The Atlantic Revolutions

By Malcolm F. Purinton

Revolutions can be contagious. In five short decades from 1775 to 1825,

several revolutions in the Americas and Europe brought down the colonial
system and European monarchies that had been profiting from it.

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The Atlantic Revolutions
Malcolm F. Purinton

An Era of Revolutions
Between 1775 and 1825, revolutions broke out in Europe
and the Americas. European countries wanted to get
rid of kings and queens. American colonies wanted
independence from European empires.

The American War of Independence was first. It was

followed by the French Revolution. Next, people in Haiti
rebelled against slavery and French rule in the Haitian
Revolution. Finally, there were revolutions throughout
Latin America.

These revolutions had many similarities. They all

rejected European power. They also tried to set up new
kinds of society. Revolutionaries were inspired by the
Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a philosophical A badly damaged British ship after a battle near Havana, Cuba. This
movement. It placed value on freedom and equality. kinda thing isn’t cheap. By Rafael Monleón Torres, Public domain.

The revolutions came at a time when Europe was

weakened. The British and French had just fought the
Seven Years’ War. After, both countries were deep in
debt. So, they passed new taxes on their colonies.
Thousands of miles away, the colonists had little choice.
Until then, the American colonists were practically in
charge of themselves. Upset with the taxes, many
challenged British rule.

The American Revolution

Beginning with the Stamp Act of 1765, Great Britain
issued new taxes in the American colonies. Protests
and riots soon broke out in the American colonies. A tax
on tea in 1773 inspired the Boston Tea Party. Protestors
threw British tea into the harbor. In response, Britain
passed laws to restrict the colonists’ freedom and
close the Boston harbor. Protests and riots continued
in the colonies. In April 1775, fighting broke out in
Massachusetts.

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was sent to

the British king. A long and costly war followed. The
French, Spanish, and Dutch supported the Americans.
Finally, the British lost in 1783. They recognized the
independence of the colonies in the Treaty of Paris. A
new nation was born, but not everyone was equal. For
example, the new government still allowed slavery. A painting depicting Bostonians tar and feathering a tax-collector
while the Boston Tea Party takes place in the background. By
John Carter Brown Library, public domain.
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The Atlantic Revolutions
Malcolm F. Purinton

The French Revolution

After the Seven Years’ War ended in 1763, the French
government needed money. King Louis XVI wanted to
raise taxes. To do so, he called a special meeting of the
French legislators called the Estates General. It was a bit
like a congress or parliament — just with less power. It
hadn’t met since 1614.

At the time, the French people were divided into three

“estates.” The First Estate was the Catholic church
members. The Second Estate was the nobility. This was
the ruling class that controlled the country’s wealth. The
Third Estate was everyone else. They paid all the taxes
but had no power in the government. When the king
called the Estates General, the Third Estate suddenly had
a voice.

In May of 1789, the opening session was held. The

delegates were sharply divided, and no agreement could
be reached. So, in June, the Third Estate met alone. It
declared itself the National Assembly.

King Louis XVI sent an army to Paris. People in Paris

responded by storming the royal prison called the
Bastille. They freed prisoners, seized weapons, and
killed two officials. The country was in a state of revolt.

The National Assembly ended the nobility. In 1789, it

passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen. This declared that all citizens as equal before the
law. A constitution was written, and a democratic system
was set up.

The French empire strikes back

As the French Revolution spread, it became more The storming of the Bastille, royal prison in Paris to seize
dangerous. The new government took church lands weapons and free political prisoners on July 14, 1789. From the
and sold them. Peasants attacked castles. They burned Library of Congress, public domain.
records of their debts. There was widespread violence.
In 1793, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antionette were
killed. The first French Republic was declared.

The first French Republic completely changed society. Peasants used to work on land they could never own. Now,
they could own and work on their land. Slavery was also ended with new laws.

The republic did not last for long, though. A general named Napoleon Bonaparte soon rose to power. He declared
himself emperor in 1799. His armies began taking over new land across Europe.

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The Atlantic Revolutions
Malcolm F. Purinton

Napoleon’s army fighting the Russians during the Napoleonic Wars.

By Viktor Mazurovsky, public domain.

A revolt leads to a new nation

In the Americas, France owned a colony called Saint
Domingue. Today, it is known as Haiti. Saint Domingue
was the richest plantation colony in the world. There
were around 8,000 plantations. Almost half of the
world’s sugar and coffee came from Saint Domingue.
The colony made these profits through enslaved labor.

Enslaved workers made up 90 percent of the

population. In 1791, the National Assembly in France
ended slavery. In response, the enslaved people of
Saint Domingue revolted.

