workd histiry vocab

Abolitionists

Men and women who agitated for a complete end to slavery. Their pressure helped end the British transatlantic slave trade (1808), slavery in British colonies 1834), and was a factor that led to the American Civil War (1861-1865).

American Revolution

Rebellion in the colonies of British North America inspired by democratic and other Enlightenment ideals. Its success led to the establishment of the first republic in modern times and became a model for a number of revolutions that followed.

Balkan nationalism

The emergence of various movements of national consciousness within the territories of the Ottoman Empire located on the Balkan peninsula in the 1800s. The ultimate goal of each was the creation of nation-state with religion playing an integral part in national identities.

Bourgeoisie

In France, the class of merchants and artisans who were members of the Third Estate and initiators of the French Revolution; in Marxist theory, a term referring to factory owners.

Capital

The money and equipment needed to engage in industrialization.

Code Napoleon

Collection of laws that standardized French law under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Declaration of Independence

Document that set forth the American colonists' reasons for separation from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson, the principal author, incorporated Enlightenment ideas such as "social contract" into the declaration.

Declaration of the Rights of Women and of the Female Citizen

A statement of the rights of women written by Olympe de Gouges in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

A statement of political and private property rights adopted by the French National Assembly during the French Revolution.

Estates

The divisions of society in prerevolutionary France.

Feminism

A belief in the political, economic and cultural equality of women. Many of the feminists of the early modern era specifically noted access to education, property and the ballot as critical to women's equality.

First Industrial Revolution

(1760-1840) Era of mechanization which began in England in the late 18th century. The initial focus of industrialization was on textiles and understanding and using different energy sources. With the advent of the steam engine agrarian societies gave way to urbanization and saw the increased use of railroads and steamships.

Fossil Fuel Revolution

The transition from water, wind, plant, and animal power to coal, petroleum, and natural gas beginning in the 1800s. The new form of mineral-intensive economy pioneered in Britain during the late 1700s and imitated in the U.S. has led to environmental and human costs.

Gran Colombia

The temporary union of the northern portion of South America after independence movements led by Simón Bólivar; ended in 1830.

Haitian Revolution

Series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804 between Haitian slaves, colonists, the armies of the British and French colonizers, and a number of other parties. Haiti ultimately won independence from France and thereby became the first country to be founded by former slaves.

Imperialism

The establishment of colonial empires.

Jacobins

The most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution, and in association with Maximilien Robespierre they instituted the Reign of Terror from 1793-94.

Liberalism

An Enlightenment philosophy that favored civil rights, the protection of private property, and representative government.