Connections

 

1) The Age of Enlightenment was a crucial era because it influenced many revolutions such as the American, French, and the Venezuelan Revolution by exposing people to different ways of thinking.   The United States was primarily followed John Locke’s ideas, however they also incorporated other philosophers such as Rousseau.  The main author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, read Locke’s book that stated, “ mutual preservation of life, liberty, and property (natural rights)” (Second Treatise of Government, 1689) was the main focus of the government.  Jefferson then drafted the Declaration of Independence stating, “men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  This is just one of the ways that one can see The Enlightenment influencing our modern society.  When the United States was deciding on the type of government, they established a system of checks and balances, or, as the French philosopher Rousseau put it, “separation of powers” which had never been used prior to that point.  The Age of Enlightenment not only influenced many people to create fair government, many citizens were inspired to revolt against their unjust government because of these mens works.  The French Revolution is a prime example of this because they revolted against the government because of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government where he stated citizens can overthrow the government “after a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices”.  The French had experienced just that at the time (1789) and rose up in an attempt to establish a more just government that had balance of powers, which followed Montesquieu’s ideas.  These Enlightenment thinkers went on to influence important people who would make great contributions to revolutions such as the the Venezuelan Revolution.  Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) was a Spanish Creole who was born into a wealthy Venezuelan family.  He was tutored by a man namedSimon Rodriguez who taught him and instilled in him the ideas of the Enlightenment.  Bolivar read Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, and many others, while at the same time studying the American and French revolutions.  After Napoleon overthrew King Ferdinand in 1808, leaders in Caracas formed an independent government known was a junta.  Bolivar was sent to Great Britain to gain support for independence but failed.  In 1811, Venezuela became the first Latin American colony to declare independence.  The newly established government would fall a year later, but in 1813 Bolivar would lead forces to regain Venezuelan independence.  The Enlightenment was a crucial era because the philosophers impacted many different cultures and continue to show up in our governments and our education system.

 

2) The French Revolution was a crucial point in history because shortly after it occurred  Napoleon Bonaparte came to power and his invasions of other countries weakened opponents power, allowing the citizens under their control to revolt in areas such as Brazil, Haiti, and New Granada.  When Napoleon invaded Portugal, the royal family fled to the Portuguese colony of Brazil, effectively making Portugal and Brazil equal in power and political strength.  When the royal family felt that it was safe to return to Portugal, they attempted to return Brazil to its previous state of power which upset the people and eventually lead to them revolting.  After the French Revolution, the French National Assembly wrote the Declaration of the human Rights, stating that all men were equal, when news of this reached Haiti, many slaves were inspired to raise up and claim their right to equality by force.  Venezuela and a few other countries won there independence against Spain simply because Spain was fighting a three-front war.  Spain had to fight San Martin’s army in the Buenos Aries region, Simon Bolivar on the northern front, and Napoleon back home.  While Spain could have prevented its colonies from achieving their independence, they were forced to distribute their forces which eventually lead to their downfall.  The French Revolution was a crucial moment in the late 1700s/early 1800s because it lead to revolutions occurring all over the world and to a decline of power for many countries in Europe.

 

3) Inequality plays a huge roll in revolutions because when it pushes people past their limit, they will band together with the common goal of overthrowing the government, this occurred in countries such as France, the United States, and England.  King Louise XVI was the King of France at the time of the revolution and he greatly oppressed the citizens of France religiously, politically, and economically.  The citizens were oppressed religiously because everybody was expected to follow the kingdoms religion and punished for saying anything that contradicted that, they were also punished politically because they had no freedom of speech and were punished ruthlessly for speaking out against the king or the royal family.  There were also economical oppression because the king would take all the wealth of the country and spend it selfishly as opposed to using the wealth for the benefit of the country.  The United States also faced similar oppression before it became an independent nation, the majority of the oppression came in the form of taxes, or, more accurately, taxation without representation.  England imposed unfair taxes without any kind of consult towards the U.S. on items such as paper, tea, stamps, etc. while at the same time forcing the colonists to house soldiers from the British Army.  This was also an issue in England during the Glorious Revolution because the new king was Catholic and kicked many Protestants out of political seats of power, effectively removing the representation of the Protestant community in England.  The Protestants were willing to put up with this since the supposed future ruler was a Protestant, however when the Catholic King produced an heir, people lost their cool and refused to tolerate the inequality anymore.  Whenever people are oppressed for too long, it bends them mentally and it will push people past their breaking point and is bound to form some kind of response, which in these cases happen to be revolutions.

 

4) For every action there is a reaction, and every revolution is simply a reaction to something that the citizens believed to be unfair; for example, in the American Revolution, the action was unfair taxes and the reaction was uprises and the whole revolution.  Many of these revolutions occurred in kind of a chain reaction, where one would lead to another which lead to another, etc.  The reason for this was because when people saw the success of previous revolutions, they became inspired and realised that while overthrowing a government is certainly a difficult task, it is not impossible, and while this might seem like common knowledge today, back then it was almost unheard of and considered earth shattering news.  People are willing to revolt because something bad, such as oppression, unfair taxes, or disregard for the necessities of the people, has to have been happening for long enough that it has worn the people down and really tested their resilience, until one day they are stretched to their breaking point.  This is where people decide they either need to make a change, or die trying, which is when revolutions occur because the people lose their fear of death since they realise death would actually be a better alternative than returning to where they came from such as the French Revolution.  During the 17-1800s, people realised that if enough of them came together and decided to take a stand against the government and refuse to put up with the unfair treatment, the people would get what they wanted. While there were many things at steak, it was not only for the better good of the community, it was for the better kid for the future generations of the individuals which most people value even above their own life.