Connections

The Enlightenment period was a very influential time period that greatly effected the Age of Revolutions.  People such as Thomas Jefferson, Jose de San Martin, and Simon Bolivar took ideas from enlightenment thinkers and fueled the spark of the revolution with their ideas.  Thomas Jefferson, one of the writers for the Declaration of Independence, used many ideas from John Locke.  The Declaration of Independence fueled the American Revolution by giving purpose to the population to rebel.  Jose de San Martin was present in Europe during the Enlightenment and heard about many of the ideas.  Shortly there after he traveled to South America to put his ideas into action; this was a spark cause of the Rio de Plata Revolution.  Simon Bolivar also was present in Europe during the Enlightenment gathered ideas from the enlightenment thinkers.  Then he went back to South America and spread his ideas.  In conclusion, enlightenment thinkers influenced many important people who later on influenced and sparked many revolutions such as The American Revolution, The Rio de Plata Revolution, and The New Granada Revolution. 

 

The French Revolution sparked many other revolutions such as the Brazilian Revolution, New Granada Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution.  The way the French Revolution sparked the Brazilian and New Granada Revolution were very similar. When Napoleon was in power, he invaded Spain, which was the colonial power of Brazil and New Granada. Since France invaded Spain, the colonies of Spain viewed Spain as weakened and that this was their opportunity to rebel.  The Haitian Revolution was started slightly differently.  France when they invaded the majority of Europe, they gave everyone more rights.  This included the slaves in Haiti.  The black people who were owning the slaves felt that since the others had more power, they had less power.  This caused them to get mad and rally up the whole country and revolt in the name of slavery.  In conclusion, the French Revolution sparked many other revolutions such as The Brazilian Revolution, New Granada Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution.  

 

During the Age of Revolution, many of the short term causes for the revolutions were concerning inequality.  The French Revolution was effected by social and economic inequality.  The majority of the population in French were peasants who were taxed much more and didn't get much of a say in the passing of laws.  The situation was very similar in South American colonies.  The Peninsulares were at the top of the social classes where as   everyone else suffered from social and economic instability and inequality.  In Haiti, There were very different separations of power.  There were the white people who owned the slaves and then there was black people who owned slaves.  Since some black people were owning other black people who were no different than them selves, it stirred up some civil unrest between the slaves.  Also, the black people who owned slaves were not able to get to the same level as he white people who owned slaves so they were always resenting them.  In conclusion, inequality played a major role in the revolutions.  

 

Many rebellions that occurred during the Age of Revolutions were caused by numerous reasons such as social inequality, having a controlling third party government, and the desire to be independent.  Colonial powers separated the powers in all of the colonies, which led to jealousy of the highest class.  Having a third party government controlling another government can lead to some issues between the two governments.  For example, in the American Revolution, Taxation with out Representation was a major issue that led to the revolution.  Finally, everyone wants to be free.  Colonies always wanted freedom so when the moment strikes where there colonial power is just a little bit weakened, they pounced at the opportunity.  For example, what happened with Rio de Plata and New Granada when France invaded Spain.  In conclusion, there were many revolutions during this time period because of social inequality, an over controlling third party government, and the desire to be independent.