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The age of democratic revolution. Is this a good description of the period 1970-1848?
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‘The age of the democratic revolution. Is this a good description of the period 1770-1848? In order to assess the revolutions of the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century it is essential to look at the main revolutions: the American Revolution, the French Revolution and the Revolutions of 1948. The American War of Independence can be said to have sparked the tide of Revolutions from this period. The Americans, who had outgrown the status which Britain had accorded them, sought independence from Britain and its economic exploitation. Economic exploitation such as the ‘Navigation Acts’ which restricted colonial trade, which consequently made smuggling universal and the enforcement of taxes to pay for Greenville’s army. The stamp act provoked riots throughout the Colonies and shortly after, it was abolished. The Townsend act of 1767 brought even more unrest to the colonies as British troops were called in to restore order in Boston in 1770 and 5 people were killed. In April 1770 a ‘tea act’ was passed, which granted a monopoly on tea trade to an East India tea company. But colonists refused to buy this tea and instead, smuggled tea from elsewhere. 1773 then saw the ‘Boston Tea Party’ at which tea chests at the port of Boston were tossed into the sea by colonists. George III was outraged and closed the port of Boston, his so-called ‘intolerable acts’ then gave the Massachusetts governor the power to billet soldiers in colonists’ houses, annulled the colony’s charter and moved the capital from Boston to Salem. Colonists then responded by forming the first continental congress in Philadelphia on 5 September 1774. Colonists wanted civil disobedience against the British authorities in protest at the acts. At this stage Independence was rejected and it wasn’t until later that the faction that sought it gained support. The Battle of Lexington and Concord then began the Revolution, the Second Continental Congress met in May 1775 and a continental army was adopted but not yet prepared to overthrow the crown. After the battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 the congress decided that it could no longer accept the British crown, and the American Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, revised by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams and was formally passed on 4 July 1776. The Colonists now sought Independence from Britain which had previously interfered with their freedom. British regulation, taxation and Monarcharial government from England had only brought the divided colonies together. They were now willing to stand up to Britain but they were not the only country that resented Britain. France, the Netherlands, Spain and Russia also helped out, the American Revolution thus became part of a larger war in which most of the great powers participated to some extent. Surprisingly, the war had went well for the British, in 1780 they made gains in the South but American guerillas won. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 recognised American Independence from Britain and borders were set. Some people argue that the Revolution can be seen as confirmation of a process that was already taking place, America had been looking after itself for years, Britain was preoccupied with war and they had become used to autonomy – their government had matured and just needed to break free from Britain.
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