Brown_C Response and Annotations 1
Weekly Reading Summary and Response
By the turn of the 18th century, much of the New World had been claimed by one
Europeans nation or another. As European colonist established themselves, they brought with
them all that they felt they would need to be successful. However, in addition to the necessities,
they also brought the political and economic strife of their homelands with them. European
political, economic, and cultural issues spilled over into the New World simply making it yet
another place for these powers to battle of who would hold supremacy. The Atlantic world during
the 17th and 18th centuries are plagued by war and political strife amongst themselves. This
incessant infighting combined by new ideas and thinking would soon lead European nations
finding themselves fighting not only each other, but their own colonies, for control and influence.
With the gradual decline of the Spanish empire, Great Britian and France would emerge
as two of the most influential and determined European forces in the Atlantic world. For more
than 100 years the rivalry between these two nations would be one of the most significant factors
in shaping the Atlantic worlds future. Existing conflicts and tensions spilled into the new world
exasperated by the new wealth found in the American colonies. The 7-Year war, or as it became
known as the French and Indian War, is one example of how European conflicts that spilled over
into the new world rippled across the Atlantic. The conflict originated in the North American
colonies with the French uniting with Native Americas on mutual agreement to retake land from
the British settlers and colonists. Great Britian sought to not only attack French colonies in North
America but expanded to attacking French slaving forts in West Africa an in the Caribbean1. This
era of constant warfare and conflict saw European powers control and sway over their new world
colonies begin to erode.
1 (Benjamin 2009, 496)
Brown_C Response and Annotations 2
The Atlantic world is the very center of a convergence of American, European, and
African identities and cultures. Because of this, distance between the European ruling nations
and their colonies became more than physical. Ideologies and ways of thinking began to shift in
the early and md 18th century. News traveled slowly, but when it did, often there was a significant
disconnect in the way Europe approached their way of thinking over their colonies. European
nations imposed strict trade restrictions to ensure monopolies and to undercut their rivaling
Europeans trading partners, oftentimes at the economic disadvantage to their colonies2. On top of
extreme trade restrictions, all the colonies were subject to taxes, often with little to not
consideration or say from them. Often these taxes were met not only with resistance, but
violence as well3. Asides from economic restrictions, societal expectations and restrictions were
placed as well. European nations faced conflict from inside their colonies as well and took legal
actions to subjugate them further under their thumb. Strict slave codes and laws greatly
discouraged and diminished the chances of slave uprisings, and half European citizens were
legally limited because of their mixed heritage4. This precursor of conflict eventually led to the
American Revolution. The American colonies war for independence would simply be the first
fight for liberty that the Atlantic would come to know.
The age of Enlightenment drove this revolutionary era. A wave of republicanism thinking
that valued a political system derived and founded by the people constituted much of the
conversations at this time. Within this way of thinking, the people not only had their own lights,
but the liberty and freedom to revolt and resist tyranny was a significant factor in many of these
colonial declarations of independence5. This concept of liberation would come to drive
2 (ibid 475)
3 (Games and Rothman 2008, 304)
4 (ibid 288)
5 (ibid 325-327)
Brown_C Response and Annotations 3
revolutions throughout the world starting in North American, driving through the Caribbean in
Haiti and other slave community, then finally making the jump across the Atlantic to Europe.
While this concept of liberty underpins each revolution, we see it take on a very different shape
in each instance. The American revolution focused mostly on economic and political liberty. The
Haitian revolutions is the purest definition of liberty, seeking to free those enslaved, and finally
in France we see liberty take on a more brutal form, dismantling the monarchy at its most
extreme level. This era of Revolutions would mark a significant transition point in Atlantic
history, driving us closer to a more complex and interconnected globalized world.
Bibliography
Benjamin, Thomas. The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Their Shared History
1400-1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Games, Alison, and Adam Rothman. Major Problems in Atlantic History. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, 2008.
Annotations
Geggus, David Patrick, ed. The Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World
Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina, 2001
Brown_C Response and Annotations 4
While the American revolution is credited with kick starting this era of revolutions, it was the
Haitian Revoltion that truly sent shockwaves through the world. This slave revolution challenged
economic, political, cultural, and societal structures that deeply influenced not only the small
island but the much larger and powerful nations surrounding them in the Atlantic. Geggus’s book
offers a detailed exploration of how the revolution began, but also the ramifications of it.
Levin, Michael. Political Thought in the Age of Revolution, 1776-1848 : Burke to Marx.
Basingstoke ; Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
The age of enlightenment completely revolutionized political thought leading up to this
revolutionary era. This age of conflict was underpinned by a shift in thinking away from an
autocratic, often authoritarian political structure, to one of democracy and republicanism. In his
book, Levin explores how some of the most influential enlightened thinkers of the time
approached this conflict filled era and how their thoughts influenced our modern capitalist and
liberal democratic government.
McDonnell, Michael. “National Identity and the American War for Independence Reconsidered”.
Australasian Journal of American Studies Vol. 20 No. 1 (July 2001).
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41053838
The American revolution is proud moment in the nation’s history and for a long time argued to
be a determining factor in generating the American national identity and instilling nationalism in
the nation. McDonnell’s article argues that the formation of American nationalism was not born
from the conflict as once believed, but developed overtime following the conflict. The colonial
American system did not place significant emphasis on this national identity and the war itself
was more of a collective against a common enemy rather than a unified front.
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