A World in Crisis: The Eighteenth Century

At the end of the eighteenth century, the world was in crisis. The American, French, and Haitian Revolutions transformed societies, and these events were not merely political. Here you’ll explore the argument that the revolutions had economic causes.

The rise of a capitalist economy produced social disruption around the world. Capitalism is an economic system in which property is privately owned and owners seek to increase production. It became dominant in Western Europe and the Americas. Three important changes accompanied the system:

• European capitalists built plantations in their American colonies. Most plantation workers were enslaved people. They lived on plantations where they planted crops like sugar and cotton. These valuable crops produced wealth for European landowners.
• A new class of working poor emerged in European cities.
• An urban upper-middle class grew wealthier from trade. This class was known as the bourgeoisie. Both the working poor and the bourgeoisie were increasingly unhappy with their governments.

There were thousands of revolts among peasants and other workers from 1500 to 1800. The government and land-owning aristocracy stopped most revolts with violence. Yet successful revolutions took place in America, France, and Haiti.

Material¹ Causes of Revolt

The political revolutions of this era had both political and economic causes. The revolutions weren’t just about liberty and political representation, but also taxes and property.

Historians say that the American and French Revolutions were a direct result of the Seven Years’ War. The war between England and France occurred from 1756 to 1763. The war began as a struggle for territory, markets and resources in North America and quickly spread to the rest of the world. The consequences of the war ignited the American and French Revolutions.

Rich men fight the high cost of tea: The American Revolution

The American Revolution was really about taxes. Crops like cotton made Western European countries incredibly wealthy. Yet war put the British empire in serious debt. To recover, the British crown planned to tax the American colonies.

Tea prices rose and tobacco prices fell, causing resentment among American colonists. Colonists demanded representation in the British Parliament, which made laws. Plantation owners then declared their independence and belief in the equality of all men. But they also wanted to make more money from their crops grown by enslaved people.

Have you seen the price of bread? The French Revolution

In France, people at the middle and bottom of the social pyramid started questioning the social order. Aristocrats and church officials at the top of society were widely resented. Even wealthy members of the upper middle-class lacked political rights. Many people struggled to eat in years of bad harvest.

The harvest of 1788 was unusually bad. At the same time, King Louis XVI created new taxes to pay for wars with England. Taxes and the high price of bread caused revolts. In October 1789, thousands of women marched from the marketplace and took up weapons to march to the Palace of Versailles. Though the working poor were most active in the streets and storming the Bastille,²  the wealthier bourgeoise directed the early revolution. The bourgeoise revolted to seize power from the aristocracy. As in America, these French revolutionaries became wealthy through cash crop plantations made possible with the lives and labor of the enslaved.

The French Revolution was made possible by several events happening at once. The bad harvest of 1788 led to high food prices, which poor people protested. At the same time, the king raised taxes and the middle class started to demand political representation

The right to property? The Haitian Revolution

The French colony of Saint Domingue or Haiti was the most profitable colony in the world. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved people grew coffee and sugar. Saint Domingue enriched the French Empire and aristocracy. 

Class divisions in the hierarchy were even more extreme than in France. Enslaved people were nearly 90 percent of the island’s population. At the top of the social hierarchy, wealthy white landowners (grands blancs) controlled most of the colony’s resources and labor. There were two other groups in the hierarchy: poor white laborers and artisans (petits blancs), and free people of color.

All four classes had complaints. Landowners (grands blancs) resented being taxed by the distant French monarch. Free people of color knew they would never be considered equal. White artisans and workers (petits blancs) identified with the revolutionaries in France. They resented wealthier landowners and free people of color. Yet it was the bottom of the social structure that made Saint Domingue so unstable. Most enslaved people had been born in Africa before being enslaved and forced to work under horrific conditions. These social tensions erupted into open conflict in 1791, resulting in the first successful revolt of enslaved people.

The Haitian constitution was inspired by Enlightenment ideas about equality. The Haitian Constitution of 1806 guaranteed a right to property. However, this right also included the right to control one’s own labor. This strongly contrasted to the ways in which American and French revolutionaries used the right to property to protect slavery. Haiti’s constitution outlawed slavery.

President Thomas Jefferson refused to acknowledge the new nation. He feared Haiti would inspire enslaved people in the United States to rise up.

An age of revolutions

These three revolutions were part of a larger world crisis at the end of the eighteenth century. Major revolts also occurred in India, Russia, and China.

These eighteenth-century revolutions were about political liberties and representation. Yet they were also about restructuring the relationships between people and the way that goods and wealth were produced and distributed.

1 Material conditions means physical things that people want or need. Access to food and shelter are two examples of material conditions that concerned the revolutionaries.

2 These three revolutions were part of a larger world crisis at the end of the eighteenth century. Major revolts also occurred in India, Russia, and China. These eighteenth-century revolutions were about political liberties and representation. Yet they were also about restructuring the relationships between people and the way that goods and wealth were produced and distributed..