1. How did the Enlightenment influence the Age of Revolution?

The Enlightenment, which took place from the 1680’s-1800’s influenced the Declaration of United States as well as many revolutions such as the American Revolution, Rio de la Plata Revolution as well as the French Revolution. The Enlightment thinkers such as the famous John Locke influenced Thomas Jefferson while writing the Declaration of Independence with his great ideas and philosophies, which were later included in the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson quoted, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, similar to the words of John Locke in the Second treatise of government “his life, his liberty and property”. In addition, John Locke also influenced the American Revolution, as the Native Americans became free from the Pilgrim rule and started a democracy. (American Revolution). San Martín, one of the leaders of the Rio de la Plata revolution, also studied Enlightment philosophies that he later took back to his colonies to start a revolution. He would incorporate the ideas he had learned while revolting against the government. Before the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes, “Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.” Enlightment thinker influenced quotes such as this one. Jean would incorporate this ideas to make French citizens think critically of their government, equality and freedom, which soon caused them to revolt against the government to initiate the French Revolution (French Revolution). In conclusion many important figures studied the Enlightenment thinkers and their philosophies to eventually bring their ideas learned to their own countries to declare movements that would move citizens to revolt against the government in order to incorporate their new philosophies.

 

2. The French Revolution was a major world event. Not only did it topple the French monarchy, it caused a ripple effect around the world. How did the French revolution cause other revolutions?

 

The French Revolution was a major world event that not only did topple the French monarchy; it caused a ripple effect around the world. The French Revolution caused other revolutions in places such as Haiti, New Granada and even in Brazil. In Haiti, slavery was a big issue, which later got to and end by influence of the French Revolution. The French revolution ideas mainly influenced “liberty, equality, property and resistance to oppression”. When Napoleon wanted to reintroduced slavery, the Haitian revolution began. Apart from being a movement where many slaves were trying to gain their freedom, it was also a movement “inspired by the ideas of revolution” to create a better life style for not only slaves, but as well for others. (Haiti Revolution). The French Revolution also influenced New Granada, by giving prosperity to the liberators at gaining their own independence. In addition the French Revolution also influenced Brazil with ideas to become independent. The Portuguese crown fled to Brazil from Napoleon and declared independence of the colony with new ideals from the French to create a new type of government. In conclusion, the French Revolution was an influence to many countries to start their own revolution by revolting against their government to create a new type of government that would change lives for the better. These new types of government we actually still see today in the specific countries previously mentioned. (French Revolution).

 

3. Inequality-social, political and economic-often causes revolutions. What role did inequality play in the age of revolutions?

Inequality-social, political and economic- had a big role that caused many revolutions around the world including the Mexican Revolution, The French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution. In the Mexican Revolution there were many slaves who took a great part of Mexico’s population in those times. Also in the Mexican Revolution there was a severe social class discrimination (hiegharchy). The peninsulares were people with wealth and were treated with more respect by the amount of money or property they owned. In comparison to the creoles, poor people who were mistreated by the Spaniards by the amount of wealth they had. (Mexican Revolution) In France there were many limitations for women as Olympe de Gouges a playwright tells us in her Declaration of the Rights of Women dedicated to Maria Antoniette. Olympe states that women should have equal rights as men, that property owned should belong to both sexes united or separate, and even states that “the purpose of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of women and man, as well as other rights she believed needed to be provided to women”. (French Revolution) In Haiti, there were numerous black people brought from Africa to work as slaves, that were controlled by white plantation owners that would treat them brutally and wouldn’t respect there human rights. (Haiti Revolution). Inequality took a big part

 

4. Overall, what caused these populations to risk life and further by rebelling against the government? In other words, why did these revolutions take place, and why did so many of them take place during this period?

Overall, populations risked their life and further by rebelling against the government because they got influenced by many philosophies written by Enlightment thinkers such as John Locke’s and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s to fight for a better life. Many countries believed that fighting for an independent country would bring them “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”. As the government failed to protect human rights and to treat people in an unfair ways and mainly focusing on gaining popularity and control, instead of focusing to protect people and use their power in positive ways, people decided to revolt against the them. Many revolutions started as a first step towards a better life in which they would be able to become independent and further most, create a government that would respect people equally and have different people’s opinions be heard. Many revolutions including The Haitian occurred because of lack of equal rights and slavery. American and Rio de Plata revolutions occurred mainly because the government was not acting correctly and torturing citizens economically and even politically. In addition Mexican Revolution took place because indigenous people were mistreated and discriminated by the Spaniards. In conclusion, people thought freedom, equality and pursuit of happiness would be brought to them if they fought for it by starting revolutions as the ones mentioned before. (Haiti Revolution) (Mexican Revolution) .