A History of Western Society Eleventh Edition

A History of Western Society Eleventh Edition
John P. McKay • Clare Haru Crowston • Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks • Joe Perry A History of Western Society Eleventh Edition CHAPTER 19 Revolutions in Politics 1775–1815 Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Have students discuss this image of life in revolutionary France
Have students discuss this image of life in revolutionary France. What kind of atmosphere reigned during the Revolution? 1. What kinds of people are depicted, and what does this say about societal differences? (Answers: Men, women, and children are portrayed, clearly showing that the Revolution affected all people regardless of gender or age. It also shows that the middle class and the poor were united in a common front against the king and the nobility.) 2. Whose busts are represented atop the pikes? (Answers: The busts most likely represent aristocrats or the king, a chilling prediction of things to come when the king and nobles were beheaded.) 3. Name a few of the long-standing problems that led people to start a revolution? (Answers: High-taxation, ever-widening gap between rich and poor, soaring food prices, unemployment, lack of representation in government.)

I. Background to Revolution
A. Social Change 1. Social Divisions 2. New Inequalities between Rich and Poor 3. Slavery B. Growing Demands for Liberty and Equality 1. Human Rights 2. Human and Economic Equality 3. The Roots of Revolution I. Background to Revolution A. Social Change 1. Social Divisions—European society in the eighteenth century was divided into groups: nobles (less than 2% of the population) were the largest landowners and had special privileges (exemption from taxation, right to bear swords), middle-class groups (professionals, merchants, guild masters) were able to monopolize economic activity, and peasants and urban laborers (the majority of the population) had no privileges and were forced to pay high taxes. Traditional hierarchies were challenged when women and children entered the labor force. 2. New Inequalities between Rich and Poor—The poor struggled with rising prices, but investors became wealthy through trade and manufacture. Rich merchants and bureaucrats rose in stature by purchasing estates and titles. A mixed-caste elite was formed from the marriages between nobles and the bourgeoisie (educated commoners). 3. Slavery—Laws were enacted in late eighteenth-century Europe claiming only Africans and those of African descent were subject to slavery. Free people of color (non-slaves of African or mixed African-European descent) were restricted in the areas of property, marriage, and clothing. European settlers in the colonies were given special privileges. B. Growing Demands for Liberty and Equality 1. Human Rights—During the revolutionary period, people supported the cause of individual liberty (became “liberals” in the nineteenth century) and demanded freedom to worship, an end to censorship, and freedom from arbitrary laws. This was a radical departure from the monarchical and absolutist forms of government that dominated Europe. Reformers believed the rule of monarchs should be constrained by the will of the people, a system of government in which legislators represented the people and were accountable to them. 2. Human and Economic Equality—Distinctions concerning human equality were still prevalent in the eighteenth century. Equality between men and women was still seen as impractical with political rights limited to men and racial inequality between blacks and whites was still widely accepted. Economically, free white men were to have a legally equal chance at economic gain, but the disparity between rich and poor remained acceptable. John Locke and the Baron de Montesquieu believed in representative government through Parliament to preserve the natural rights of man. 3. The Roots of Revolution—Discontent with the limitations of equality and liberty, revolutionaries began pushing for a fuller realization of these ideas (political rights for women, slave emancipation, government regulations).

I. Background to Revolution
C. The Seven Years’ War 1. Origins 2. North America 3. Treaty of Paris 4. Aftermath I. Background to Revolution C. The Seven Years’ War 1. Origins—The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) pitted England and Prussia against the French and Austrians. It took place in central Europe and North America (where it was known as the French and Indian War). Austria’s Maria Theresa hoped to win back Silesia from the Prussians and re-establish Habsburg leadership in Germany. 2. North America—Conflicts regarding borders between French and English colonies led to war. The French achieved major victories until 1758 when the British destroyed the French fleet and choked its commerce around the world. The British defeated the French in Quebec in 1759, ending French occupation of North America forever. 3. Treaty of Paris—The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the war and sealed British victory on all colonial fronts. France gave up Canada and all territory east of the Mississippi and relinquished most of its holdings in India. 4. Aftermath—Britain became the dominant European power but was deeply in debt. The French were defeated but held onto their profitable Caribbean territories. High taxes were imposed by both governments to repay loans, leading to protests and demands for reform.

