Echoes of Revolution

The echos for revolution can be seen with the abolition of slavery, feminist movements, the Haitian Revolution and the Spanish American Revolution.

Haitian Revolution
To the slaves, the French Revolution was a promise to personal freedom for themselves. They held a massive revolt in 1791, burning 1,000 plantations and killing hundreds of white landowners. In the end, the slaves were successful in obtaining their freedom. They had thrown off French colonial rule and created a second independent republic.

Spanish American Revolution
Spanish Colonies were offended by the Spanish monarchy's attempts to get a greater grip of control and power over its colonies. They wanted their colonies to be subjected to heavier tariffs and taxes just like their North American counterparts. They were successful in their revolution, but it had little benefits for slaves and women.

Abolition of Slavery 
As enlightenment ideas spread, the idea of natural rights was put into question. Many enlightenment thinkers began to think about whether or not slavery evaded African American's natural rights and whether or not it was critical for economic advancements. Some believed that slavery was repugnant to religion and therefore should be abolished. Slaves attempted to revolt in North America, which hastened the coming of their freedom. Latin American countries abolished slavery in the 1850's, but did not receive equality. The only place that slaves received political equality was in Haiti. Radical reconstruction helped freed Blacks in the United States obtain some form of equality.

Feminist Movements
A concern for women's rights was established in Western Europes, the United States and beyond these two places. Feminists newspaper were put up in Mexico as well as schools for girls. Women in the Atlantic sought to obtain the same rights as men and saw themselves as equals. The first expression of feminism took place at the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca. Women from America and Europe traded ideas and read each other's work as a way to bounce off ideas from each other. These movements had oppositions to them as did all of the others, but women were prompted some accomplishments for their work. They were able to go and study at universities, and literacy rates were increasing.

Part Five + @ 1st 2 Sections Of Chapter 16

In this chapter we are going to learn about the revolutions that occured around the world and the outcomes that came with them. This chapter also talks about eurocentric geography. Before people knew how the world actually looked, they assumed Europe was at the center of the world. Flat maps aided in making this possible for Europeans.


Age of European Dominance

• Rise of Europe occured in an international context as a result of the Chinese naval fleet withdrawal that allowed them to take over the Indian Ocean 
• They held the advantage over Native Americans 
• Resistance and rebellion did not make it easy for them to get automatic dominance

The Haitian Revolution was shaped by the American Revolution and the French Revolution. After seeing the manner in which the people responded to oppression, they got those ideas and formed a revolution of their own. Atlantic revolutions formed to gain justice, liberty and equality. As John Locke expressed, people wanted a government derived from the people. This time period allowed for more freedoms which included.extending the right to vote, more rights for women, and the abolishment of slavery. 

The American Revolution began as a conservative move made by the people that came from their mother nation. They knew the advantages that the British empire held and did not wish to separate entirely from them. There was an evident difference between Europeans in England and those in North America. There were class distinctions, less poverty, and more opportunity if you weren't a women or a slave. After having neglected the people from North America for so long, the British turned to this nation to regain the revenue they had lost with their struggle with France. Political power remained in the hands of the elites after the revolution and the northern and souther portions of North America were separated. 

Foundresses Week

I did not get the chance to participate in any of the foundresses week activities due to sports and my class schedule, but I definitely learned a lot about our school as a result of the reading that we did in class. I learned about two important individuals that came from different backgrounds but had enough respect for each other to build this college together.

The first person I learned about was Francoise. She came from a stable family and was well off economically. It inspired me that she was a type of feminist during her time period. She did not care about the money she beheld, but her economic level allowed her to do the one thing that wasn't expected from women her age. She did not want to marry to become a housewife. She claimed to want to keep her virginity. Additionally, her family was more liberal for their time. Her dad claimed to be an atheist which was a crazy thing to define yourself as during that time.

Julie Billiart, named after one of the dormitory buildings, was the complete opposite from Francoise. Julie comes from a more humbling background. She got basic schooling done and at a young age attempted to help those who were less fortunate. She was on bed rest for a while but did the best she could with her disability. I found Julie inspiring as well because despite her circumstances she did not let it change the purity of her heart.

Chapter 15

Christianity spread through various places in the world although at first it was mostly practiced in Europe. This religion spread to Spain, Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and Central Asia. Although Catholicism held a high position at that time as a religion, Martin Luther's revolutionary ideas changed this. He publicly spoke out about the abuses within the Roman Catholic Church bringing to life the Protestant branch of Christianity.

Luther believed that salvation came through faith instead of the sacraments and good works that were taught in the Catholic church. This changed the lives of some of the individuals in the social ladder during that time period. Kings and Princes used this explanations as a justification to rid the pope of the power that he held against them. The role of middle-class dwellers grew as a result of Protestant ideas because they preached that "all vocations were of equal merit". In the end, the Protestant religion ended the veneration of Mary and female saints. The struggle between Protestant and Catholic dominance created the Thirty Year's War.

As a result of the Protestant reformation, the Catholic Church made some changes to the way they ran their church. They worked on the "authority of the pope, priestly celibacy, the veneration of saints and relics, and the importance of church tradition and good works".

Europeans believed that their success in the Americas was a direct results if the power of the "Christian God". Native American's agreed with this statement which made it easy for them to turn to Christianity. The cost of conversion was high for women who held any type of religious power because the Catholic faith only gave men the opportunity to lead. In some occasions, the Spanish would force their faith onto the native populations by destroying images and ritual objects on native people's idols.

China was superior to the European missionaries causing them to have to come up with a different missionary strategy than the one used in the Americas. Instead of forcing their faith into the Chinese Empire, missionaries pretended to be interested in the Confucius ideas that belonged to their faith, They downplayed their mission to convert by expressing an attraction in exchanging ideas and learning from China's faith. Jesuits brought knowledge that consisted of new ideas in technology, geography, and mapmaking. This allowed them to gain good positions within the Chinese imperial court. Some of the people in China naturally converted to Christianity, but it was not widely accepted there. There was no real parallel between the Chinese and Catholic faith making it an all or nothing faith.

Europeans were able to convert many of the slaves that were brought to the Americas. Europeans thought that the way that the African people worshipped was evidence of sorcery or witchcraft. In the end, African slaves began to incorporate many of the Christian rituals to their faith,

A major cultural change that blended Islam and Hinduism was Sikhism. This religion ended the seclusion of women and promoted the "'brotherhood of all mankind'". Another religion that blended these two religion was Bhakti. Through various religious practices, this religion sought to united the many deities in India.

The Scientific Revolution challenged the way that religious scholars saw the world. Before the Scientific Revolution, many thought that the earth was at the center of the universe. People believed that God made it this way because the purpose of Earth was to give the inhabitants the ability to be saved by God. Nicolaus Copernicus stated that what was the actual center of Earth was the sun and that the planets revolved around it. This put into question what Christians initially believed. This was one of the many things that were put into question about Christianity.