colonies to fight
together to preserve values everyone shared. The revolution itself did not change anything in
the core values of American society. The democratic tendency was already there and was not
a product of the revolution.
The French Revolution took place in an entirely different context. The French government
was on the brink of bankruptcy and wanted to make a tax system that was more modern
and equitable. So King Louis XVI called into session the Estates General: which represented
the clergy, nobility, and commoners that made up the 3 estates. The first two estates made
up only 2% of the population, but held a vast majority of the wealth. This created a lot of
social tension at that time. The third estate eventually organized into the National Assembly,
claiming the sole authority to make the laws, and this led to the French Revolution. It was
driven by sharp conflicts within French society, was violent, far-reaching, and radical. It
spread through conquest and changed the entire structure of French society. It was a
massive social upheaval.
The Haitian Revolution was the only completely successful slave revolt in history. It took place
in what was formerly known as St. Domingue, which was then considered the richest colony
in the world. Its production of sugar and coffee brought the colony a lot of revenue. However,
inequalities that accompanied the strict class distinctions were enormous, and exploitation
was unbridled. It started with a rumor that slaves were declared free by the king, which led
some slaves to rebel against their owners. Although the revolution meant differently to each
class, power ultimately ended up in the hands of the slaves, led by Louverture. The revolt
resulted in the destruction of the plantation economy and the redistribution of both private and
public lands. The revolution inspired revolts in other Caribbean communities. Development in
Haiti was hindered by internal divisions of race and class and independence debt
The Spanish American Revolution was carried out by native born elites called creoles. Latin
American colonies were governed in a more authoritarian fashion, and were more sharply
divided by class. The revolution started when the Portuguese royal family was exiled to Brazil
by Napoleon. With the crown in disarray, the people did not feel secure. A peasant
insurrection started up, but was crushed by the clergy and creole elite, who moved the nation
into a more stable independence. This all happened with the fear of social rebellion from the
lower classes. What helped in unification was the blanket term “Americanos”, which defined
the native born Spanish Americans, while casting the enemy as those born in Spain or
Portugal. The outcome was independence for Latin America, although the lower classes
benefitted little from it and the nation continued on underdeveloped.
Overall, this half of the chapter put everything into perspective for me by talking about all the
revolutions and connecting them to one another. For example, I always saw the American Revolution
as something that changed the colonies’ way of life. But putting it next to the French Revolution in
this chapter made me realize that there was not much change after independence from the British.
Independence from Britain was an effort to stay the same, not change. All the old social structures
within the colonies went unaltered.
The most interesting revolution for me is the Haitian revolution since it was one of the few successful
slave revolts. I always thought it would be easy for slaves to revolt once they decide to just because
there are so many of them: it would be easy for them to overtake whoever was oppressing them. But
the Haitian revolution shows how difficult it is to survive after the revolution is over. Haiti went from
being one of the richest colonies to being one of the most impoverished. This still carries over to
today. Like our Living Justice reading points out, many countries are still affected by
colonialism/imperialism from centuries ago.
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