Chapter 15: Political Revolutions in Europe and the Americas: 1688-1850 Objectives

This is the first of three chapters to address the "great transformation" which the world's social, political and economic landscape. Beginning in Europe and the Americas and spreading around the world, these changes challenged all societies. It is important to be aware of the variety of ways in which societies dealt with these challenges; these chapters are not about the development of a single, worldwide model of living.

Although the word "revolution" usually elicits images of street demonstrations, violence, and armies, this chapter rightly addresses the full range of ideas which motivated the revolutionaries and which emerged from these conflicts as self-evidently true for many in the 19th and 20th centuries. What are these ideas? How are they related to the events discussed in previous sections of this book? Which ones still seem true to you in the late 20th century?

What happened in England in 1688, the United States in 1776, France in 1789, Haiti in 1791, and in Latin America? How were these ideas and events related to the drive to abolish slavery in the 19th century? These are the events you should be able to discuss effectively.

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