Term
Britannia Bridge
1845 - 1850 |
|
Definition
| Britannia Bridge was designed by Robert Stephenson Stone in 1849. The bridge crosses the Menai Strait and connects the Isle of Anglesey with Wales in western England. This image shows how piers support a hollow rectangular beam of riveted wrought-iron plates in order to span more than 1,500 feet between three pylons and the shore abutments. Here we see the bridge under construction. This railroad bridge was the first tubular bridge ever built, and its construction led to the development of similar bridges throughout England. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The invention of the cotton gin, a tool that enabled efficient deseeding of short-staple cotton (the type of cotton that grew away from coastal areas), irrevocably changed slavery. As of 1790, planters in the tobacco-growing states of Virginia and Maryland owned 56% of all slaves in America. By 1860, however, after slave-based agriculture refocused its efforts on growing cotton in the Deep South, these same two states owned only 15% of U.S. slaves. Until Eli Whitney's cotton gin appeared, long-staple cotton was the only profitable plant that grew in the United States, but soon after the gin (shortened from "engine") was invented, short-staple cotton became a staple crop in the South, along with rice and indigo (blue dye). This required a massive recommitment of labor and, along with the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade in 1808 (by Congress), planters began to trade and sell slaves from the Upper South, where tobacco was the staple crop, to the Deep South.
This gigantic internal migration occurred in stages, with 155,000 slaves shipped south in the 1820s; 288,000 in the 1830s; 189,000 in the 1840s; and 250,000 in the 1850s. The majority of these slaves were bought, sold, and traded to provide the labor necessary to fuel the expanding cotton trade between southern states -- Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Louisiana -- and northern states, as well as European countries such as Great Britain. Southern cotton provided the raw materials for the textile factories in the North that were at the center of the ongoing Industrial Revolution.
The cotton gin dramatically reshaped the lives of slaves. Formerly, slaves had worked for the most part on tobacco plantations in small workgroups where women and men could both be expected to work in the field. As planters refocused their efforts on cotton, more and more slaves were organized into larger workgroups (similar to ones used for rice cultivation) that demanded intensive labor known as the "task system" where individual slaves were assigned tasks for a day. When a task was done, slaves could have the rest of the day to themselves. However, when a task was completed early, a slave would often be assigned a heavier task the next day and, if the task was completed late, the slave was punished. Meanwhile, slaves were surrounded by intense heat and humidity, as well as disease. This also kept whites out of the fields for longer periods of time, enabling slaves on large plantations in the Deep South to develop unique cultural communities. Some slaves even won the right to cultivate their own property by performing well in the fields. For a relatively simple machine, the cotton gin produced remarkable changes in the institution of slavery. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Iron Bridge near Coalbrookdale, England, was the first bridge to be constructed entirely out of cast iron. Built between 1777 and 1779 by Thomas F. Pritchard and Abraham Darby III, the bridge spans the Severn Gorge. The Iron Bridge is considered one of the symbols of the Industrial Revolution, a movement that began in England and swept through Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. New technological innovations required more extensive use of iron, steel, and coal. During this era, Europe and the Americas saw the beginnings of the factory system, as well as the start of mass production. The building of the Iron Bridge was a response to this growing industrialization; not only was it needed to supply a route for higher volumes of trade, but its construction utilized the technology and the raw materials associated with the Industrial Revolution. The bridge has survived remarkably well, though some support has been added to maintain its structural integrity. In 1935, the bridge was finally closed to traffic, and today it stands as a British National Monument. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Palm House at Kew Gardens was designed by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner in 1844. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the gardens had become a repository for exotic plants. The unofficial director at the time -- Joseph Banks, under the aegis of George III -- sent collectors to all points of the globe in order to bring back interesting species. When George III died in 1820, the gardens went into decline for two decades, until the property changed hands from the royal family to the state. Under the control of the state, an official director was named and the revitalization of the gardens began. Part of the plan to renew the gardens was the construction of Palm House. Palm House is an example of the trend toward glass architecture that dominated Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. Its design influenced many other structures, most notably the Crystal Palace, which was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Unfortunately, the Crystal Palace was destroyed, so Palm House remains one of the best examples of nineteenth-century glass-and-iron architecture. The structure is also significant because it remains a symbol of the vastness of the British Empire. It is here that the exotic plants collected from the far regions of the empire reside. Now the gardens are not only a popular tourist attraction, but also a site for botanical research. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| This telegraph chart shows the route designated for the laying of telegraph wire across the Atlantic Ocean. The first electric telegraph had been developed in 1838, and subsequent designs had improved with the development of the wireless radio. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in August 1858, making instantaneous communication between Europe and America possible for the first time. However, the line celebrated in this chart was not as successful as the United States and Great Britain had hoped, and another line was laid in 1866. When examining this chart, be sure to read the transcripts of the communications between James Buchanan, the president of the United States, and Queen Victoria of Great Britain. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In the nineteenth century, immigration from Europe to the United States increased significantly due in part to famines in Germany and Ireland and to the desire of many people to escape from the wave of revolutions that spread across the Continent in 1848. Because of the Industrial Revolution, transportation across the Atlantic Ocean was easier than it had been a century earlier. This wave of immigration led to the first U.S. census, which determined whether a person was "native" born; it also fed a growing hostility toward immigrants that found outlets through legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| This drawing by Oliver Evans depicts a design for the first steam engine built in the United States. Evans was an innovator and an engineer; he first conceived of high pressure steam as a source of power for wagons, but soon envisioned the application to ships instead. The turn of the nineteenth century saw the expansion of the textile and transportation industries in the United States; as a result, millions of immigrants made their way across the oceans to take part in the elusive American Dream. This explosion of industry and increased number of immigrants led to a remarkable transformation both within the United States and in its overall power. Although the Industrial Revolution was in its infancy in 1801, innovative inventors such as Evans were a key part in that overall transformation. They created new and improved methods of mill machinery and visualized the possibilities of larger, more productive systems of transport. |
|
|
Term
IWW Demonstration
11 Apr 1914 |
|
Definition
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded on the belief that workers throughout the world should be united in a single union. It was founded in 1905 at a Chicago convention comprised of socialists and trade unionists. The IWW believed in industrial unionism, which would put all workers in a similar industry into the same union, without concessions given to the skill or trade of the individual worker. In this fashion, the workers of an entire industry could bargain in a united manner for better pay and conditions. The IWW was also one of the only unions open to everyone, including women and minorities.
Several years after the founding of the IWW, a major split occurred in the union: moderate members espoused and supported the Socialist Labor Party, which would use political means to achieve goals, whereas more radical members believed in using strikes and boycotts. The radical voices won out, and by 1909, they had become active at several different strikes and demonstrations. Because of the organization's participation in numerous strikes, as well as its refusal to openly support the war effort during World War I, the U.S. government was eager to damage the credibility of the IWW. This led to attacks on IWW members, perpetrated by law enforcement officials as well as by lynch mobs. In this image from 1914, IWW members are shown taking part in a demonstration in New York City. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Alexander II was Tsar of Russia from 1855 to 1881. He succeeded his father, Nicholas I, who died during the Crimean War. When Alexander came to power, one of his first acts was to negotiate a peace to end the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Soon after, he attempted to modernize the country through a series of reforms, including the emancipation of the serf population in 1861. He also introduced the zemstvo, a system of local government control overseen by an elected assembly. Alexander's reign was also a time of imperial expansion for Russia, as he waged campaigns into east and central Asia. Although Alexander's reign was more liberal and moderate than those before him, the liberal intelligentsia, believing he was too repressive, instigated a number of revolts against his authority. On March 13, 1881, Alexander was assassinated by Ignacy Hryniewiecki, a member of the People's Will, who had thrown a number of handmade grenades at the Tsar as he was driving near the Winter Palace. |
|
|
Term
Theory of Social Organization
c. 1820 |
|
Definition
| Marx called Charles Fourier (1772-1837) a "utopian socialist," by which he meant that Fourier was not "scientific" in Marx's sense of the term. However, Fourier had a profound influence on Marx and other nineteenth-century socialists. His vision of a socialist society centered around the notion that labor, while capable of producing wealth, alienated the worker; therefore, what was needed was a new system that broke up the monotony of labor, making it attractive to workers. He called his proposed system the "Phalanx." Phalanxes sprang up in France and the United States in the 1830s and '40s; these groups failed, but Fourier's vision continued to exert a powerful influence on socialist thought. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The invention of the steam loom irreparably transformed textile production. Where skilled workers were once needed to produce textiles, now women and children could be employed in factories to run the large, dangerous machines. Textile production became heavily centralized. Skilled workers fell into poverty, and factory owners became rich. At the same time, of course, the production of textiles skyrocketed. In this excerpt from his 1823 book Compendious History of the Cotton Manufacture, Richard Guest discusses the impact of the steam loom on the people involved in producing textiles. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Chartism was a British working-class reform movement active from 1838 through '48, first under the leadership of William Lovett, then under the leadership of Feargus O'Connor. Chartism derived its name from the "charter," or petition, that was drafted by Lovett's organization, the London Working Men's Association. The petition called for, among other things, universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual Parliaments. Parliament refused to act on the three Chartist petitions brought before it, and the movement petered out after 1848. |
|
|
Term
Organisation of Labour
c. 1840 |
|
Definition
| Marx called Louis Blanc (1811-82) a "utopian socialist," by which he meant that Blanc was not "scientific" in Marx's sense of the term. However, Blanc had a profound influence on later political thinkers, especially French and German socialists. In The Organization of Labor, published in 1840, he advocated the creation of worker-controlled "social workshops" as an interim measure between bourgeois civilization and socialist society. He was active in the 1848 revolution in France and wrote several important histories. |
|
|
Term
Industrial Manchester
c. 1844 |
|
Definition
Fredrich Engels (1820-1895) is best-known as the coauthor, with Karl Marx, of the Communist Manifesto (1848). He was the son of a German textile-factory owner, and despite his criticism of capitalism, he remained a shrewd and successful businessman throughout his life. Disentangling Engels and Marx remains a thorny interpretive problem. Orthodox Marxists tend to view them as entirely consonant in their views, but there is a mountain of evidence that suggests otherwise. In fact, some have argued that the centerpiece of so-called Marxist thought -- namely, dialectical materialism -- rests on a philosophy of nature to which Engels clearly subscribed but that Marx, due to his rejection of Darwinian evolutionary theory, could not have accepted. Engels' influence over the Marxist legacy was compounded by the fact that he served as the editor of Marx's posthumous works. It was Engels who, using Marx's notes and unfinished manuscripts as a guide, completed the second and third volumes of Das Kapital.
In 1844, the year he met Marx, Engels published The Condition of the Working Class in England, from which this excerpt is taken. The book argues that socialism is the only answer to the troubles faced by the British poor. In the section provided here, Engels describes the conditions in Manchester, England, which held the perhaps dubious distinction of being the world's first true industrial city. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A British economist, David Ricardo (1772-1823) was a central figure in the development of classical economics. In The Iron Law of Wages, Ricardo argues that wages always tend to stabilize at subsistence level. It is a dreary picture for workers hoping for better wages. Factory owners welcomed the book; it also influenced Karl Marx's early thought. |
|
|
Term
Defense of the Factory System
1835 |
|
Definition
| Andrew Ure (1778-1857) was a Scottish doctor who made a name for himself lecturing on the benefits of industrial capitalism. His work The Philosophy of Manufacture (1835), which elucidated the factory system and defended the working conditions in factories, played an important role in shaping public opinion about the industrial revolution. |
|
|
Term
| Events Related to Chapter 29 |
|
Definition
Events Related to Chapter 29
Toussaint Louverture (1744-1803)
Birth of Toussaint Louverture, leader of the slave insurrection that would result in an independent Haiti.
Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)
African slave who obtained his freedom and went on to pen an account of his life, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African (1789).
Metternich (15 May 1773)
The Austrian Empire dominated central Europe. Austria was a cosmopolitan state, existing because of its Habsburg dynasty. Its great political leader was Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859), who was a conservative.
American Revolution (1775-1783)
Some of the circumstances that led to the American Revolution were unique to the American experience, but many of the ideas used to justify the revolution indicate that the American elite were well aware of currents in European political thought.
Declaration of Independence (4 Jul 1776)
The Continental Congress approves the Declaration of Independence that proclaims the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain on July 2-4.
Bernardo O'Higgins (1778-1842)
Chilean leader who led the revolt against Spain.
Jose de San Martin (1778-1850)
Jose de San Martin, the future leader of an independent Argentina, is born on February 25, 1778.
Yorktown (19 Oct 1781)
Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown ends military operations in the Revolutionary War.
Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)
Revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar is born on July 24, 1783.
Treaty of Paris (3 Sep 1783)
Treaty of Paris with Great Britain concludes the American Revolution.
George Washington (4 Feb 1789)
George Washington wins the first presidency with 69 electoral votes.
French Revolution (1789-99)
French Revolution begins in which the French people overthrow the government.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (27 Aug 1789)
The Declaration of the Rights of Man formed the prologue of the French Constitution, and it was printed in thousands of leaflets and distributed around France to provide propaganda for the Revolution.
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791)
Olympia de Gouges publishes Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, which argues for extended rights for women.
Wollstonecraft's Vindication (1792)
Most male thinkers of the Enlightenment had ignored the rights of women. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, several women applied the claims made about the rights of men to women. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was one of these writers.
Partitions of Poland (1792 - 1795)
Poland was a large and once powerful state where the nobility succeeded in completely disempowering the monarchy. As a result, its government remained weak and old fashioned in comparison to the Absolutist monarchies.
Independence of Haiti (1804)
Under the leadership of Toissaint L'Ouverture, slaves throughout the French colony of Haiti rebel in 1791; independence is declared on January 1, 1804.
Slave Trade Ends in Great Britian (1807)
The slave trade ends in Britain.
Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882)
The Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi is born in Nice, France.
Slave Trade Ends in United States (1808)
Importation of slaves into the US is banned.
Congress of Vienna (1814 - 1815)
The Congress of Vienna ran from September 1814 to November 1815. Four Powers of Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia dominated and they constructed a post-Napoleonic political order.
Battle of Waterloo (18 Jun 1815)
In 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba, and in a period known as the Hundred Days marched through France collecting a new army. This was met by British and Prussian troops at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Napoleon was defeated again.
Brazilian Emperor Pedro I (1822-1834)
Pedro I declares Brazil's independence from Portugal and becomes the country's first emperor.
Independence of Brazil (1822)
Dom Pedro I, the prince regent of Brazil declares independence from Portugal.
Central American Federation (1824-1838)
Central American Federation established as a country, encompassign Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
Britain Abolishes Slavery in its Colonies (29 Aug 1833)
British evangelical Christians had turned against slavery in the late eighteenth century. In 1833, the new Reform Parliament banned slavery in all of Britain's colonies, and the Royal Navy began to act against the Atlantic slave trade of other countries.
France Abolishes Slavery (1848)
France abolishes slavery.
Revolutions of 1848 (1848)
The 1848, Revolution in France led to popular upheavals throughout Europe, especially in the Austrian Empire - which was the most conservative and anti-nationalist state in Europe. Revolutions also severely challenged rulers in Italy and Germany.
Seneca Falls (Jul 1848)
Seneca Falls, New York, convention launches the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
Italian Unification (1866)
Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, and gains the territory of Venetia.
German Unification (18 Jan 1871)
Following the defeat of France, a new German Empire [or Reich] was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in 1871. This was the "Second Reich." [The first was the "holy Roman Empire" of the Middle Ages; the "Third" was to be Nazi Germany.]
Cuba Abolishes Slavery (1886)
Spain finally abolishes slavery on the island of Cuba as part of series of reforms promised at the end of the Ten Years War.
|
|
|
Term
| Events Related to Chapter 30 |
|
Definition
Events Related to Chapter 30
Peter I the Great (7 May 1682)
As Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great made an effort to modernize and Westernize Russia. He acquired territory on the Baltic and began building the new westward-looking capital city of St. Petersburg.
Catherine the Great (1762-1796)
Catherine the Great (r. 1762-96) was a German princess who deposed her husband and took over the government in her own name. She was an educated and well-informed ruler who kept up a famous correspondence with Voltaire.
James Watt Invents Steam Engine Improvement (1765)
James Watt invents the steam engine.
Stephenson Invents the Steam Locomotive (1815)
British engineer George Stephenson builds the first locomotive in 1815; the invention is used to transport coal out of the mines.
The Communist Manifesto (21 Feb 1848)
Karl Marx's and Frederich Engels' Communist Manifesto is seen as a great book both for its rhetoric and its influence. To some degree it was a work of fiction as there was no Communist party at the time it was written.
Bismarck Becomes Chancellor of Prussia (23 Sep 1862)
King William I (1861-1888) had a problem of controlling the Prussian Parliament, so in 1862 he recruited Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), former Prussian ambassador to Russia and France, as Chancellor. He was the effective ruler of Prussia from 1862. |
|
|
Term
| Events Related to Chapter 31 |
|
Definition
Events Related to Chapter 31
Slave Revolt in St. Domingue (22 Aug 1791)
In the Caribbean, slaves in France's colony of St. Domingue on Hispaniola took revolutionary principles to heart, and lead by Toussant L'Overture, rebelled. By 1804, the rebels were able to establish an independent state called Haiti.
Louisiana Purchase (30 Apr 1803)
The U.S. purchases the western half of the Mississippi River basin from France for $15 million.
War of 1812 (18 Jun 1812)
United States declares war on Great Britain (June 18).
First Canadian Prime Minister John A. MacDonald (1815-1891)
John A. MacDonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, is born in Scotland.
Monroe Doctrine (2 Dec 1823)
Monroe Doctrine states that the United States would not intervene in European affairs and should not be considered as subjects for future colonization.
Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915)
Future president of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz is born in 1830.
Mexican War (25 Apr 1846)
United States declares war against Mexico.
Seneca Falls (Jul 1848)
Seneca Falls, New York, convention launches the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
Civil War in the United States (1861 - 1864)
The American Civil War developed due to causes particular to the American experience, but it also reflected the agenda of nation building and nationalism that was so prevalent in Europe.
Thirteenth Amendment Passed (31 Jan 1865)
Congress passes Thirteenth Amendment, which abolishes slavery.
Battle of Little Big Horn (25 Jun 1876)
The Cheyenne allied with the Sioux met Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his forces in the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Francisco Villa (1878-1923)
Francisco (Pancho) Villa is born in Mexico.
Emiliano Zapata (1897-1919)
Revolutionary Emiliano Zapato is born on August 8, 1879.
Northwest Rebellion (1885)
The Metis of Saskatchewan attempt to establish their own nation separate from Canada.
Wounded Knee (1890)
Some two hundred unarmed Oglala Sioux are massacred by the 7th United States cavalry in Shannon County, South Dakota, on Wounded Knee Creek.
Mexican Revolution (1910)
Mexican Revolution begins.