II. The American Revolutionary Era, 1775–1789
A. The Origins of the Revolution 1. Consequences of Taxation 2. Independence 3. Boston Tea Party 4. First Continental Congress II. The American Revolutionary Era, 1775–1789 A. The Origins of the Revolution 1. Consequences of Taxation—The British government raised taxes in the colonies to pay for debts incurred from the Seven Years’ War. The Stamp Act (taxes on legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards) in 1765 caused riots and boycotts of British goods. The colonists raised political questions: Who should represent the colonies, and who had the right to make laws for Americans? The British stated that Americans were represented in Parliament, but the colonists viewed British colonial administration and Parliament as threats to liberty. 2. Independence—Americans enjoyed a degree of independence and equality that did not exist in Britain. The colonies enjoyed freedom of religion, the right to vote, no hereditary nobility, and the right to make their own laws. 3. Boston Tea Party—The Tea Act of 1773 granted a monopoly over tea to the East India Company and generated opposition from the colonial merchants who were excluded. Disguised as Native Americans, Bostonian men boarded East India Company ships and threw the tea overboard to protest the act. The Coercive Acts of 1774 suppressed local liberties and expanded the royal governor’s power. 4. First Continental Congress—Delegates from the colonies met in Philadelphia in the First Continental Congress in 1774 to resolve conflicts with Britain. The British Parliament refused to compromise, and fighting broke out in 1775 between British and colonial troops at Lexington and Concord.

B. Independence from Britain 1. Calls for Independence 2. Declaration of Independence 3. Patriots vs. Loyalists 4. Foreign Support 5. Treaty of Paris II. The American Revolutionary Era, 1775–1789 B. Independence from Britain 1. Calls for Independence—The colonies began clamoring for independence as the British government rejected compromise and used German mercenaries to quell dissent. English radical Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1775) called for freedom and republican government. 2. Declaration of Independence—The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, It proclaimed the natural rights of mankind and the sovereignty of the American states and denounced the acts of King George III (r. 1760–1820). 3. Patriots vs. Loyalists—Fighting continued between patriots and Loyalists (those loyal to the Crown who made up 20 percent of the population). Patriots formed coalitions to confiscate Loyalists’ property, and many of them fled to Canada. 4. Foreign Support—The French wanted revenge for the defeat in the Seven Years’ War and supported the American forces financially and military beginning in French volunteers like the marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) fought alongside American forces. In 1779 and 1780, the Spanish and Dutch declared war on Britain, and Russia hampered Britain’s naval power. 5. Treaty of Paris—By 1780, Britain was at war with the colonies and with most of Europe and in 1783, Britain recognized the independence of the thirteen colonies under the Treaty of Paris, effectively ending the war of independence.

C. Framing the Constitution 1. Federal Government 2. Bill of Rights D. Limitations of Liberty and Equality 1. Slaves 2. Native Americans 3. Women II. The American Revolutionary Era, 1775–1789 C. Framing the Constitution 1. Federal Government—Delegates of the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787 to end economic depression, social uncertainty, and the lack of a strong central government. They granted the federal (central) government power to regulate domestic and foreign trade, the right to tax, and the power and means to enforce laws. Government authority was distributed across three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) that would balance one another, and the states kept the power of the government in check. 2. Bill of Rights—The Antifederalists believed the new Constitution gave the federal government too much power. Thus, the first ten amendments to the Constitution (passed in 1789), known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified in Most of them had their origins in English law, while others reflected natural-law theory. D. Limitations of Liberty and Equality 1. Slaves—Despite abolitionist movements in the 1780s, slavery remained prevalent in the South. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 produced a compromise in which slaves would count as three-fifths of a person in tallying population numbers for taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. Slave-holding states thus gained greater representation in Congress and continued to oppose emancipation. 2. Native Americans—Promises were made to Native Americans to protect them and not to confiscate their land. However, the federal government forced tribes to concede their lands, and state governments sometimes simply seized their land for new settlements. 3. Women—Women played an important role in the American Revolution by boycotting British goods, raising funds for the army, and taking care of homesteads and businesses when the men were away fighting, but they were still not granted the right to vote in the new Constitution.

