Atlantic Revolution
Nationalism and revolution often go hand in hand. Yet, while nationalism might lead to revolution, and perhaps national independence, it is much broader than revolution, and one should not be confused with the other. “All nationalists believe that nations can be identified by certain characteristics that all its citizens hold in common. These characteristics include the linguistic, ethnic, religious, or historical traditions that make a nation distinctive. All nationalists…are linked across time by [a common] language, literary tradition, and history” (Gelvin 2011).
Atlantic Revolution What the American Revolution had in common with the Atlantic Revolution is that it wasn’t one single event or conflict that lead to uprisings everywhere. They were interconnected sharing common political vocabulary and strong democratic character” Where the American Revolution sought to create a new republic the Atlantic republics wished to recreate a new society from scratch. The American Revolution started a Trans-Atlantic Age revolution. Discovery of the New World It all began with the discovery of the New World by Columbus is 1492, which happened on behalf of Castile which was the Spanish crown.
Prior to this discovery Europe had switched from the Feudalist system to the Capitalist system. Nationalism in Europe fueled the desire to control colonies in Asia and Africa. Finding a new route to the orient was the goal, when the Americas were discovered. The “Atlantic revolution,” was the redirection of trade routes brought about by the great geographic discoveries. The Atlantic revolution, however, did not so much replace the old lines of medieval commerce as build upon them” (Britannica). The European merchant capitalism formed a framework that became a joint venture for Europe, Americas and Africa.
One that was founded upon coerced labor in which all contributed to the vast complicated network known as the Atlantic economy. “While not equal in power, each was critical in the contribution to the construction of the Atlantic world”(Benjamin 2011). Atlantic World By 1607 the first English settlement in America was set in Jamestown Virginia. Only Seven out of Ten settlers remained in the New World, due to starvation, harsh living conditions and wars with the Natives. The natives who had traded food for death were fighting two enemies disease and setters. Diseases such as malaria, small pox, scarlet fever and influenza wiped the Natives out.
Creating a shortage of labor in the creation of the New World. When Columbus first arrived, he brought Horses. These horses were traded to Native Americans which helped change the face of hunting forever. This allowed the Natives to move from hunting parties requiring several men that lasted days to one hunter on horseback. The New World gave the Old World tobacco, cocoa, beans, tomatoes, corn and potatoes. Both Corn and potatoes became the food of the poor after Europe came out of the epidemic known as Black Death. Although no cure for the countless diseases on both sides of the New and Old Worlds. The retreat of the plague left Europeans with only war, hunger and a raft of other infections to deal with. ” Economy The Columbian Exchange brought the Europeans wealth and power.
The combined animal and plant products from the Indies exceeded gold and silver in value. While it brought the native Americas an unequal exchange of food for diseases that caused entire Indian cultures to vanish. The Columbian Exchange brought the Africans to other countries; discovered by the Portuguese searching for gold, later kidnapped later to be bartered and sold into slavery to satisfy Europeans unquenchable taste for goods.
While the Columbian exchange had life changing positive and disastrous ending negative effects on four continents and three branches of humanity. Ecology became destiny determining who would thrive and who would die. Tobacco John Rolfe was an entrepreneur, who dared to sail to the Americas. He landed in Chesapeake Bay, with a dream and some tobacco seeds. He planted them and a crop grew that was worth One Million United States currency of today. August 1619 the first permanent African involuntary labors arrived to care for the tobacco crops.
Slavery did not exist at this point in time, Later another One Thousand settlers arrived with Twenty African indentured servants. “The black indentured servant, with his hope of freedom, was increasingly being replaced by the black slave. “ In 1705, the Virginia General Assembly removed any lingering uncertainty about this terrible transformation; it made a declaration that would seal the fate of African Americans for generations to come… “All servants imported and brought into the Country… who were not Christians in their native Country… hall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion… shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resist his master… correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction… the master shall be free of all punishment… as if such accident never happened. ” (PBS) “The Body of Liberties, recognized the enslavement of Africans as not only legal but also moral in 1641” (Code Noir 2008). Slave Revolution When the first record of blacks arrived in US history it was in Virginia in 1619.