The Haitian Revolution lasted many hard years. It was

led by Toussaint Louverture. He was a brilliant general.
He even defeated Napoleon.

The revolution was won in 1808. Haiti became the The colony of Saint Domingue on the western half of the island of
second independent republic in the Americas in 1804. It Hispaniola that would soon become the nation of Haiti. By Aldan-2,
was the first independent nation-state ruled by people of CC BY-SA 4.0.
African descent.

It was not just a fight for independence, though. It was

about human rights and racial equality. Haitian leaders
were rebelling against colonialism, racism, and slavery.

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The Atlantic Revolutions
Malcolm F. Purinton

The Latin American revolutions

The Creoles led the revolutions at first. The Creoles
were native-born descendants of Spanish and
Portuguese settlers. In 1808, Napoleon conquered
Spain and Portugal. These two powers had large
colonies in Latin America. After Napoleon’s invasion, the
colonies found themselves with no ruling empire.

In 1810, peasants in Mexico revolted against the Spanish.

They demanded land and cheaper food. But Creole
landowners stopped the rebellion. They were wealthy
descendants of Spanish and Portuguese settlers. In 1821,
Mexico was given independence from Spain. But the
Creole landowners kept their position at the top of
Mexican society.

In other parts of Latin America, more revolutionary

movements were underway. In the north, general Simón Haitian revolutionaries fighting for independence in 1802. By
Bolívar freed large amounts of land from the Spanish. In Auguste Raffet, public domain.
1819, he created a new nation called “Gran Columbia.” It
was made up present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama,
and Venezuela. It was modeled after the United States.
Gran Columbia only lasted until 1830.

General José de San Martín helped free Argentina, Chile,

and Peru. Both Bolívar and San Martín had military
success. But they did not create long-lasting democratic
governments. Power eventually returned to rulers who
cared more about power than democratic ideals.

An era of revolutions
Each of these revolutions was different. They were
tied together, though, by three things. First, they were
inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment. Second, they
rejected the power of the ruling class. Finally, they were
José de San Martín being received by the congress of Buenos Aires
influenced by the same political and economic network. in 1818. From the Instituto Nacional Sanmartiniano, by Reynaldo
Giúdice, public domain.
The era of revolutions transformed the world. Colonial
powers shrank and new nations were formed. They
created new kinds of governments and societies.

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The Atlantic Revolutions
Malcolm F. Purinton

Malcolm F. Purinton
Malcolm F. Purinton is a part-time lecturer of World History and the History of Modern Europe at Northeastern University and
Emmanuel College in Boston, MA. He specializes in Food and Environmental History through the lens of beer and alcohol.

Image credits
Cover: Haitian revolution 1791. © Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
A badly damaged British ship after a battle near Havana, Cuba. This kinda thing isn’t cheap. By Rafael Monleón Torres, Public
domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_ships_in_the_Seven_Years_War_before_Havana.jpg#/media/
File:British_ships_in_the_Seven_Years_War_before_Havana.jpg.
A painting depicting Bostonians tar and feathering a tax-collector while the Boston Tea Party takes place in the background.
By John Carter Brown Library, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philip_Dawe_(attributed),_The_
Bostonians_Paying_the_Excise-man,_or_Tarring_and_Feathering_(1774).jpg#/media/File:Philip_Dawe_(attributed),_The_
Bostonians_Paying_the_Excise-man,_or_Tarring_and_Feathering_(1774).jpg.
The storming of the Bastille, royal prison in Paris to seize weapons and free political prisoners on July 14, 1789. From the
Library of Congress, public domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Storming_the_bastille_4.jpg#/media/File:Storming_the_
bastille_4.jpg.
Napoleon’s army fighting the Russians during the Napoleonic Wars. By Viktor Mazurovsky, public domain. https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kavalerijskij_boj.jpg#/media/File:Kavalerijskij_boj.jpg.
The colony of Saint Domingue on the western half of the island of Hispaniola that would soon become the nation of Haiti. By
Aldan-2, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution#/media/File:Haitian_Revolution.png.
Haitian revolutionaries fighting for independence in 1802. By Auguste Raffet, public domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Haitian_Revolution#/media/File:Haitian_Revolution.jpg.
José de San Martín being received by the congress of Buenos Aires in 1818. From the Instituto Nacional Sanmartiniano, by
Reynaldo Giúdice, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:San_Mart%C3%ADn_en_Buenos_Aires.jpg#/media/
File:San_Mart%C3%ADn_en_Buenos_Aires.jpg.

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