Revolutions and Nation-Building
1859 Charles Darwin Formulates Theory of Evolution
1849–1850 Gold Rush and California Statehood
Figure 17. This portrait after Gilbert Stuart
depicts the nation’s founder praised in his eulogy as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Image courtesy of Library of Congress.
1848 Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels Publish Communist Manifesto
1848 U.S. Annexes Southwest
1846–1848 Mexican– American War
1787 U.S. Constitution 1789 George Washington President
1810–1822 Latin America Gains Independence from Europe
By the mid-1780s the government created under the Articles of Confederation had shown itself inadequate both in coping financially and in protecting the nation’s sovereignty. Congress was denied the power to tax as well as to regulate trade. Most decisions required unanimous approval of all 13 state legislatures. In face of this failure the Confederation Congress called a convention of state delegates at Philadelphia to formulate a new plan of government. Eventually 12 states were represented there by 55 men. The convention’s sessions ran from May to September 1787 and produced a number of artful compromises: e.g. a national government within a federal structure, an independent executive and judiciary, a bicameral legislature designed to protect large and small states, representation based on White and 3/5 of the Black population. The new Constitution was ratified by the ninth state (New Hampshire) in June of 1788. In February 1789 George Washington of Virginia was unanimously elected president. He took office in New York City on April 30,1789. SEE FIGURE 17 1789–1815 French Revolution and Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars Revolution in France in 1789 ushered in two decades of unprecedented change that had a lasting impact on French and world history. In the process an absolute monarchy collapsed, the nation underwent profound transformation, and assumptions about tradition and hierarchy were
Figure 16. The Declaration of Independence authored by Thomas Jefferson provided a poetic philosophical framework for colonial resistance. Image courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration.
1803 United States Purchases Louisana from France
1776 American Declaration of Independence
1790–1850 Industrial Revolution in England
The expulsion of France from North America in 1763 had a number of unexpected consequences. It freed Britain’s colonies of a fear that had kept them extremely dependent on the Crown. Moreover, the colonies, which had spent heavily in manpower, money, and blood during the Seven Years War, now confronted a British government with a large postwar debt, heavy taxes at home, and the need to support an army in America. When Parliament sought to distribute this burden by enforcing the mercantilist Navigation Acts, imposing taxes like the Stamp Act (1765), and requiring assistance in quartering British troops, the American response was predictable, particularly after decades in which colonial governments went virtually unregulated. “No taxation without representation” became the cry as Americans organized boycotts of British goods. A vicious circle of anger ensued, and when Parliament sent troops to Boston following the Tea Party protest (1773), armed resistance to British military movements quickly developed. By July 4, 1776, a year of bloody conflict had persuaded leaders of the Continental Congress that independence from Britain was inevitable. SEE FIGURE 16
1789–1815 French Revolution & Revolutionary/ Napoleonic Wars
1789 George Washington President
1787 U.S. Constitution
1776 American Declaration of Independence
REVOLUTIONS AND NATION BUILDING
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