1. UNIT 2
THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS
(1789-1814)

2. 1. The Revolution and Independence of the United States of America
2. The French Revolution
3. The Napoleonic Era (1799-1814)
4. The Crisis of the Ancien Régime in Spain
5. Art: Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)

3. 1. The 13 British colonies and the causes of the Revolution
1. THE REVOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Population of British origin.
Paid taxes
Britain – Parliamentary monarchy
No representation of colonies in the
Parliament
Revolt  War
NO TAXATION WITHOUT
REPRESENTATION

4. B. Franklin

5. CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION:
• Cultural: Enlightenment and Liberalism.
• Social: less hierarchical society. Egalitarian
ideas.
• Economic: refused the commercial
monopoly imposed by British companies.
• Political: representation in the Parliament.
Rejection of certain taxes and laws.

6. 2. The War of Independence (1775-1783)
1775-1783  War of Independence
(Britain Vs Colonies + France, Spain, Dutch Republic).
1774-1781  Continental Congress as government

7. BOSTON TEA PARTY (1773)
Increasing tensions Vs British
Formation of Provincial Congresses
in each colony, assuming power from
colonial governments
Severe repression
Revolt Vs Tea Act

8. 1774
FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
1775
PROCLAMATION OF REBELLION
G. Washington  Commander of
the armed forces.

9. 4 July 1776 (Philadelphia)
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Written by Thomas Jefferson

10. IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands
which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions
of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.--That
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of
the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson, and amended by the Congress, Declaration of Independence of the United States of
America (1776)

11. Development of the war
British → Superior. Faced problems:
• Controlling supplies of colonies.
• Provisions of army.
• Confronting guerrilla-type armies.
• Foreign support (France, 1778, Spain,
1779, etc.) to the rebels.

12. TREATY OF PARIS (1783)
End of the war
• Recognition of independence of the new nation.
• Peace treaty also with allied nations (FR, SP, DUT)
• SP: Menorca and Florida recovered.

13. 3. The Constitutional Process
Declaration of Independence of the
United States of America (July’76)
“[…] all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are
L i fe , L i b e r t y a n d t h e p u rs u i t o f
Happiness.--That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed”.
Virginia Declaration of Rights (June’76):
“That all men are by nature equally free
and independent and have certain
inherent rights, of which, when they
enter into a state of society, they cannot,
by any compact, deprive or divest their
posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life
and liberty, with the means of acquiring
and possessing property, and pursuing
and obtaining happiness and safety”.

14. 1787  Constitution of the United States of America.
• Presidential federal republic.
• Popular sovereignty; limited suffrage every four years;
legal equality for all white citizens.
• Common law (consistent principles applied to similar facts
yield similar outcomes).
• Division of powers and bicameral Congress: Senate and
House of Representatives.
• Influence: Magna Carta, Enlightenment, Liberalism, etc.
1789  Bill of Rights  Amendments to the Constitution
1789  Came into force.
3. The Constitutional Process

16. John Adams
(1797-1801)
George Washington
(1789-1797)
Thomas Jefferson
(1801-1809)

17. 1. Causes of the Revolution
2. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
18th century France  Crisis:
• Economic: poor harvests  Price raise  Popular protests.
• Social: hierarchical society based on the manorial system.
• Majority of peasants.
• Bourgeoisie → more political influence.
• Political: impoverished absolutist monarchy.
• Cultural: influence of the enlightened ideas.

18. 2. Estates General and the beginning of the Revolution
Tax reform  Privileged classes refused in the Assembly of Notables  Estates General summoned.
General assembly representing the
estates of the realm
Advisory body for the king
Composition
1st estate
100.000 members, 303 representatives
2nd estate
400.000 members, 282 representatives
3rd estate
25 million people, 578 representatives
VOTE
BY
ESTATE

19. Third estate  They demand vote by representative, not by estate. Denied.
17 June, 1789  Third estate  National Assembly
• Assembly of the people, not estates.
• Invitation to clergy and nobility to join.
Popular support
20 June, 1789
TENNIS COURT OATH
Wanted a constitution
9th July
NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
Troops to Paris
 Riots

20. “The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish
the constitution of the kingdom, to effect the regeneration of public order, and
to maintain the true principles of monarchy; that nothing can prevent it from
continuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to establish itself;
and, finally, that wheresoever its members are assembled, there is the National
Assembly… It decrees that all members of this Assembly shall immediately take
a solemn oath not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances
require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and consolidated
upon firm foundations; and that, the said oath taken, all members and each one
individually shall ratify this steadfast resolution by signature.”
TENNIS COURT OATH

21. • 14 July  Storming of the Bastille.
Symbol of royal power and storage of arms and ammunition.
Revolution spread throughout the country.
• 17 July  Louis XVI accepts the tricolore
cockade (but conspiring at the same time).
Tricolore  Union people + monarchy.
• Rebellion against the aristocracy (Great Fear)  Émigrés.

22. PHASES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Constitutional
monarchy (1789-
1792)
Democratic
republic (1792-
1794)
Bourgeois republic
(1794-1799)

24. NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (1789-91)
Abolition of feudalism (4 August), abolition of the tithe,
nationalization of properties of the Church and of the émigrés.
Separation of State and Church.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 August):
guaranteed the rights to freedom, property and equality under the
law.
Centralised state of 83 departments.

25. Article I - Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on
the common good.
Article II - The goal of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible
rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, safety and resistance against oppression.
Article III - The principle of any sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. No body, no individual can
exert authority which does not emanate expressly from it.
Article IV - Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the
natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the
enjoyment of these same rights. These borders can be determined only by the law.
Article V - The law has the right to forbid only actions harmful to society. Anything which is not
forbidden by the law cannot be impeded, and no one can be constrained to do what it does not order.
Article VI - The law is the expression of the general will. All the citizens have the right of contributing
personally or through their representatives to its formation. It must be the same for all, either that it
protects, or that it punishes.
National Constituent Assembly, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

26. 1791 → Constitution  CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
• Separation of powers.
• National sovereignty (limited male suffrage).
• Equality before the law
• King  Veto power

27. 20 June, 1791  Flight to Varennes
Louis XVI attempts to escape
from France
Personal safety
Trying to organise a
counter-revolution
Austria
Royalist army
+
Holy Roman Empire
(absolutist)
King captured and sent back to Paris  Damaged reputation  Idea of Republic

28. LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY (1791-2)  Legislative body. Most representative groups:
FEUILLANTS: nobility and
conservative bourgeoisie.
More conservative.
GIRONDINS: high bourgeoisie.
Moderate discourse.
JACOBINS: middle and
lower bourgeoisie. More
progressive: abolition of
monarchy, expansion of
suffrage, protection
against abusive taxes,
etc. Supported by the
sans-culottes (Parisian
workers).

29. After FLIGHT TO
VARENNES
(June’71)
Declaration
of Pillnitz
(August’71)
Absolutist
coalition
supporting
Louis XVI
Holy Roman Empire
Prussia
Émigrés
April 1792  War declared against absolutist monarchies

30. 10 August, 1792
Attack to the Tuileries
Palace
Jacobins, Paris Commune,
popular militias
Royal family prisoner

31. 20 September, 1792  NATIONAL CONVENTION
Constituent assembly
• Principles: Liberté, egalité, fraternité.
• Universal male suffrage.
• Controlled by the Girondins.
• 21 September  Abolition of monarchy  FIRST REPUBLIC
• 22 September  News of victory at Battle of Valmy Vs absolutist
forces (happened two days before) reach Paris.

32. 21 January 1793
Execution of Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette, accused of treason.
March 1793  Revolt in the Vendée region  Pro-royalist and Catholic. Internal conflicts.

33. THE JACOBIN CONVENTION (1793-94)
March 1793  Jacobins (radical) took power
“Reign of Terror”  Purges against enemies of the
revolution and political rivals (including Girondins) 
Revolutionary dictatorship
Maximilien Robespierre

34. June 1793  New
Constitution (never
effective):
• Social democracy
• Universal male
suffrage
• Social and economic
laws  Prices and
salaries (Law of the
Maximum).
• Secularisation of
society.

35. Republican calendar  Decimal system, start on 22 September 1792

36. Summer 1794  Thermidorian Reaction
Enemies of Robespierre (high bourgeoisie)  Coup d’État  Robespierre guillotined.

37. After Jacobin terror  Girondin government
September 1795  New constitution
DIRECTORY  Five-member board as executive power.
Back to limited suffrage based on property.
Double opposition: between social democracy (left) and absolutism (right).
Not real trust on democracy  Repression, censorship, banishing rivals, etc.
EXECUTIVE LEGISLATIVE
Five members
Conseil des Cinq-Cents
Conseil des
Anciens
Choose
DIRECTORY

38. 1799  Coup of 18 Brumaire
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
First Consul
Absolute power
Directory replaced by a Consulate
(three consuls)

39. 1. The consolidation of power: the Consulate
3. THE NAPOLEONIC ERA (1799-1814)
Consulate – Triumvirate (1799-1802)
Consulate – Dictatorship (1802-1804)
Emperor (1804-1814)
Hundred Days (1815)

40. 1799  Coup of 18 Brumaire  CONSULATE
1799-1802  Triumvirate
• Internal pacification.
• New constitution: power to the
executive, universal male suffrage, no
Declaration of Rights.
• Repression of Jacobins and democrats.
• Centralisation.
• Civil Code.
• Economic liberalism.
1802: Napoleon Bonaparte  Single and lifetime consul
 Concentration of power.

41. 2. First French Empire: The Napoleonic Empire (1804-1815)
1804
NAPOLEON IS
SELF-PROCLAIMED
FRENCH EMPEROR

42. • 1804-11  Great empire  Conquests and allegiances.
• Implementation of policies of the Revolution and the
Enlightenment throughout Europe:
• Economic liberalism
• Moderate political liberalism
• Removal of Ancien Régime
• Separation of powers
• Popular sovereignty
• Absolute monarchies overthrown  some monarchs
substituted by members of his own family (José Bonaparte).
The Napoleonic Empire marked the future of Europe in all senses,
from foreign and internal policies, legal systems, culture, etc.

