Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Atlantic Revolutions

Driving Question: How was the period from 1750 to 1825 an “Age of Revolution”?

In this lesson, you'll examine revolutions across the Atlantic world and beyond—from the Americas to Haiti to South America. You’ll explore what sparked them, who participated, and how revolutionary these changes really were, especially for women and marginalized groups.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Use the historical thinking practices of comparison and causation to analyze revolutions of this period.
  2. Use evidence to evaluate how women contributed to revolutionary movements in the long nineteenth century.
  3. Use a graphic biography to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives of this period.
STEP 1

Opener: Age of Revolution?

What does it mean to want change? What makes a revolution actually revolutionary? You’ll start by exploring a protest song and considering your own perspective before diving into the revolutions of the long nineteenth century.

STEP 2

Revolutions Around the World

The Haitian Revolution External link

The Haitian Revolution defeated the French empire, abolished slavery, and shook the foundations of the Atlantic slave economy. But the struggle didn’t end there.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 3

Women and Revolution

Though revolutionary narratives are often centered on founding fathers, plenty of women played central roles in defining the Age of Revolution.

STEP 4

Closer: Age of Revolution?

We all know what it feels like to want to see something change. The “something” might be as minor as what’s on the lunch menu or as major as a whole political system. In this quick activity, you’ll write your own revolutionary manifesto.