III. Revolution in France, 1789–1791
A. Breakdown of the Old Order 1. Soaring Debt 2. Tax Increases 3. Desacralization 4. Louis XVI III. Revolution in France, 1789–1791 A. Breakdown of the Old Order 1. Soaring Debt—National debt in France soared to finance the American war. By the 1780s, 50 percent of the annual budget went to interest payments on the debt, another 25 percent went to the military, and 6 percent was used for the king and his court at Versailles. Less than 20 percent was reserved for the productive functions of the state (transportation and general administration). 2. Tax Increases—Since France had no central bank, no paper currency, and no means of printing money, the only way to deal with the debt was to increase taxes. 3. Desacralization—Because of Louis XV’s association with Madame de Pompadour, a woman of low birth, he was reinvented in the popular imagination as a degenerate and lost the aura of God’s anointed on earth. This dealt a severe blow to the monarchy’s prestige and royal authority. 4. Louis XVI—Louis XV died in 1774 and was succeeded by Louis XVI (r. 1774–1792). Eager to please, the new king vacillated on political reform and the economy and lacked decisiveness in dealing with the rising opposition.

B. The Formation of the National Assembly 1. The Estates General 2. The Estates 3. Demands for Change 4. Deadlock over Voting Procedures 5. The National Assembly 6. The King’s Response III. Revolution in France, 1789–1791 B. The Formation of the National Assembly 1. The Estates General—A legislative body made up of representatives of the three estates called into session in 1789 (first time since 1614) after Louis XVI’s minister of finance revived a general tax on all landed property and after the judges of the Parlement of Paris declared this royal initiative null and void. 2. The Estates—The three legal categories, or orders, of France’s inhabitants: the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else. The clergy (first estate), unhappy with church hierarchy, elected parish priests as their representatives; the nobility (second estate) elected conservatives from the provinces; and the commoners (third estate constituting 95 percent of the population) elected lawyers and government officials. 3. Demands for Change—All the estates agreed that royal absolutism should give way to a constitutional monarchy in which laws and taxes would require the consent of the Estates General. All individual liberties were to be guaranteed by law, and economic regulations were to be loosened. 4. Deadlock over Voting Procedures—Controversy began when the government confirmed that each estate should meet and vote separately and then granted one vote per estate rather than per person. The issue came to a head when the third estate refused to transact any business until the king ordered the clergy and nobility to meet with them in a single body. The third estate voted to call itself the National Assembly. 5. The National Assembly—The first French revolutionary legislature, made up primarily of representatives of the third estate and a few from the nobility and clergy (in session from 1789 to 1791). They swore the Tennis Court Oath, refusing to disband until they had written a new constitution. 6. The King’s Response—The king was ambivalent and urged reforms but also called an army of 18,000 troops to the capital to uphold the monarchy’s authority.

C. Popular Uprising and the Rights of Man 1. Economic Hardship 2. The Popular Uprising 3. Peasant Insurrections 4. Reforms 5. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 6. Effects 7. Women’s March III. Revolution in France, 1789–1791 C. Popular Uprising and the Rights of Man 1. Economic Hardship—A poor grain harvest in 1788 caused bread prices to soar and demand for manufactured goods collapsed, causing a massive rise in unemployment. In Paris, 150,000 out of the 600,000 inhabitants were out of work by July 1789. 2. The Popular Uprising—On July 14, several hundred people marched to the Bastille, a royal prison to procure weapons and gunpowder. The king reinstated his dismissed finance minister and withdrew his troops from Paris to quell the uprising. 3. Peasant Insurrections—Peasants began to ransack manor houses, burn feudal documents recording their obligations, reoccupy common land, and seize forests. The fear of noble reprisals against these peasant uprisings became known as the Great Fear by contemporaries. 4. Reforms—The National Assembly responded by granting new rights to the peasantry. It abolished all of the old noble privileges (exclusive hunting rights, fees for justice, work obligations) and tithes paid to the church. 5. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen—The National Assembly issued this document guaranteeing equality before the law, representative government, and individual freedom. 6. Effects—The declaration did not improve conditions for the poor. Local and foreign markets shrank, unemployment grew, and there was a lack of relief from the church, since it had been stripped of its tithes. 7. Women’s March—7,000 desperate women marched from Paris to Versailles, interrupted a meeting of the National Assembly, invaded the royal apartments, killed some royal guards, and searched for Queen Marie Antoinette, probably intending to kill her. Lafayette and the National Guard saved the royal family.

