Chapter 16: Atlantic Revolutions, Global Echoes (1750–1900)

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key terms, historical actors, events, and concepts from the Atlantic Revolutions and their global legacies (1750–1900).

Yellow Vest Movement

A French protest movement beginning in late 2018 originally sparked by rising fuel prices that expanded to address economic inequality, police brutality, and distrust of the establishment.

Pugachev's Rebellion (1773–1774)

A major peasant uprising in Russia that formed part of the broader 18th-century global crisis preceding the Atlantic upheavals.

Mfecane

A period of disruptive wars and migrations occurring in Southern Africa during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Seven Years' War (1754–1763)

A costly global conflict between European powers that drained imperial treasuries, prompting Britain to impose new taxes on American colonists and France to levy taxes on landowners.

Popular Sovereignty

An Enlightenment concept promoted by thinkers such as John Locke asserting that the ultimate political authority of a state resides in the consent of the people rather than divine right.

Third Estate

The pre-revolutionary French social order consisting of roughly 98% of the population—including peasants, urban workers, and the bourgeoisie—who bore the primary tax burden without aristocratic privileges.

National Assembly

A legislative body formed in 1789 by breakaway representatives of the French Third Estate, which claimed sole legal lawmaking authority and issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

A foundational document drafted by the French National Assembly in 1789 establishing the equal rights of men and asserting that sovereignty resides in the nation.

The Terror (1793–1794)

A radical and violent phase of the French Revolution overseen by Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety during which tens of thousands of suspected enemies were executed by guillotine.

Maximilien Robespierre

The revolutionary leader who headed the Committee of Public Safety during The Terror, executing King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and alleged political dissenters.

Grands Blancs

Wealthy white plantation owners in the French Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) who sought greater economic autonomy from France.

Petits Blancs

The class of poor whites in pre-revolutionary Saint Domingue who demanded equality with rich landowners while insisting on racial supremacy over people of color.

Gens de Couleur Libres

The community of approximately 30,000 free people of color in Saint Domingue on the eve of the Haitian Revolution.

Toussaint Louverture

A former slave who emerged as the primary military and political leader of the Haitian Revolution, defeating internal rivals and European invasion forces.

Creoles

Native-born elites of Spanish ancestry in the Americas who resented Spanish imperial attempts to exert tighter control, increase taxation, and collect tariffs.

Tupac Amaru Rebellion

An uprising of Native Americans in Peru during the 1780s that left creole elites deeply fearful of future social rebellions from lower classes.

Miguel Hidalgo and José Morelos

Two Mexican priests who led a radical peasant insurrection in 1810 driven by hunger for land and high food prices, which was suppressed by creole elites and the Church.

Americanos

A nativist identity created by Latin American creole leaders to unite all persons born in the Americas against those born in Spain or Portugal.

Decembrist Revolt of 1825

An unsuccessful uprising by reform-minded Russian military officers that established a revolutionary lineage lasting into the early 20th century.

Great Jamaica Revolt (1831–1832)

A massive slave uprising in the British Caribbean that convinced the British public that maintaining slavery was morally unacceptable and politically precarious.

Levée en Masse

A policy of mass military conscription adopted during the French Revolution to defend the new republic, embodying the principle that defense of the nation belongs to all citizens.

Civic Nationalism

An inclusive form of nationalism that defines membership in a nation through shared commitment to political values, legal institutions, and defined territory rather than ancestry.

Racial / Ethnic Nationalism

An exclusive variety of nationalism defining the nation in terms of shared racial, ancestral, or biological traits, often excluding minority populations.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

The first organized feminist gathering in the United States, at which Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented a declaration declaring that all men and women are created equal.

Maternal Feminism

A branch of feminist ideology, especially prominent in France, asserting that women require civic and political rights specifically to fulfill their distinctive responsibilities as mothers.

Huda Sharawi

Founder of Egypt's first feminist organization who famously cast her veil into the sea in 1923 after returning from an international feminist conference in Italy.