Exam #2 - International Relations

Adam Smith

a Scottish philosopher and political economist (1723-1790). He's considered the father of modern economics. He argued that free markets, competition, and the division of labor drive economic growth. He also criticized slavery as economically inefficient and morally wrong, though he didn't lead any campaign against it.

Wealth of Nations

Smith's major work. It argues that nations grow rich through specialization, trade, and self-interested market activity (the "invisible hand"), and it challenged mercantilism, the idea that a nation's wealth lies in hoarding gold and silver. It's a foundation of capitalist economic thought.

Olaudah Equiano

a writer and abolitionist. He said he was born in what is now Nigeria, was enslaved as a child, and was shipped to the Caribbean. He was later sold to a British naval officer, eventually bought his own freedom, and settled in England. He became a prominent voice in the British antislavery movement.

The Interesting Narrative

Equiano's autobiography. It describes his kidnapping, the Middle Passage, and his life in slavery and freedom. It was a bestseller and gave British readers a firsthand account of the brutality of the slave trade, which made it a powerful tool for abolitionists.

Barbados

an English colony in the Caribbean, settled in 1627. It was one of the first places to develop large-scale sugar plantations worked by enslaved Africans, and it became a model for the plantation system and a source of huge profits for England. Its slave codes were copied in other colonies.

William Wilberforce

a British member of Parliament and evangelical Christian. He led the parliamentary fight against the slave trade for about two decades. The Slave Trade Act of 1807 ended British participation in the trade, and he lived to hear that the Slavery Abolition Act (1833) would free enslaved people across the empire.

Zong Massacre

happened on a British slave ship, the Zong. The crew ran short of water and threw more than 130 enslaved Africans overboard, and the ship's owners then tried to claim insurance for the "lost cargo." The court case that followed treated the victims as property. Abolitionists like Granville Sharp publicized it, and it became a rallying point for the movement.

English Abolition Movement

a campaign from the 1780s to the 1830s to end the slave trade and then slavery itself. It included Quakers, evangelicals, Black writers like Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano, and reformers like Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp. Its tactics included petitions, boycotts of slave-grown sugar, pamphlets, and the famous Brookes ship diagram. It led to the 1807 and 1833 acts.

Kingdom of Benen

was a powerful West African state (in present-day southern Nigeria) that flourished from roughly the 1300s to the 1800s. It was known for its capital, Benin City, and for bronze and ivory artwork. It traded with Portugal and other Europeans, dealing in goods like pepper, ivory, and later enslaved people, though Benin limited the export of enslaved males for a time. It was conquered by Britain in 1897.

Benjamin Rush

American physician, writer, educator, and Founding Father. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He signed the Declaration of Independence (1776) and served as a surgeon in the Continental Army. He was a leading voice for reforming medicine, education, and prisons, and he opposed slavery and the death penalty. He also supported education for women. His medical practices, like heavy bloodletting, are considered harmful today. He shows how Enlightenment ideas about reform and rights shaped the American Revolution and its era.

Mary Wollstonecraft

English writer, enlightenment philosopher. England (London), with time in Paris during the French Revolution. She argued that women are not naturally inferior to men and only appear so because they lack education. Her major work was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

Mary Antoinette

Austrian-born archduchess who became Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI. Born in Vienna; lived at Versailles, France. She married Louis in 1770 and became a symbol of royal luxury and excess while France faced debt and food shortages. She was unpopular, and the quote "Let them eat cake" is falsely attributed to her. She was arrested after the monarchy fell and executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793. She became a symbol of the old regime that revolutionaries wanted to overthrow.

Louis XVI

King of France from 1774 to 1792, of the Bourbon dynasty. France (Versailles, later Paris). He inherited a country with huge debts, partly from wars including support for the American Revolution. His failure to fix the financial crisis led him to call the Estates-General in 1789. He tried to flee in 1791 (the Flight to Varennes), was captured, put on trial, and executed by guillotine on January 21, 1793. His fall ended nearly 1,000 years of French monarchy and marked a turning point in the Revolution.

French Revolution (1789-1799)

A period of radical political and social change in France that overthrew the monarchy and challenged the old class system. France, especially Paris. It began with the Estates-General (May 1789) and the storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789). The monarchy was abolished in 1792, followed by the Reign of Terror (1793-1794) under Robespierre. It ended when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in 1799. It spread ideas of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty across Europe and the world.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

A founding document of the French Revolution, adopted by the National Assembly on August 26, 1789. France. It declared that all men are born free and equal in rights, including liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. It stated that sovereignty rests with the nation and that law should express the general will. It influenced later human rights documents, including the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

Written by Mary Wollstonecraft and published in London in 1792. A book arguing that women should receive the same education as men. She claimed that women's supposed weakness came from poor education and social expectations, not nature, and that educated women would be better wives, mothers, and citizens. She wrote it partly in response to the French Revolution's failure to include women's rights, and to the views of writers like Rousseau. It is a foundational text of feminism and of arguments for women's education and equality.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

a former slave and top general, finished the war against France, declared Haiti independent on January 1, 1804, and ruled as emperor until he was killed in 1806.

George Washington

the first president of the U.S, used his 1796 Farewell Address to warn Americans against permanent foreign alliances and party divisions, shaping the U.S. tradition of neutrality.

