The Three Revolutions: What Were They Fighting For?

A revolution, by definition, is the overthrow of one government followed by replacement with another. The American Revolution against the British during 1775 to 1783 and the French Revolution pitting the French people against their own government during 1789 to 1799 were both very important political and social turnovers. This movement towards the establishment of a constitutional government influenced political thought throughout the world. By closely examining three of the main causes of these revolutions, it is clear that although the two revolutions have their differences, the basis of cause for the revolutions have, overall, much stronger similarities.

“Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life.” Great Britain and the American colonies had a relationship impacted with many hardships. I believe that there was a political struggle between the two groups, but that Great Britain and the American colonies used economics as a chance to show how much control they had. Multiple Acts written by Parliament, the colonies' Committees of Correspondence and Continental Congress created political friction between Great Britain and the American colonies.

Throughout history, humanity has always yearned for better. When a leader, as an individual or an entire government, ceases to fuel their nation’s drive for better, the citizens take it into their own hands. From this sovereignty of the people, the idea of revolution is born. This idea has become prominent many times. One can analyze a country like France. Due to the government’s selfish actions, the third estate revolted. In countries like Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico, the citizens were tired of strict rule from a power that is an ocean away. This caused the people in Latin America to revolt against their leader, Spain. Although the French and Latin American Revolutions both were inspired by the American Revolution and Enlightenment ideas, the French Revolution was vastly unsuccessful compared to the Latin American Revolution which brought freedom to many countries.

By 1792, the French had sent troops in to try and restore order. These battles differed from the battles in the United States because they centered on ideas of racial equality. Poorly treated slaves and angry mixed race citizens fought not only for their right to have an independent nation, but for a literal freedom and equality for themselves. When Toussaint L’Overture, a former slave, took over the Haitian armies in 1793, he was fighting both the British and the French, two armies fighting to possess an island rich in resources, including the slaves who were fighting against them. He was a powerful leader and an intelligent military strategist, and his capacity to control the rebelling slaves greatly improved their organization. Battles with the French dragged on until 1803, when Napoleon no longer had the resources to sustain the warfare and withdrew his troops. By 1804, Haiti was an independent republic governed by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who in a final expression of racial tension had the remaining white citizens massacred. Both the United States and Haiti helped secure their independence through successful military campaigns, but Haiti’s independence had race as a focal point in a way colonists of the United States did not

The French and American Revolutions were significant revolutionary movements that essentially played a vital role in shaping modern nations. Both revolutions are known for successfully abolishing their former absolute monarchies to constitutional monarchies and democracies. The French Revolution was an important age of political and social turmoil in France that lasted from 1789 to 1799. Likewise, the American Revolution was also a political and social upheaval that took place from 1765 to 1783, where the colonists in the thirteen colonies rejected the British rule and were eventually able to defeat Britain’s authority hence creating the United States of America. The French and American revolutions have similar causes such as the emphasis on

There have been several vital products of the Age of Revolutions but most importantly was the introduction of post-colonial attitudes with the need of self-governess away from empires overseas. This was achieved through the democracy and constitutions which still are the most important legacy existing in the modern world. It this outcome that societies were able to create influential pieces of works and change how societies operated on a daily bases with the United States composing the Declaration of Independence in 1776 establishing the cornerstone of this period of paradoxically an era of stability and anarchy. This essay aims to support this claim that

The American Revolution which started from 1775 and ended on 1783 is also known as the American Revolution war and the U.S. war of Independence. There arises a battle between residents of Great Britain’s North American Colonies and the colonial government which represented the British crown. Different battles were fought to declare the independence of the country. British strategy in 1777 involved two main prongs of attack mainly aimed at separating New England from the other colonies. The American triumph Saratoga is proven to be a turning point of the American revolution as it urged France to enter the warfare openly on the American side. Eventually, the war between Britain and its colonies turned over to be a crucial world war.