Mexican Constitution (1917)
On February 5, 1917, the constitution of Mexico is adopted. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Napoleon Bonaparte ruled France from 1799 to 1815. Famous for his self-coronation as emperor, he expanded French territory throughout much of Western Europe. He was greatly influenced by the model of the Roman Empire and sought to consolidate France's power and territory in a similar fashion. His defeat in 1815 at Waterloo marked the end of French dominance on the Continent. When watching this documentary, reflect on what made Napoleon a successful leader. Why was he so successful? What military tactics did he employ to gain territory? |
|
|
Term
Mazzini on Young Italy
1832 |
|
Definition
| Young Italy was a movement founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in 1831. The goal of the organization was to create an independent, united Italy. The movement spread across most of northern Italy and had an estimated 50,000 members. Although the members of Young Italy stage revolts and rebellions, and incorporated many members from the defunct Carbonari, it never succeeded in creating a truly unified resistance. In 1848 the organization became the Italian National Committee. |
|
|
Term
Zola on the Dreyfus Affair
13 Jan 1898 |
|
Definition
The Dreyfus affair was a French political scandal involving the wrongful arrest and conviction of a Jewish artillery officer named Alfred Dreyfus. The arrest followed the discovery, by a cleaning woman in the employ of French intelligence, of a slip of paper indicating the presence of a German spy in the French military. The paper, or bordereau, promised a German military attaché access to information concerning unique French artillery technology. Dreyfus's background as an artillery officer, as well as the fact that he regularly visited German Alsace to visit his father, made him a natural and proper candidate for suspicion. What followed, however, amounted to a flagrant miscarriage of justice by French authorities eager to pin the crime on Dreyfus, whose Judaism was indication enough of his untrustworthiness in the rampantly anti-Semitic atmosphere of late-nineteenth-century France. Dreyfus was convicted by military tribunal--twice!--and sent to French Guyana to serve his sentence. A few years later, the new French president, Émile Loubet, pardoned him. Eventually, Dreyfus rejoined the army and served with distinction in World War I.
A French writer, Émile Zola was imprisoned for libel as a result of the publication of this open letter, which ran on the front page of the French newspaper L'Aurore and was headlined, provocatively, J'Accuse. |
|
|
Term
Proclamation of Independence
27 Jan 1822 |
|
Definition
| The Ottoman Turks, Muslims out of Anatolia, seized control of Greece as part of their conquest of the waning Byzantine Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Four hundred years later, a rising spirit of Greek nationalism led to the Greek War of Independence, which ran from 1821 to 1832. In the proclamation reprinted here, the Greek rebels attempt to explain and justify their rebellion to their European neighbors. Perhaps they knew what the coming years would bear out: Greece achieved its separation from the Ottoman Empire only through the intervention of the European powers. |
|
|
Term
On The Reform Bill
c. 1831 |
|
Definition
| Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) supported the Whig cause as a member of parliament and as a historian. In the latter role, he wrote the monumental History of England, which covered the period from 1688 through 1702 and argued that the Glorious Revolution and the Hanoverian succession were the cornerstones of English liberty, security, and progress. In the former role, he championed the middle-class industrialists and businessmen who were stoking the fires of the Industrial Revolution. He was a renowned orator. In the address excerpted here, which he delivered before parliament, Macaulay argues in favor of the Reform Bill of 1832. The Reform Bill was designed to (partially) democratize the process of electing the members of the House of Commons, thereby enfranchising the British middle class. The process of enfranchisement begun by the 1832 Reform Bill continued in the decades that followed, eventually encompassing all British citizens. |
|
|
Term
Decree Abolishing the Feudal System
c. 1789 |
|
Definition
| Serfdom declined in the West throughout the Middle Ages, especially after the Black Death caused a massive labor shortage that led to significantly improved conditions for peasants. The reform of legal systems tended to lag behind changes in real-world relations. In France, it wasn't until 1789 that the revolutionary National Assembly formally dismantled the manorial system. The decree abolishing the feudal system came as a response to reports flooding in from all corners describing dreadful conditions throughout the countryside. The National Assembly hoped the decree would mollify the people and discourage them from revolting. |
|
|
Term
Duke of Brunswick
28 Jul 1792 |
|
Definition
In the years 1789 through 1793, the French Revolution developed from a movement to radically restructure French society into a movement to overturn French society. Forced to call the Estates General (a parliamentary body) for the first time since 1614, Louis XVI found himself contending with a movement intent on drafting a new constitution. The National Assembly was formed with the king's consent and swiftly undertook several radical measures, including the nationalization of church lands to pay off the public debt. In 1792, the king, widely thought to be in secret talks with the kingdoms of Austria and Prussia, tried unsuccessfully to flee the country. Upon his capture, the French National Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia, sparking the French Revolutionary Wars.