Farewell Address

In 1796, Washington's message that urged Americans to avoid permanent alliances and European entanglements, laying the groundwork for U.S. neutrality.

Jay Treaty

(1794-95): It settled leftover issues with Britain, such as British forts in the Northwest and trade, and avoided war. It was very unpopular and angered revolutionary France, which saw it as a tilt toward Britain.

Thomas Jefferson

As president, he pursued expansion and favored France at first. After Haiti's independence, he declined to recognize it, partly out of fear that a Black republic would inspire slave resistance in the U.S. South.

Louisiana Purchase

Napoleon planned to rebuild a French empire in North America, but the failed effort to retake Saint-Domingue (including heavy losses to yellow fever) made that unworkable. He sold Louisiana to the U.S. for about $15 million.

Haitian Revolution

From 1791 to 1804, enslaved people in Saint-Domingue rose up and defeated French forces, creating Haiti as the first Black republic and the only state born from a successful slave revolt.

Constitution of Haiti

The 1805 constitution under Dessalines permanently banned slavery, declared all Haitians "Black," and barred white people from owning property to prevent re-colonization.

Saint-Domingue

France's wealthy Caribbean sugar colony on western Hispaniola, where a huge enslaved population labored under brutal conditions.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French general who seized power in a 1799 coup and ruled as First Consul, then Emperor of the French (1804-1814, briefly 1815). He built the largest European empire since Rome, reformed French law through the Napoleonic Code, and was finally defeated and exiled to Saint Helena, where he died.

Continental System

Napoleon’s economic blockade of Britain, begun with the Berlin Decree (1806). It barred European states under French control from trading with Britain, aiming to wreck the British economy. It largely failed, hurt European economies, and pushed Russia to withdraw, which led to the disastrous 1812 invasion.

Alexander I

Tsar of Russia from 1801 to 1825. He fought and allied with Napoleon in turn, led Russia’s resistance in 1812, and became a major figure at the Congress of Vienna. He later promoted the conservative Holy Alliance (1815).

Battle of Waterloo 1815

Napoleon’s final defeat, in present-day Belgium, at the hands of the Duke of Wellington’s British-led army and Blücher’s Prussians. It ended his “Hundred Days” return from exile on Elba.

Congress of Vienna

Meeting of European powers (Austria, Britain, Prussia, Russia, and France) that redrew Europe’s map after Napoleon. Led by figures like Metternich, it sought to restore legitimate monarchies and create a balance of power to prevent future large-scale war.

Treaty of Ghent

Agreement ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. It restored prewar boundaries and settled little of the underlying issues, but it opened a period of calmer Anglo-American relations.

Simón Bolívar

(1783-1830): Venezuelan-born military and political leader known as “El Libertador.” He led independence movements that freed Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia (named for him) from Spanish rule, and sought to unite them politically.

Congress of Angostura

(1819): Assembly in Angostura, Venezuela, where Bolívar presented his vision for a republic and a constitution. It established Gran Colombia, a union of Venezuela, New Granada, and later Ecuador. This is who bolivar presented his argument to

Bolivarian Dream

Bolívar’s goal of a unified, independent Latin America (or at least a large confederation of former Spanish colonies) able to resist European powers and rival the United States. It was never realized, as regional rivalries and political fragmentation broke up Gran Colombia by 1830-31.

Monroe Doctrine

(December 1823): U.S. policy, announced by President James Monroe, that the Americas were closed to new European colonization and that European intervention in the hemisphere would be seen as hostile. In return, the U.S. would stay out of European affairs.

Antonio López de Santa Anna

(1794-1876): Mexican general and politician who served as president multiple times. He led Mexican forces at the Alamo (1836), was captured at San Jacinto (1836), and later commanded Mexican forces in the Mexican War.

Mexican Republic

(established 1824): The federal republic Mexico formed after winning independence from Spain (1821) and a brief empire. It was politically unstable, with conflicts between centralists and federalists, and struggled to control its distant northern territories like Texas.

Texas Rebellion

Revolt by American settlers and Tejanos against Mexican rule, triggered by centralization under Santa Anna and disputes over slavery and autonomy. Key events were the Alamo (March 1836) and victory at San Jacinto (April 1836), which secured Texas independence as a republic until annexation by the U.S. in 1845.

James K. Polk

11th U.S. president (1845-1849). An expansionist, he oversaw the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the Oregon boundary settlement with Britain (1846), and the acquisition of California and the Southwest.

Manifest Destiny

(term coined 1845): The belief that the U.S. was destined to expand across North America. It was used to justify westward expansion, annexation of Texas, and war with Mexico, and it carried strong racial and nationalist overtones.

Mexican War

(1846-1848): War between the U.S. and Mexico following the Texas annexation and a border dispute. The U.S. won decisively, capturing Mexico City in 1847.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

(February 2, 1848): Treaty ending the Mexican War. Mexico ceded about half its territory (California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming), recognized the Rio Grande as the Texas border, and received $15 million.

Henry David Thoreau

American writer and transcendentalist, author of Walden (1854). He opposed slavery and the Mexican War, and refused to pay a poll tax in protest, which led to a night in jail in 1846.

“Civil Disobedience”

(1849): Thoreau’s essay, originally titled “Resistance to Civil Government,” arguing that individuals should refuse to support unjust government actions, such as slavery and the Mexican War, through peaceful noncompliance. It later influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.