D. A Constitutional Monarchy and Its Challenges 1. Reforms by the National Assembly 2. No Suffrage for Women 3. Political Reforms 4. Religious Reforms III. Revolution in France, 1789–1791 D. A Constitutional Monarchy and Its Challenges 1. Reforms by the National Assembly—In 1790, the National Assembly made several reforms: abolition of the French nobility, creation of a constitutional monarchy, and vesting of lawmaking power in the National Assembly. It also expanded women’s rights: liberalization of laws on divorce, inheritance, and financial support for illegitimate children. The constitution, the first in French history, passed in 1791. 2. No Suffrage for Women—Women were still not given the right to vote and were excluded from participation in public office. Self-taught writer Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, but it fell on deaf ears. 3. Political Reforms—The complicated patchwork of historic provinces was replaced with 83 departments of roughly equal size. Guilds, workers’ associations, and internal customs’ fees were also abolished. 4. Religious Reforms—Religious freedom was granted to Protestants and Jews, the Catholic Church’s property and monasteries were seized and sold to strengthen the state’s finances (assignats: new paper currency), and a national church was established with priests chosen by voters. Why? The anticlericalism stemming from the philosophes and the Enlightenment. This incurred the pope’s condemnation and a sharpening of the conflict between the educated classes and the common people.

IV. World War and Republican France, 1791–1799
A. The International Response 1. Division of Opinion 2. The Threat of Foreign Intervention 3. The Jacobin Club 4. The King’s Arrest IV. World War and Republican France, 1791–1799 A. The International Response 1. Division of Opinion—Opinion was divided in Europe and the United States over the French Revolution. Many liberals and radicals saw the revolution as a triumph of liberty over despotism. On the other hand, British statesman Edmund Burke (1729–1797) wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France in which he defended inherited privileges and glorified England’s unrepresentative Parliament, believing similar reforms would cause chaos in France. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) wrote a blistering response to Burke (A Vindication of the Rights of Man), demanding equal rights for women and coeducation. 2. The Threat of Foreign Intervention—European monarchs and royals felt threatened by the revolution, particularly after the arrest of Louis XVI when he tried to slip out of France. The Declaration of Pillnitz was issued by monarchs of Austria and Prussia who professed their willingness to intervene and restore Louis XVI’s rule, if necessary. 3. The Jacobin Club—The Jacobin Club was a political club whose members were well-educated radical republicans. They were younger and less cautious than their predecessors. The Jacobins vehemently opposed the Declaration of Pillnitz and declared war on Francis II, the Habsburg monarch, in 1792. 4. The King’s Arrest—Prussia and Austria invaded and initially defeated the French defenders. The Assembly declared the country in danger, volunteers flocked to the capital, and a revolutionary crowd attacked the royal palace at the Tuileries, imprisoned the king, and called for a new constitutional assembly to be elected by universal male suffrage.

B. The Second Revolution and the New Republic 1. Second Revolution 2. Girondists and the Mountain 3. French Invasions 4. Counter-Revolutionary Efforts 5. The Triumph of the Mountain 6. Committee of Public Safety IV. World War and Republican France, 1791–1799 B. The Second Revolution and the New Republic 1. Second Revolution—In the second phase of the French Revolution (1792–1795), the fall of the French monarchy introduced a rapid radicalization of politics. Angry crowds slaughtered priests and aristocrats in the prisons of Paris. France was proclaimed a republic in September 1792. 2. Girondists and the Mountain—Two rival groups within the Jacobins. The Girondists were a moderate group that fought for control of the French National Convention in They accepted the guilt of the king but did not wish to have him put to death. The Mountain were led by Robespierre (1758–1794), the convention’s radical faction, which seized legislative power in 1793 and wanted the king put to death. The Mountain won and Louis was guillotined in January Marie Antoinette was also executed later that year. 3. French Invasions—The French forces stopped the Prussians, invaded Savoy, captured Nice, and invaded the German Rhineland and the Austrian Netherlands. They abolished feudalism and attacked the nobility but also lived off the land. In 1793, France was at war with almost all of Europe (Prussia, Austria, Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Spain). 4. Counter-Revolutionary Efforts—Resentment grew over the draft, causing peasants in the Vendée, devout Catholics, royalists, and foreign agents to revolt. The counter-revolutionaries recruited armies to fight for their cause. 5. The Triumph of the Mountain—The Mountain joined with the sans-culottes (the laboring poor of Paris, who wore trousers instead of the breeches of the aristocracy and middle class; sans-culottes came to refer to the militant radicals of the city). They invaded the Convention and arrested 29 Girondist deputies for treason. 6. Committee of Public Safety—The Convention formed the Committee of Public Safety in April 1793, which was given dictatorial powers to secure the revolution against counter-revolutionary forces. Moderates demanded a decentralized government. Counter-revolutionary victories drove back the republic’s armies. By 1793, the central government only held occupied areas around Paris and on the eastern frontier.

Ask students to discuss how French and English artists understood the French Revolution.
1. How does the French painting portray the revolution? (Answers: The woman looks happy, the artist celebrates the simplicity of her life, she may be poor, but not destitute, and she celebrates the revolution by knitting a hat for a sans-culottes. This shows the support of common people for the revolution, and shows the revolution gives people a good life.) 2. How does the English artist on the right portray the revolution? (Answers: The woman looks insane, bloodthirsty, only wears revolutionary colors, and has a bloody dagger in her bonnet. This shows the revolution makes people crazed and bloodthirsty.) 3. Why would each country see the revolution this way? (Answers: The French want to show the revolution as benefiting and celebrating the common people, that it makes life better for all. The English are concerned about the spread of revolution, and want to make it seem dangerous to the English people.)

C. Total War and the Terror 1. Planned Economy 2. Reign of Terror (1793–1794) 3. Nationalism IV. World War and Republican France, 1791–1799 C. Total War and the Terror 1. Planned Economy—The central government achieved stunning successes, reconquering the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhineland, and re-establishing control over the provinces. Collaborating with the sans-culottes, Robespierre fixed prices (particularly for bread), nationalized many small workshops, and told craftsmen what to produce. This was an embryonic emergency socialism. 2. Reign of Terror (1793–1794)—Robespierre’s Committee of Public Safety tried “enemies of the people,” executed up to 40,000 men and women, and banned clubs and popular societies of women (they regarded women’s participation in politics as disorderly and a distraction from their proper place in the home). The Terror tried to establish a culture of revolution by sponsoring revolutionary art, songs, and secular festivals; adopting rational systems of weights, measures, and time; and introducing a policy of de-Christianization which was eventually repealed. 3. Nationalism—An emerging spirit of nationalism drew on the explosive power of patriotism where the French shared a common language and tradition reinforced by popular sovereignty and democracy. All unmarried young men were drafted, and by January 1794, the French republican army outnumbered its enemies nearly 4 to 1. By spring of 1794, the French were victorious on all fronts.

D. The Thermidorian Reaction and the Directory 1. Increased Terror 2. Thermidorian Reaction 3. The Directory IV. World War and Republican France, 1791–1799 D. The Thermidorian Reaction and the Directory 1. Increased Terror—In March 1794, Robespierre sent many long-standing collaborators to the guillotine, believing they had turned against him. A conspiracy was organized by a group of radicals and moderates that led to Robespierre’s execution in July 1794. 2. Thermidorian Reaction—As a reaction to the violence of the Reign of Terror, a group of respectable middle-class lawyers and professionals who had led the liberal revolution of 1789 reasserted their authority, abolished economic controls, let prices rise, and restricted the local political organizations in which the sans-culottes had their strength. 3. The Directory—The Directory was a five-man executive body chosen by the assembly. It continued French military expansion abroad and reduced unemployment at home. However, the people grew tired of the Directory’s corruption and inefficiency. National elections in 1797 returned many conservative and monarchist deputies to power. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte ended the Directory in a coup d’état.

