You Say You Want A Revolution

You Say You Want a Revolution
By Saul Straussman, Big History Project, adapted by Newsela staff
In the 1600s and 1700s, several events combined to What if the government fails to do that? According to
change the lives of people around the world. The Age of Locke, then the people have the right to overthrow the
Exploration brought many new goods from eastern Asia government, by force if necessary.
to Europe. Goods also moved from the Americas to
Wow! Imagine you are a king in that time. Lockes ideas
Africa, Europe and Asia. People and things were moving
would be rebellious. If people took these ideas
around the globe faster than ever before. It wasnt just
seriously, they might even start a revolution!
people and things moving, though. New ideas were also
flowing over the globe.
Causes of revolution in the Atlantic
During the Age of Exploration, Europeans began to
colonize other parts of the world. At the same time,
world
Enlightenment thinkers started to question the idea of The Enlightenment thinkers had been expressing these
liberty. They were thinking about what liberty actually ideas for a long time, but they were just talked about.
meant. For some Enlightenment thinkers, liberty meant Now, events in Europe and the Americas led people to
popular sovereignty. question their governments. People had a reason to put
finally those ideas into action.
Popular sovereignty is the idea that the people of a
country need to support the government in order for The Seven Years' War in Europe was known in North
the government to be legal. Think about that for a America as the French and Indian War. It is one major
moment. In the 1700s, almost all of the governments in event that led to revolutions around the world.
the world were ruled by kings and queens. Nobody In the Seven Years' War, Great Britain defeated France.
voted for who would be king. The people did not have a As a result, Britain gained all of Frances territories in
say. Canada and India. The British won, but they owed
Where did this idea of liberty or popular sovereignty money from the war.
come from? Great Britain had to pay back what they owed. To do it
English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) is famous they made the American colonists pay for the war. The
for his idea of liberty. Locke believed that All people colonists benefited from the victory, because the new
have the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. territory made them safer. How would the colonists pay
for the war? Taxes.
Lets break down Lockes statement. Locke believed
that once were born, we have the right to a good life.
He also said that we are all equal. Finally, he said that
we have a right to keep our own money and
possessions (property). No government can take these
away from us.
Locke explained the purpose of any government: The

power of government comes from the people and the
duty of the government therefore is to protect those
natural rights.
In other words, the three natural rights we have life,

liberty, and property should be protected by a
government. Taxes were a common reason for revolutions between
1775 and 1830. High taxes made people angry. That
anger combined with the ideas of Enlightenment
thinkers who gave reasons for getting rid of ruling The rich and religious leaders did not have to pay most
governments and their taxes. of the kings taxes. This meant the taxes had to be paid
by the common people. These were the people who
To help pay for the Seven Years War, the British
could afford them the least.
government passed the Stamp Act. This was a tax on
goods in the Americas to help pay for the expenses of Some common people attempted to present their
defending, protecting, and securing the American complaints to King Louis XVI in 1789. They wanted what
Colonies. The tax was known as the Stamp Act because John Locke wrote about: life, liberty, and property.
the government put a stamp on items to prove that the
The king did not know how to deal with them. King
tax had been paid on them.
Louis XVI was not a strong leader. He was unable to
Patrick Henry was an American colonist who did not like convince the rich to pay some of the taxes.
the new taxes. He gave a famous speech to the Virginia
In the end, Louis was unable to help the common
Convention on March 23, 1775. He said the American
people pay less in taxes. That group now had a reason
colonists had asked Great Britain for lower taxes, but
to revolt.
they were rejected. He ended with a famous line: give
me liberty or give me death! The French Revolution replaced the king. In his place,
they put a National Assembly made up of members of
Henry and others thought the British government was
the common people.
ignoring the colonists while still ruling over them.
According to Lockes ideas, the colonists were now free
to throw off this government. What does this mean? And in Saint Domingue, Mexico and
Revolution! Venezuela
Its fascinating how the idea of liberty changed as it
Revolution in France ... bounced back and forth across the Atlantic. Let's look at
the French colony of Saint Domingue (now Haiti).
People on the island were split into three separate

