Publisher's Note
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Publisher’s Note Defining Documents in World History series, produced Designed for high school and college students, the aim by Salem Press, consists of a collection of essays on im- of the series is to advance historical document studies portant historical documents by a diverse range of writ- as an important activity in learning about history. ers on a broad range of subjects in world history. This established series includes Ancient World (2700 BCE– Essay Format c. 500 CE), Middle Ages (476–1500), Renaissance & Ear- The 19h Century contains sixty-one primary source docu- ly Modern Era (1308–1600), The 17th Century (1601– ments—many in their entirety. Each document is support- 1700, and The 18th Century (1701–1800), in addition ed by a critical essay, written by historians and teachers, to the newest set—The 19th Century (1801–1900). that includes a Summary Overview, Defining Moment, The 19th Century offers in-depth analysis of a broad range Author Biography, Document Analysis, and Essential of historical documents and historic events that make up Themes. Readers will appreciate the diversity of the col- the story of a century during which slavery is abolished and lected texts, including treaties, letters, speeches, declara- the Industrial Revolution gives rise to the middle class. The tions of independence, manifestos, laws, edicts, and first fervor of the early days of the French Revolution has begun hand accounts of significant battles, among other genres. to wane, and Napoleon works to strike an accord with Pope When possible, a facsimile of some or all of the original Pius VII. England continues its program of empire building document has also been provided, along with maps and in Asia, while unrest and the potato famine bring on calls other illustrations that give a rich perspective to each topic. for Irish Home Rule. Revolutions and rebellions in China An important feature of each essay is a close reading change the global balance of power away from that nation of the primary source that develops evidence of broader for more than a century. Communism and Marxism are on themes, such as the author’s rhetorical purpose, social the rise, and in the United States, nation-building contin- or class position, point of view, and other relevant issues. ues with the Louisiana and Alaska purchases. Organizing the documents according to global regions The sixty-one articles in this set are organized into gives readers a more detailed picture of how issues are four regional groupings: perceived in different parts of the world and a broader view of how nations have struggled to maintain the best r Europe, including the Concordat, Treaty of Paris, interests of their governments, businesses, and citizens. Battle of Navarino, publication of Les Misérables, Each section begins with a brief introduction that defines an Account of the Irish Potato Famine, The Com- questions and problems underlying the subjects in the munist Manifesto, and Convention with Respect historical documents. Each essay also includes a Bibliog- to the Laws and Customs of War on Land. raphy and Additional Reading section for further research. r Asia, including Convention of Kanagawa, the Meiiji Charter, China’s Hundred Days’ Reform, Appendixes and Theodore Herzl’s call for the establishment of r Chronological List arranges all documents by year. a Jewish state. r Web Resources is an annotated list of websites r Africa, including Firman of Appointment of Mu- that offer valuable supplemental resources. hammad Ali as Pasha of Egypt, the Mahdi Upris- r Bibliography lists helpful articles and books for ing in Egypt and Sudan, The Death of General further study. Gordon at Khartoum, and the Fashoda Crisis. r America, including the Louisiana Purchase Trea- Contributors ty, the Haitian Declaration of Independence, the Salem Press would like to extend its appreciation to Monroe Doctrine, the Treaty between the United all involved in the development and production of States and Great Britain for the Suppression of this work. The essays have been written and signed by the Slave Trade, and a letter from Queen Liliuo- scholars of history, humanities, and other disciplines kalani to President Benjamin Harrison. related to the essays’ topics. Without these expert con- tributions, a project of this nature would not be pos- Historical documents provide a compelling view of sible. A full list of contributor’s names and affiliations this pivotal century and its influence on world history. appears in the front matter of this set. ix Editor’s Introduction Much of the world as we know it today was either known not only for his great military prowess but also for prefigured by or actually created in the nineteenth codifying French law under the Code Napoléon. One century. This is particularly true of the