Before beginning, a legal code was put in place regarding regulation of slavery in Haiti and surrounding areas. This code, knows as “Black Code”, regulated everything from religion, to food (Doc 1). The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was the France claim of Independence. They believed that “all men were born and remain free and equal in rights”. Haitians believed that this also applied to them, but even though authors Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson believed people in their own countries had God-given rights, Haitian slaves did not because they were African (Doc 2). A helpful extra document would be of a Haitian reaction to France’s independence not being applied to Haiti. Because, they fought for the same thing, they should not be un-included in absolute freedom. Jean-Marie d’Aguay was president of the colonial Assembly in Saint Domingue in 1790, and was quoted saying “We have not brought half a million slaves from the coast of Africa to make them into French citizens.” This quote explicitly shows the amount of racial prejudice that Haitians slaves had to withstand prior to the revolution. (Doc

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizens in 1789 was a key incentive for the Haitian Revolution of 1789-1803. This declaration was pivotal in defining the rights that all men were entitled to. For instance, the framers of the declaration proclaimed that “men are born…free and equal in respect of their civil rights…” and that all men were entitled to liberty, rights to own property, security, resistance of oppression, freedom of speech, and protection under the law. The declaration was perceived by members of society very differently. For example, the people of color view the declaration as a tool for demanding their rights. For the slaves, the declaration was a motivation to fight for their freedom. In 1789, the Haitian Revolution officially started with uprising commanded by people of color and slaves. This revolution proved to be one of the most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1803, Haiti became the first country to gains its independence and be governed in the Americas by people of African ancestry. The Haitian Revolution completely transformed Saint Domingue, one of the most prosperous colony in the Caribbean. Considering the importance of the Haitian Revolution, it is unfortunate that there are few accounts of what was happening during the time. Yet, three very important documents that teach us about the society during the revolution are “The Ogé Insurrection”, “The Battle in the Harbor: The Testimony of a Man of Color”, and

a. According to Jacob Crawfurd of crawfurd.dk With the French arrival a revolution started once again and when it was finally over, an army of black slaves had their victory against the army of Napoleon. On January 1st 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an African-born ex-slave could declare Haiti independent. It was the first black republic in the world and the first country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery completely

St. Domingue, what is now Haiti, was a place of sugar rich plantations owned by the french. A collection of rebel slaves started the Haitian Revolution in 1791,they were inspired by the French revolution. The successful revolts lead by general Toussaint L’Ouverture earned the slaves control over a third of St. Domingue. While the rebels maintained control of the place, they kept an alliance with France. Two years after Napoléon’s ambition came into power, he decides to send 30,000 soldiers to take St. Domingue back. Early in the continuing year, french forces dropped to less than 10,000 troops. Relations with Britain were dwindling fast, war was imminent, Napoléon’s decided to cut St. Domingue out of his plans. In 1803, the nation of Haiti gave Napoléon Bonaparte his first defeat. Part of Bonaparte’s plan

Changes in British policies toward the colonies between 1750 and 1776 played paramount in the evolution of relations between British North America and Mother England. Tension between England and the colonies mounted from the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War to the signing of the Declaration of Independence as a result of the several implemented changes imposed by Parliament for the purpose of increasing income and tightening the grip on America.

Though the colony was returned to Spain in 1809, weak support led to a decay in colonial infrastructure, leading to a revolt, led by José Núñez de Cáceres and Don Manuel Carvajal, which declared “Spanish Haiti” independent. However, the new nation was vulnerable, and Boyer immediately seized on the opportunity to unite the island for security purposes, seeking to impose “Haitianization” on Santo Domingo economically and politically. Such aspects of “Haitianization” included abolition of slavery, land redistribution, settlement of Haitians, and forced cultivation of crops in a region dominated by cattle ranchers. (Moya Pons 123, 133) An insurrection group named los trinitarios seized on the discontent of the Dominican people in the 1830s and 1840s, leading to independence in 1844. (Black 19)

Toussaint Louverture organized an army of twenty thousand that controlled most of Saint-Domingue and spread a constitution that granted equality and citizenship to all of its residents. However, he did not want to declare independence from France because he did not want to aggravate Napoleon Bonaparte into attacking the island, which he ended up doing later. After his death following his arrest, the black generals that succeeded Toussaint defeated the French troops that survived yellow fever and had driven them out of the colony. In late 1803, they declared independence, the establishment of Haiti soon followed. Although they had abolished French rule, French is the main language spoken in Haiti today. The victory of the Haitian revolution signifies the first and only successful slave revolt in modern

In 1791 revolution broke out in the French colony of Saint Domingue, later called Haiti. The Haitian Revolution resounded in communities surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. One of the wealthiest European outposts in the New World, the Caribbean island's western third had some of the largest and most brutal slave plantations. Slave laborers cultivated sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton, and they endured horrible death rates, requiring constant infusions of slaves from Africa. In 1789 roughly 465,000 black slaves lived in the French colony on the island, along with fewer than 31,000 whites. In addition, there were about 23,000 free blacks and mixed-race people called gens de couleur, who might own land and accrue wealth but had no political