V. The Napoleonic Era, 1799–1815 A. Napoleon’s Rule of France
1. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) 2. Seizure of Power 3. Domestic Policy V. The Napoleonic Era, 1799–1815 A. Napoleon’s Rule of France 1. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)—Born in Corsica to an impoverished noble family, Napoleon became a lieutenant in the French artillery. He was placed in command of the French forces in Italy and achieved decisive victories but suffered military disasters in Egypt and returned to France before the fiasco was generally known. 2. Seizure of Power—Disillusioned by the weakness of the Directory, Napoleon ended it and was named first consul of the republic. A new constitution consolidating his position was overwhelmingly approved in a nation-wide vote. The image of the Republic was maintained but Napoleon was sole ruler of France. 3. Domestic Policy—Napoleon worked out unwritten agreements with powerful groups in exchange for loyal service. The Napoleonic Code, promulgated in 1804, reasserted the equality of all male citizens before the law and absolute security of wealth and private property. It restricted rights accorded to women by previous revolutionary laws. Napolean defended the peasants’ gains in land and status acquired during the Revolution, granted amnesty to 100,000 émigrés in exchange for a loyalty oath, and healed the breach with the church by signing the Concordat with Pope Pius VII in However, under Napoleon’s authoritarian rule, women lost the political gains made in the 1790s. He curtailed their rights of free speech, free elections, and free press.

V. The Napoleonic Era, 1799–1815 B. Napoleon’s Expansion in Europe
1. Foreign Policy Successes a. Treaty of Luneville (1801) b. Treaty of Amiens (1802) 2. Efforts at Expansion 3. Further Expansion V. The Napoleonic Era, 1799–1815 B. Napoleon’s Expansion in Europe 1. Foreign Policy Successes a. Treaty of Lunéville (1801)—Austria lost almost all of its Italian possessions, and German territory on the west bank of the Rhine was incorporated into France. b. Treaty of Amiens (1802)—Britain allowed France to control the Dutch Republic, the Austrian Netherlands, the west bank of the Rhine, and most of the Italian peninsula. 2. Efforts at Expansion—Napoleon redrew the map of Germany and plotted to attack Britain, but his fleet was defeated at the Battle of Trafalgar. He had himself crowned emperor in 1804 and defeated the Austrians and Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. 3. Further Expansion—Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and established the German Confederation of the Rhine (a union of fifteen states minus Austria, Prussia, and Saxony), becoming “protector” of the confederation and giving him control of western Germany. He defeated the Prussians in 1806 at the battles of Jena and Auerstädt. In the treaties of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost half its population, and Russia accepted Napoleon’s reorganization of western and central Europe while enforcing his embargo against British goods.

V. The Napoleonic Era, 1799–1815 C. The Grand Empire and Its End
2. Impact 3. Invasion of Russia 4. Abdication and Final Defeat V. The Napoleonic Era, 1799–1815 C. The Grand Empire and Its End 1. The Grand Empire—This was an empire over which Napoleon and his allies ruled and was made up of three parts: an ever-expanding France (Belgium, Holland, parts of northern Italy, and some German territories), dependent satellite kingdoms (on whose thrones Napoleon placed the members of his large family), and independent but allied states (Austria, Prussia, Russia). All were expected to support the Continental System, a blockade imposed by Napoleon to halt all trade between continental Europe and Britain to weaken the British economy and military. 2. Impact—While peasants benefited from the abolition of feudal dues and serfdom, others chafed at the heavy taxes and regarded Napoleon as a tyrant, not a liberator. This led to a revival of patriotism and revolts in Spain beginning in The Continental System actually benefited the British who set up a counter-blockade to hurt France economically. 3. Invasion of Russia—Prompted by Alexander I’s repudiation of the blockade against Britain, Napoleon led an army of 600,000 to Moscow in 1812 but was forced to retreat due to the combined effects of the Russian army, winter, and starvation that reduced his army considerably. 4. Abdication and Final Defeat—In 1814, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Chaumont to defeat Napoleon. Napoleon abdicated a month later and was exiled to the island of Elba but escaped in 1815 to replace Louis XVIII (r. 1814–1824). He was defeated again at the Battle of Waterloo, at the end a period known as the Hundred Days, and exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he took revenge by writing memoirs depicting himself as Europe’s revolutionary liberator.

