UNIT 4. LIBERALISM AND NATIONALISM The changes in the 18th century were crowned with the bourgeois revolutions in the 19th. The bourgeois revolutions, where all the social classes took part, put and end to the Ancien Régime, although the privileged classes that were favoured by the absolute monarchy opposed those changes violently. THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The enlightened ideas flourish in the 18th century, but halfway through that century they had got limited success in changing any political system in Europe. The bourgeoisie defending these ideals, needed to break the structure of the class society based on the three estates (nobility, clergy and Third Estate), in order to gain political presence. This happened for the very first time, not in Europe, but in the 13 British colonies of northern America, from 1765 to 1783. The American colonists of British origins enjoyed a reasonable self-government due to the long distance from England. Besides, as new communities, there were no class privileges and therefore a greater equality prevailed. By 1760 over 2 million European colonists and 300,000 black slaves lived in the 13 colonies. In the southern ones the economy was based on agricultural plantations while in the north the manufactures were more usual. In theory the colonists had the same rights that their fellow citizens in Great Britain but they were not really taken into account in the Parliament of London. Since 1765, the taxes the British Parliament had passed throughout the years were increasingly damaging the relations between the American colonists and the British authorities. Although the Brits moved backwards in many taxes, the one on the tea remained intact. In 1773, a group of colonists boarded the ships disguised as American Indians and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston harbour. This act of protest is known in American history as the Boston Tea party . The British reaction meant the closing of the Boston harbour and the passing of the “ Intolerable Acts ” that suppressed the autonomy of the colonists and reinforced the clampdown. Many colonists viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of their rights, and in 1774 they organized the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest. As tensions escalated, the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) broke out the following year, eventually leading to the creation of an independent United States of America. When the British Crown tried to repress the situation she crashed with an army of colonists led by George Washington. The Americans were not alone. Once the war broke out, they received the support of France, Spain and The Netherlands, the old European enemies of Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the delegates of the Second Continental Congress, announced in Philadelphia that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were no longer a part of the British Empire, and therefore they solemnly proclaimed a Declaration of Independence , based on the enlightened principles. By 1783, the victory of the colonists in the battle of Yorktown meant the end of the war and the British recognition of the independence of its former colonies, the United States of America, in the Treaty of Paris (1783) . The delegates of the free new states accepted in 1787 a Federal Constitution that respected the diversity of the States. They were considered autonomous for their internal affairs and at the same time they shared some common institutions that ensured the equality of all citizens before the law and the separation of powers: • a representative Congress, • a government led by a President • and a Supreme Court of Justice.) The Constitution also enclosed a declaration of rights that guaranteed the individual liberties and the private property. In 1789, General George Washington was elected the First President of the United States. He was the most famous but not the only patriot involved in the independence of the colonies. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton are known in American history as the Founding Fathers . The United States of America were born as the first State without aristocrats or monarchs and as a country based on the popular sovereignty where everybody had the same rights (though initially excluding the slaves, Indians and women). It was an ideal of progress for the European liberals and for the rest of American colonies of that time. Nowadays the system still maintains most parts of its original structure, for this reason the USA remains the oldest stable democracy in the world. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Although the American Revolution was the first one, the real model of a bourgeois revolution was born in France. It changed the social and political structures of the country from 1789 and became an example to follow to many European and American countries throughout the 19th century. The French revolution broke the absolute schemes and meant the triumph of the national sovereignty and the Constitution. The sovereignty lied with the people of France and a superior Law, the Constitution, controlled the rights and duties of the citizens. It was the Revolution that turned the Frenchmen from subjects of a king, into citizens of a nation. The causes of the revolution These are the most important structural and immediate causes of the French crisis of 1789. • The Deficit crisis . The public expenditure meant by the wars of the 18th century, mainly the Seven Years’ War against France, and the help to the American colonists, in addition to the squandering of the Versailles Court made the State spend more than it earned. • The Tax Exemptions . The refusal of the privileged classes, clergy and aristocracy, to pay their taxes increased the deficit and the unrest of the ordinary people. • The enlightened ideas spread by the bourgeoisie and the reformists sectors of clergy and aristocracy reinforced the principles of liberty and equality. • The influence of the English Parliamentarism and the American Independence . • The bad harvests since 1787, shot up the raise of prices and speculation what led the ordinary people to huger and unrest. The tax reforms intended to solve the deficit crisis triggered the revolution when aristocrats refused to pay their taxes and King Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates Generals in May 1789. Aristocracy and clergy wanted the ballots to be scrutinized by Estates what gave them majority. In the other hand the Third Estate (bourgeoisie and ordinary people) wanted a suffrage by individual for the same reason. While debating national sovereignty and against the opposition of the privileged, the Third Estate left the Estates General and constituted a National Assembly . They met at a tennis court and swore not to separate as an assembly until France had a Constitution. Therefore, the calling of the Estates General was the perfect opportunity for the bourgeoisie to change the tripartite representation to a National Assembly. The moderate stage and the constitutional monarchy (1789 – 1792) The most important event in the first steps of revolution was the Storming of the Bastille . This prison symbolized the worst absolute power of the Ancien Régime, so the people of Paris stormed the fortress in 1789. After hours of combat the insurgents took the prison, killing the governor and releasing the prisoners. The revolts in Paris and other riots in the countryside forced Louis XVI to accept the national assembly promoted by the bourgeoisie. The men elected as deputies by the capital stripped the authorities of their office and set themselves up as a city council, “La Commune”. While the Constitution was drafted some measures were being introduced: • The abolition of feudalism (1789) • The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) • The confiscation of properties of the Church and the suppression of hereditary titles that dismantled the Absolute state (1790) In 1791 a Constitution was proclaimed and France became a constitutional monarchy where the power of the king was limited by a Parliament. Once the Constitution came into force the National Assembly was named from then on Legislative Assembly. The moderate bourgeoisie controlled the chamber thanks to a limited suffrage that only allowed the rich to vote. Soon, the revolution would have two enemies: the European absolutists, mostly in Austria, and the Counterrevolutionaries inside France. The radical stage: the National Convention and the reign of Terror (1792 – 1795) The economic and political inequalities made the Revolution more radical. In 1792, a mob stormed the Tuileries Palace, and a new assembly was established, the National Convention. Later that year the monarchy was abolished because of the implications of the king with the counterrevolution and The French First Republic was proclaimed. The king was executed in the guillotine in 1793. The Convention was initially controlled by the moderate republican Girondins, but the defeats in the war against the European monarchies and the inner opposition gave power to the Jacobins, much more radical and in favour of social reforms. The Jacobins were supported in the streets by the sans-culottes. The Jacobins imposed a dictatorial government, The Committee of Public Safety, led by Robespierre, who undertook radical reforms and created a national army to save the dangerous threats to the republic. Every opponent to the revolution was punished and executed. Thousands of people died under the guillotine or otherwise after accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. Many of them may have been summarily executed without trial. This stage was called the Reign of Terror . Nevertheless some other social measures were adopted in the Constitution of 1793 , such as universal male suffrage or a strict control of the prices. The Directory (1795 – 1799) In 1794 the French conservative bourgeoisie stimulated a new liberal republic as opposite to absolutism as to the social democracy of the Jacobins.