The Colonists used words like, black skin and connoted words like “soiled, dirty… horrible, wicked to describe the blacks, while white skin connoted “purity, beauty, and goodness. “About 1860 racism reared its ugly head when white settlers started referring to themselves as white. As time progressed, harsh, brutal treatment of the Negro, the African American, the Black, was based on the dehumanizing of this person, and asserting white supremacy. ” (Sanders) Unable to swallow the idea that a black man could be their equal, the American White Anglo-Saxon took steps to make sure that equality just didn’t happen.
As early as 1740 laws were passed that punished, by death, any act of rebellion Negro slaves committed or any act against a white person that resulted in grievous wounds, bruises, or maiming, without benefit of trial. French Colony of Saint Domingue The French had the slave system down to a science knowing that the average rate per slave was three years. This inevitable death sentence, sparked a revolution within the slaves themselves. The French Revolution sparked, the most famous revolution which began in the French colony of Saint Domingue later known as the country of Haiti.
The Haitian revolution lasted for twelve years, under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture. The revolution took a turn when the slaves acquired guns from the neighboring Spanish and used them to fight off the British, French, and Spanish defeating 60,000 soldiers. The revolt caused Britain and France to abandon slave trade, making One Million black slaves French citizens in 1794. The French-Haitian Revolution What Nationalism and Revolution tell us about the role of slavery in the Atlantic World was what was done to justify slavery. In 1831 a Slave revolt lead by Nat Turner was used as reason to continue slavery.
The whites were far outnumbered which was why The Haitian Revolution was kept quiet. For this reason, white Frenchmen were not permitted in Cuba for fear that they tell the story of the revolt in Haiti. One Million black slaves became French citizens in 1794 and when Napoleon tried to reinstitute slavery in 1802 things did not go well. Ultimately, Catholicism was used to try to de- Africanize the slaves, the colony wished to assimilate them culturally in order to continue their subjugation. American Revolution The American Revolution affected slavery by creating new ways for the slaves to be free.
People started questioning slavery on all sides. The Americans won their independence from the British but the most vital area that America needed to address was the one of racial segregation. The primary cause of the civil war was slavery, and States’ rights. The Americans celebrated when the French overthrew its Absolutist monarchy. Sanctioned violence in France overflowed to the borders of Great Britain where they remained at war until 1815. Once the British war with France began depleting the British treasury. The war known as the French and Indian War is also known as the Seven Years War.
The depletion of the treasury caused Britain, who decided the colonies had grown fat under their not so watchful eye to tax the Colonists on goods that had not previously been taxed. The Stamp Act of 1765, caused Parliament to take action, deciding that the colonies needed to contribute to their own defense. That action was followed by the British action to tax the Colonists on goods that had not previously been taxed. The final blow came when British forced the colonists to house and feed British soldiers. These collective actions made the colonists angry. The Colonists were without a representative in Parliament to peak for them. From these collective actions the phrase, no taxation without representation was born. Attempting to further cripple the colonists attempts for independence the English outlawed production of an American currency – and forced the colonies to borrow from British banks at high interest. John Adams stated that,” The revolution was effected before the war commenced. The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people. ” (Adams, 2010) Conclusion The American Revolution and Atlantic Revolution wasn’t one single event or conflict that lead to uprisings everywhere.
They were interconnected sharing common political vocabulary and strong democratic character” While Nationalism and revolution often go hand in hand nationalism might lead to revolution, and perhaps national independence. Granted, “All nationalists believe that nations can be identified by certain characteristics that all its citizens hold in common. These characteristics include the linguistic, ethnic, religious, or historical traditions that make a nation distinctive. All nationalists…are linked across time by [a common] language, literary tradition, and history” (Gelvin 2011).