political map of of the grandest of imperialists, by 1810 he controlled the world, but it also pertains to areas such as industry nearly all of western Europe and proposed to Czar and invention, law and liberty, culture and the arts, and Alexander I that the world be divided between them. more. If we were to travel back to the nineteenth centu- Not willing to stand his ground, Napoleon brought his ry, the place would look not entirely unfamiliar and yet armies into Russia in 1812 but was rebuffed, leading to we would notice by the way people thought, dressed, his eventual abdication and exile (1814) to the isle of and lived that we were in an alien world. Most people Elba. Returning to France in 1815, he sought to revive then lived in small settlements and worked the land (or his emperorship but was challenged at Waterloo (near sea); they were tied mainly to their families, their clans Belgium) by a British and Prussian coalition, resulting or tribes, and their local communities. Monarchs and in his defeat and permanent exile to St. Helena. The national governments, such as they were, played little subsequent Congress of Vienna (1814–15) brought the part in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people—except Great Powers together to achieve a “just balance” in when it came to taxes and wars. The nation state as Europe. Until 1822 the resulting Concert of Europe, such barely existed in places like Germany and Italy un- or Congress System, functioned to maintain a balance til well into the century, even as some sense of shared of power on the Continent; but the system broke down language and culture pervaded each (albeit frayed by under pressure not only from competing governments multiple dialects and regional traditions). By the latter but also from competing dynastic interests among the part of the century, the twin revolutions of the indus- Hapsburgs, the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns, and the trial revolution and the legacy of the French Revolution likes of Austria’s Prince Metternich, who sought a sys- had left their mark, rendering the world less like what tem of alliances of his own. it had been a few decades before and more like the Britain had found glory in victories against Napoleon one we perceive today. It was also, however, the Age of by the duke of Wellington at Waterloo and Admiral Empire. Lord Nelson at Trafalgar and other battle sites. When Queen Victoria assumed the throne in 1837, the British Euro-States and Empires Empire was already extensive, if not at its height. There In the nineteenth century, the European powers, al- was Upper and Lower Canada, which united in 1840 ready having embarked on imperial ventures in previ- and achieved self-government in 1848, the Dominion ous centuries, extended their empires and opened new of Canada forming in 1867. There were six separate countries to exploration and exploitation. Planting their states in Australia, which united into a commonwealth flags in far-flung corners, they sought natural and hu- in 1900. There were the vast holdings in India by the man resources to serve their ever increasing industrial East India Company, all of which passed in 1857 to the needs and new markets to expand their economies. Part British crown. There were, in Africa, Cape Colony and of their estimation, too, was the extension of Christian- Natal (South Africa), along with tensions with the Zulu, ity and “civilization,” as they knew it, to non-western Boers, and others. And in the United Kingdom itself, peoples; they took on what came to be called the “white there was, of course, Ireland, which despite a push for man’s burden”: educating the “natives” in the beliefs home rule in 1886 continued to be the subject of heat- and ways of the European colonizers. It was not a bur- ed debate, even violence. At Victoria’s death, in 1901, den welcomed unreservedly by the local inhabitants, the saying “the “sun never sets on the British Empire” nor was it one managed exceptionally well by the impe- still held true, albeit starting to sound a bit less glorious rial powers. and somewhat more notorious than previously, as colo- In the wake of the revolution in France (1789–99), nized peoples across the globe began to seek a greater that nation fell under the absolutist rule of Napoleon degree of self-determination. Bonaparte, a figure who looms large in the first decade A series of revolutions on the Continent in 1848 and a half of the century. Becoming first consul in 1799 generally marks the highpoint of “pre-industrial” pro- and declaring himself emperor in 1804, Napoleon is test and the start of increasing class consciousness and xi organized revolt based on trade unionism and socialist figure, the northern Italian activist Giuseppe Mazzini, principles. England, Wales, and Scotland had experi- contributed an ideological underpinning to the project.