During the late 1700s the American Revolution and the French Revolution gave birth to the Age of Revolution, which inspired many people who were tired of being treated as they were not as important as others to rise up against their government and fight for equality. The American and French Revolution opened up everyone’s eyes to see what kind of government was controlling them, it allowed people to see the flaws in their country’s government and it inspired them to fight to fix those flaws. The French and American revolution significantly influenced other countries and inspired them to fight for their rights, first of all we must understand what influenced the American and French Revolutions, secondly, how did these revolutions influence the Haitian Revolution, lastly, how did these revolutions inspire the Latin American Revolution. These revolutions started a chain reaction which lead from one revolution to another and soon enough most of the world follow their lead.
Before finding ways in which the American Revolution influenced other revolutions in the world, one must understand what inspired and influenced the American revolution. Many of the founding fathers must have read the works of enlightenment thinkers, such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, to have been able to spark the flames of the revolution and of course to write the Declaration of Independence. The main points of Locke and Rousseau’s writings were that everyone has natural rights which cannot be taken away such as life, liberty and property. The founding fathers when writing the Declaration of Independence changed the ideas of Locke and Rousseau to more better match their needs and wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” (The Declaration of Independence). This solidifies that the founding fathers actually did study the works of Enlightenment thinkers and put them to use in the Declaration of Independence. The colonists were tired of the King continuously denying their natural rights, so after they broke free from the British monarchy the founding fathers decided to try to make a democracy work, and after a couple attempts they succeeded. This showed the French that a democracy could work, and since their were sick and tired of the tyrant who was King Louis XVI, the people of France decided to unite and fight for their rights. At the start of the French Revolution the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was published, this document claimed that,” Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”(Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen). This document and specifically this quote will go on to influence the Haitian Revolution. The American and especially the French Revolution ignited Haiti’s Revolution, without these revolutions Haiti would not have rebelled against France. In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen it was stated that,” Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”(Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen). The Haitians were not treated equally, they were slaves after all. After hearing about the this statement from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen the Haitians decided it was time to rise up against France. Toussaint L'Ouverture was a born slave in Saint Dominique, after gaining his freedom he went on to help the slaves of Haiti to rebell against the French. Since Napoleon's army was fighting against more than one enemy, his army could not stop the Haitian Revolution, and since there weren't many officials from France in Haiti the Haitians outnumbered the officials so winning the revolution was not very hard. Even after the revolution he sent in troops to try to capture Haiti back, he was unsuccessful but Toussaint L'Ouverture was captured. He was sent back to France where he died but Jean-Jacques Dessalines took control of the forces in Haiti and fought of the French in the Battle of Vertieres. On January 1st, 1804 Dessalines declared the nation independent and changed its name to Haiti. Haiti became the first black republic in the world, and the Haitian Revolution is considered the most successful slave revolt, France also became the first nation to acknowledge Haiti’s independence. The end goals of the American and the Haitian Revolutions were very similar, in both cases the people were fighting for liberty and equality. The American Revolution’s influence does not stop there, it also influences the Latin American Revolution, the neighbors of, now independent, America see that a revolution could work against their foreign rulers. Like the Americans before the American Revolution, Creoles felt that they were being ignored by their foreign ruler, they were being treated unfairly. They were being taxed and had no free trade, merchants could only legally trade to Spain, which was not profitable at all. One Creol by the name of Simon Bolivar, he had visited both France and America after their successful revolutions, he understood how revolutions started and how to convince people to fight with him. While Simon Bolivar tries to ignite a revolution Spain is fighting against the French in the Napoleonic War, so the Spanish army is very limited. Bolivar notices this and decides that it is time to fight against Spain. Having the support of the many Latin Americans who were tired of Spanish rule he defeated the Spanish army in Boyaca in 1819. The causes leading up to the Revolution were almost the same as the American Revolution,and all it took for Colombia to defeat the French was a man who had knowledge of previous revolutions to gather an army and gain equality. The American and French Revolution changed the world forever, without them the revolutions that followed them would not have been the same. The American and French Revolution started the Revolutionary Age, using the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers these two revolutions set the bar for the revolutions which followed, the Haitian Revolution using the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen against the French with the help of two men who stepped up and won independence for their nation, Toussaint L'Ouverture and of course when L’Ouverture was captured Jean-Jacques Dessalines took the lead and secured independence. The Grand Columbian revolution, where it took one man who had knowledge of the French and American Revolutions and years of experience in fighting for justice to gather the people of the nation and gain their independence from Spain. This just proved once more that new world countries did not have to depend on European parent countries anymore,and that they could fight against tyranny and win for the future of their race and nations. |
Born Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios
24 July 1783
Caracas, Captaincy General of Venezuela, Spanish Empire (present-day Venezuela)
Died 17 December 1830 (aged 47)
Santa Marta, Gran Colombia. Known as El Liberator, using his knowledge from previous revolutions, he defeated the French for the independence of Gran Colombia,
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