Sie sind auf Seite 1von 10

Revolutions in

Politics Part I:
Background and
the American
Revolution

Background to Revolution
A. Social Change
1. 18th century society
was legally divided into
groups with special
privileges, such as the
nobility and the clergy, and
groups with special burdens,
such as the peasantry.
2. In France, nobles
were less than 2% of the
population while possessing
of the agricultural land
and enjoying exemption
from direct taxation as well
as special privileges.
3. Poor peasants and
I.

4. While the poor struggled with


rising prices, investors grew rich
from the spread of manufacturing
and overseas trade.
5. Wealthy educated
commoners (the bourgeoisie)
purchased landed estates and noble
titles and married into noble families.
6. The ancient privileges
seemed intolerable to many.
B. Growing Demands for Liberty
and Equality
1. The call for liberty was first
of all a call for human rights.
2. Supporters of the cause of
individual liberty demanded freedom
of worship, and end to censorship,
and freedom from arbitrary laws and
judges who obeyed the the orders of
government.

3. The call for liberty was


also a call for a new kind of
government in which the people
had sovereignty and chose
legislators who would represent
them and be accountable to
them.
4. If monarchs retained
their thrones, their rule should
be constrained by the general
will of the people.
5. One of the most
important Enlightenment
references was to John Locke,
who argued that if a government
oversteps its proper function of

C. The Seven Years War (French and


Indian War in U.S.) 1756-1763
1. This war created crises that opened
the door for radical action.
2. In North America, war broke out over
unresolved tensions regarding the border
between French and British colonies, drawing
in Native American tribes on both sides, with
British victory.
3. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris stipulated
that Canada and all French territory east of
the Mississippi passed to Britain and that
France ceded Louisiana to Spain.
4. Britain became the leading European
power but shouldered tremendous war debt.
5. France was humiliated and broke.
6. Both British and French governments
had to raise taxes, raising a storm of protests
and demand for reforms and sowing the seeds
of revolution.

II. The American Revolution


A. The Origins of the Revolution
1. The American Revolution
set an example that had an impact
on the French Revolution.
2. The high cost of the Seven
Years War doubled the British
national debt and led to tighter
controls over the British colonies.
3. Disagreements over
taxation, representation, and
differences in ideology led to
resistance from the colonists
against the British.
4. The First Continental
Congress found the British
Parliament uncompromising.
Fighting between colonial and
British troops began in April 1775.

B. Independence from Britain


1. The attitude of the British
government and the use of German
mercenaries helped to dissolve loyalties
to the home country and unite the
colonies.
2. Thomas Paines Common Sense
(1775), also helped mobilize opinion in
favor of independence.
3. On July 4, 1776, the Second
Continental Congress adopted the
Declaration of Independence, written by
Thomas Jefferson, which proclaimed the
natural rights of mankind and
sovereignty of the American states.
4. The French, who wanted
revenge against the British, sympathized
with the rebels and supplied guns,
gunpowder, soldiers, ships, and the
marquis de Lafayette, who became one
of Washingtons most trusted generals.

5. While the
French supported the
Americans, the Dutch
and Russia declared
war on the British as
well.
6. Thus by
1780 Britain was
engaged in a war
against most of
Europe as well as
against the thirteen
colonies.
7. Britain
decided to cut its
losses, and under the
Treaty of Paris of

C. Framing the Constitution


1. Delegates to the
Constitutional Convention, held
in Philadelphia in the summer
of 1787, granted the federal
government the power to
regulate domestic and foreign
trade, the right to tax, and the
means to enforce its laws.
2. The federal
government would operate
within a system of checks and
balances in which authority was
distributed across three
branches.
3. Senators and

4. Ten amendments
were added to the
Constitution after its
adoption in 1789 that
spelled out basic freedoms.
5. These
amendments, ratifies in
1791, formed an effective
Bill of Rights to safeguard
the individual.
6. Most of the rights,
such as trial by jury, due
process of law, the right to
assemble, and freedom
from unreasonable search,
had their origins in English

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen