Nationalism and Revolutions

Natural Rights

Life, Liberty, and Property

Enlightenment

A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason. They developed new ideas about how people should be governed.

Revolution

a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

Absolute Monarchy

A government in which the king or queen has absolute power.

Divine Right

Belief that a rulers authority comes directly from god.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

French Revolution document that outlined what the National Assembly considered to be the natural rights of all people and the rights that they possessed as citizens

Toussaint L'Ouverture

Leader of the Haitian Revolution. He freed the slaves and gained effective independence for Haiti despite military interventions by the British and French.

Estates General

An assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes, in France.

National Assembly

French Revolutionary assembly (1789-1791). Called first as the Estates General, the three estates came together and demanded radical change. It passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789.

Tennis Court Oath

A pledge made by the members of France's National Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution

1791 constitution

Made France a constitutional (limited) monarchy, in which the king had to share power with an elected legislature called the Legislative Assembly. Only male taxpayers could vote

Declaration of the Rights of Man

Statement of fundamental political rights adopted by the French National Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution.

Louis XVI

- King of France (1774-1792). In 1789 he summoned the Estates-General, but he did not grant the reforms that were demanded and revolution followed. Louis and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were executed in 1793.

Robespierre

leader of the Committee of Public Safety; chief architect of the Reign of Terror

Napoleon Bonaparte

French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)

Napoleonic Code

body of French civil laws introduced in 1804; served as model for many nations' civil codes

Reign of Terror

(1793-94) during the French Revolution when thousands were executed for "disloyalty"

Taino

a Native American people of the Caribbean islands - the first group encountered by Columbus and his men when they reached the Americas

Saint Domingue

Haiti half of island of Hispaniola; where the Toussaint L'Overture revolt occurred

Haiti

Name that revolutionaries gave to the former French colony of Saint Domingue; the term means "mountainous" or "rugged" in the Taino language.

Dominican Republic

Shares an island with Haiti

Plantation Economy

This referred to the inefficient, slave-centered economy of the South where all land was used to grow large amounts of cash crops for export.

Le Code Noir

French law code about the treatment of slaves.

Vodou

New World religion with roots in West Africa; prominent in Haiti. Helped organize the revolution.

Dessaline

was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution hatis first emperor took over after toussaint was born.