VI. The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804
A. Revolutionary Aspirations in Saint-Domingue 1. Social Tensions 2. Code Noir 3. Impact of the French Revolution 4. Violence VI. The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804 A. Revolutionary Aspirations in Saint-Domingue 1. Social Tensions—Social tensions existed between white Europeans (French colonial officials, wealthy plantation owners, merchants, poor immigrants), the Creoles (people of French or European descent born in the colonies), a half-million slaves, and the forty thousand free people of African and mixed African descent (free people of color). 2. Code Noir—The Code Noir (1685) granted free persons of color the same legal status as whites, but beginning in the 1760s, colonial administrators began to rescind these rights. 3. Impact of the French Revolution—Slaves hoped France would grant them freedom when they heard news of the abolitionist movement. Free people of color found in the rhetoric of the French revolution the principles to shore up their eroded legal and political rights, and the Creole elite looked to establish a representative government to gain control over their affairs. Instead, the National Assembly refused to extend French constitutional safeguards to the colonies and reaffirmed French monopolies over colonial trade. 4. Violence—In 1790, violence broke out when Vincent Ogé, a free man of color, returned from Paris, raised an army, and demanded political rights for all free citizens. Ogé’s army was defeated and he was tortured and executed. In 1791, the National Assembly granted political rights to all free people of color born to two free parents who possessed sufficient property. Violence then broke out between the white elite and free people of color.

B. The Outbreak of Revolt 1. Action from Below 2. Foreign Intervention 3. Abolition of Slavery VI. The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804 B. The Outbreak of Revolt 1. Action from Below—Groups of slaves held nighttime meetings to plan a mass insurrection, drawing on their military experience and on a tradition of slave resistance, including African-derived religious rituals known as vodou (voodoo). By August 1791, slave revolts had begun, leading to attacks on sugar and coffee plantations. To defeat the slave rebellion, the National Assembly passed a decree enfranchising all free people of color. 2. Foreign Intervention—The Spanish began to support rebel slaves and bring them into the Spanish army. Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743–1803), a freed slave who had joined the revolt, was named a Spanish officer. The British blockaded the colony and captured French territory on the island. 3. Abolition of Slavery—The commissioners sent by the National Convention abolished slavery throughout the colony in October 1793, and the Convention extended abolition to all French territories in February Toussaint L’Ouverture switched sides, and the French regained control of the colony in 1796, but the Thermidorian reaction in France threatened to undo these gains.

C. The War of Haitian Independence 1. Civil War 2. Napoleon’s Intervention 3. The Birth of Haiti VI. The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804 C. The War of Haitian Independence 1. Civil War—Civil war broke out in 1799 between the general André Rigaud, a member of the colored elite who established a government in the southern peninsula of Saint-Domingue, and Toussaint L’Ouverture, a freed slave of African descent who controlled the western province. L’Ouverture triumphed in 1800 and gained control of the entire colony. 2. Napoleon’s Intervention—Napoleon had plans to reestablish slavery on the island and use the profits to expand French power. In 1802, General Charles-Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc (1772–1802) had L’Ouverture arrested and deported to France where he died in 1803. 3. The Birth of Haiti—Jean Jacques Dessalines (1758–1806), L’Ouverture’s lieutenant, crushed the French forces in 1804 and declared the independence of Saint-Domingue and the birth of the sovereign nation of Haiti. The birth of Haiti was the result of the first successful large-scale slave revolt in history. Haitian independence spread the idea that liberty, equality, and fraternity should apply to all people.

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