44. French invasions  Opposition  Nationalist movements  Revolts
1808  Revolt in Spain
1812  Napoleon starts a military campaign in
Russia  Retreat  Defeat of the Grande Armée

46. 1813  New coalition against Napoleon (Prussia,
Austria, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain and
Portugal)
1814  Napoleon deposed as Emperor of France 
Forced to exile in Elba.

47. 1815  THE HUNDRED DAYS
Napoleon escaped, went back
to France, and rose to power
again.

48. June 1815  Battle of Waterloo
France Vs Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia

49. Napoleon forced to exile to
Saint Helena.
Died in 1821

50. 1. The Reign of Charles IV (1788-1808)
4. THE CRISIS OF THE ANCIEN RÉGIME IN SPAIN
Against the French Revolution and liberal ideas.
Power in the hands of Manuel Godoy (Prime Minister)
 Joined the absolutist forces against the French Republic (Coalition Wars)
 Defeated.
 1796  Alliance with France (Vs Great Britain).

51. 1800  Allied of Napoleon
1805  Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
1807 → Treaty of Fontainebleau, for invading Portugal.
1808 → The French invaded Spain
Motín de Aranjuez  Vs Godoy and Charles IV 
Abdicated to Fernando VII

52. Abdication of Bayonne:
Carlos IV and Fernando VII
imprisoned and forced to abdicate
in Napoleon’s favour
Napoleon transferred the title
to his brother
JOSÉ I BONAPARTE.

53. 2. The Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814)
JOSÉ I BONAPARTE (1808-1813)
Supported by the ‘afrancesados’ (some nobles, clerics, intellectuals
and public servants)
Popular opposition.
Sought to introduce liberal ideas and reforms.
Revolt in Madrid (2nd May, 1808) + anti-French uprisings  WAR OF
INDEPENDENCE

54. o Spanish resistance (1808)
o Formation of local and provincial Juntas
(provincial defence committees). Not recognition
of José I.
 Supreme Central Junta  Coordinated the
resistance.
o Guerrilla warfare Vs Napoleonic army (defeated at
the battle of Bailén).
o French offensive (1808-1812)  Occupation of most
of Spain.
o Aglo-Spanish victories (1812-1814)  division of
Napoleonic forces (Russia)  Spanish guerrillas +
British army (Wellington)  Defeated the French.
1813  Treaty of Valençay: CROWN TO FERNANDO VII.

55. POLITICAL REVOLUTION:
1810  The Junta Suprema Central retired to Cádiz (not under French
control)  Constitutional Cortes (absolutist and liberal representatives
elected by male popular vote)  1812 CONSTITUTION (La Pepa).
Constitutional monarchy with limited authority.
Liberal characteristics:
- National sovereignty
- Separation of powers
- Universal male suffrage
- Declaration of rights
- End of Ancien Régime, etc.
1814  Fernando VII back in Spain
 Abolition of the Constitution 
Back to absolutism.

56. 5. ART: FRANCISCO DE GOYA
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828)
•Very original style, impossible to identify with a style.
•Life marked by:
- Court painter
- Liberal political views (afrancesado)
- Complexity of the times (especially the War of
Independence)
- Illnesses (he turned deaf, for instance, which made him
retire from society).
“Un modelo romántico para los románticos; un impresionista
para los impresionistas, Goya más tarde se convirtió en un
expresionista para los expresionistas y un precursor del
surrealismo para los surrealistas”.
Nigel Glendinning

57. 1. First years and arrival to the Court (1771-1808):
- Cartoons for tapestries, frescoes, etchings (aguafuertes, a type of engraving) and portraits.
- Pastel colours, popular figures and scenes, psychological characteristics and moods in his portraits
and began to introduce a critic spirit.
El quitasol (1777)
La maja vestida (1802-5)

58. La pradera de San Isidro (1788)

59. La familia de Carlos IV (1800)
La duquesa de Alba (1795)

60. El aquelarre
(1797-8)
El sueño de la razón
produce monstros.
Los Caprichos
(1799)

61. 2. The Spanish War and the return
of Fernando VII (1808-1820):
Promoted the courage of the
Spanish population, criticized
the war and the Ancien Régime
and began to experience some
health problems.
El dos de mayo de 1808 en
Madrid (1814)

62. El tres de mayo de 1808 en
Madrid, 1814

63. 3. Retirement and exile to France (1820-1828):
Goya’s health got worse
Sad and depressed by the political climate of Spain.
His work reflected his mood and took darker colours.
He also reflected themes as the death, the madness and fantasy.
El aquelarre (1823)

64. Perro semihundido (1819-23)
Saturno devorando a sus
hijos (1819-23)

65. La romería de San Isidro (1819-23)

66. La lechera de Burdeos
(1827)