Austria and Prussia responded to France's declaration of war by assembling an allied army under the command of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1735-1806), who was a top-shelf military commander. In an attempt to threaten the French public into submission, Brunswick issued a proclamation declaring that if the French royal family was not harmed, then the Allied army would not loot or harm French civilians; if the French royal family was molested in any way, however, the proclamation promised retribution. Brunswick had hoped to intimidate the French people into submission. In fact, the proclamation had the opposite effect, enflaming French ardor against the Allies and leading to Louis XVI's trial and execution the following year. |
|
|
Term
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
12 Jul 1790 |
|
Definition
| On the eve of the French Revolution, Louis XVI found himself forced by a fiscal crisis to call the Estates General (a parliamentary body) for the first time since 1614. The king soon found himself contending with a movement intent on drafting a new constitution. The National Assembly was formed with the king's consent and swiftly undertook several radical measures, including the nationalization of church lands to pay off the public debt. The document reprinted here outlines the National Assembly's restructuring of the French church along the same lines as the restructuring of the state that was going on at the same time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a British philosopher who espoused utilitarianism, the doctrine that actions must be judged in terms of their consequences, specifically in terms of the ratio of happiness and unhappiness (or pain and pleasure) produced by them. Mill was a student of the work of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the founder of utilitarianism. Mill's most famous work is On Liberty, a liberal treatise that aims to define the proper relationship between society and the individual. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| In the years 1789 through 1793, the French Revolution developed from a movement to radically restructure French society into a movement to overturn French society. On the eve of the French Revolution, Louis XVI found himself forced by a fiscal crisis to call the Estates General (a parliamentary body) for the first time since 1614. The king soon found himself contending with a movement intent on drafting a new constitution. The National Assembly was formed with the king's consent and swiftly undertook several radical measures, including the nationalization of church lands to pay off the public debt. Among those elected to the National Assembly was Maximilien de Robespierre. As the revolution progressed, Robespierre consolidated his power and influence, rising to become a virtual dictator of France. He oversaw the Reign of Terror, during which he put even good friends to death. Eventually, the French people turned on him; he was beheaded in 1794 in the Thermidorian Reaction against the extremist Jacobins. |
|
|
Term
Malthus on Population
1798 |
|
Definition
| Thomas Malthus (1766-1835) was an English economist and mathematician who is remembered primarily for his Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he argued that any population whose living conditions are improved will expand faster than it can secure adequate food sources; therefore, checks on population, such as war and pestilence, will forever remain a part of human life. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a Frenchmen of Italian stock who rose from the ranks of the French Revolutionary army to become emperor. In this excerpt, French courtier Madame de Rémusat suggests several reasons why the French subjected themselves to Napoleon's despotism after having executed a king and fought various revolutionary wars in order to rid France of despotism. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| After his election to the presidency in 1800, Thomas Jefferson faced a nation bent on expansion. Jefferson believed in the virtue of the yeoman farmer -- the ideal citizen of the new republic -- but the Treaty of Paris allocated lands east of the Mississippi River to the new country, leaving millions of acres to the Spanish (and later, the French). In 1803, Thomas Jefferson announced the Louisiana Purchase, which gave the United States over 800,000 square miles of land. |
|
|