groups: whites, gens de couleur libres (free people of
mixed European and African ancestry), and slaves.
Almost 90 percent of the population were slaves.
However, only whites were given French citizenship.
The free people of color made demands to the newly

created National Assembly of the French Revolution.
The gens de couleur libres used Lockes ideas to argue
for equality. They wanted the same rights as French
Across the Atlantic in France, a similar situation citizens. Still, they did not fight for the freedom of the
happened a few years later. The French people were slaves.
also being forced to pay for Frances debts from the The idea of liberty continued to change as it traveled
Seven Years War. France also owed money from its throughout the Atlantic world. In Mexico, like Haiti,
support of the American Revolution. people began discussing rights for people of mixed
At this time, French society was divided up into three heritage. In this case, it was liberty for the mestizos
big groups. The first were the religious leaders, and the people of mixed Spanish and native heritage. In 1810, a
second included the rich nobles. The third group was priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rallied the
made up of everyone else, basically the common people to revolt against Spains harsh rule. One of the
people. causes was unfair taxation.
Together, the rich and religious leaders were only about Father Hidalgos revolt was unsuccessful, but his ideas
3 percent of the population. That means the common fueled more resistance to Spains rule in Mexico. In
people made up 97 percent of the population. 1821, Mexico finally won its independence from Spain.
Lastly, lets look at Venezuela. It was another Spanish Taxes on food and native people were ended, and so
colony where several groups struggled for liberty. Each was slavery. All of the different groups achieved the
group had its own definition of liberty and its own goals. liberty they desired.
We should note that the Venezuelan revolution of 1808

was short-lived. The Spanish monarchy regained control
of Venezuela, in 1814. In 1819, Venezuela finally won its
independence from Spain. Unfortunately, the slaves did
not win their freedom.
Conclusion
The ideas of John Locke and other Enlightenment
thinkers of the late 1600s and 1700s released
revolutionary ideas that many of the thinkers could not
have expected.
The idea of liberty was a powerful force that inspired

people on both sides of the Atlantic to reject
governments that did not respect their rights.
Not every country was successful in gaining

independence. Still, these ideas were spreading. By the
In beginning of the 1900s, this revolutionary spirit had
Venezuela, the rich white landowners were split into spread to parts of the Middle East and Asia. In 1909, the
two groups. One was of people born in Spain. The other last sultan of the Ottoman Empire was exiled after the
was people of Spanish descent born in the Americas, Young Turk Revolution. After thousands of years of
called criollos. Both groups wanted to sell their coffee being controlled by emperors, China was overtaken by a
and cocoa freely instead of being forced to sell their nationalist government led by Sun Yat-sen in 1912.
goods only to Spain. Members of the criollos usually Suns ideas on liberty and the role of government would
worked as artisans, soldiers, and traders. They wanted influence both the nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek
to have the same opportunities as the wealthier people and the future communist leader of China, Mao Zedong.
born in Spain.
Mestizos (people of mixed Spanish and native heritage)

made up the largest group within Venezuela. They were
generally poor farmers. The mestizos were most
interested in ending the privileges enjoyed by the white
landowners.
Slaves made up about 20 percent of the population of

Venezuela. They, of course, wanted to end slavery.
However, they did not have much opportunity to make
their voices heard.
A military group took over the country by force, led by

Venezuelan revolutionary Simn Bolivar. The group
passed many changes:
White landowners could now trade with whoever they

wished.

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You Say You Want a Revolution

By Saul Straussman, Big History Project, adapted by Newsela staff

Locke explained the purpose of any government: The

In other words, the three natural rights we have life,

People on the island were split into three separate

The free people of color made demands to the newly

We should note that the Venezuelan revolution of 1808

The idea of liberty was a powerful force that inspired

Not every country was successful in gaining

Mestizos (people of mixed Spanish and native heritage)

Slaves made up about 20 percent of the population of

A military group took over the country by force, led by

White landowners could now trade with whoever they

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