Well hey there and welcome back to Heimler’s History. We’ve been going through Unit 3 of the AP U.S. History curriculum. In the last video we looked at the American Revolution and in the next video we’re going to consider the new American government, but first, in this video we need to talk about how revolutionary ideals affected American society. So if you’re ready to get them brain cows milked, let’s get to it. Okay, so we’re basically trying to answer two questions in this video. First, how did the American Revolution affect AMERICAN society. And second, how did the American Revolution affect global society. So first, let’s talk about how the ideals of the revolution affected American society. So because so much revolutionary literature was suffused with talk of liberty and rights, not least the Declaration of Independence, people showed growing concern over societal inequality before, during, and after the revolution. Case in point: slavery. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence those famous words: “all men are created equal.” To which every enslaved worker on Jefferson’s plantations were like, “Really? Is that what you mean?” And for a minute, revolutionary leaders could see this tension and they actually did something about it. Many northern states abolished slavery. The Continental Congress even abolished the importation of enslaved laborers, and in general, this move met with widespread support. Now, I probably don’t need to tell you that this moment didn’t last long. Once southern plantation owners saw how closely tied their enslaved laborers were with the hooch in their pocket, such sentiments and freedom died down. Another way revolutionary ideals affected American society was in the opening of state and national governments to greater democratic influence. For example, state legislatures worked to universalize suffrage, which is to say, the right to vote, without respect to title or nobility. In fact, these legislatures abolished the practice of granting titles of nobility or aristocracy. Revolutionary ideals also affected the lot of women in the new nation. Women contributed greatly during the war. Those whose husbands left to go fight stayed behind and plowed and planted the fields in addition to working at their normal domestic duties. Many women banded together in voluntary associations like the Ladies Association of Philadelphia to assist with the war effort by supplying troops with clothing and bandages and bullets. And some women just straight up dressed as men and took up arms to fight. Did we just Mulan this thing? I reckon we did. And if you want even more sauce, let me tell you about Nancy Hart Morgan of Georgia. During the war she offered hospitality to six British soldiers who sat at her table and ate the meal she had prepared. And then she shot and killed two of them while her neighbors came over to hang the rest. Anyway, once the war was over, these women who had tasted a greater degree of autonomy and freedom appealed for a more permanent expansion of roles. To this end, an ideal called the Republican Motherhood was developed. This idea said that women were vital to a healthy democracy because they were able to raise sons well schooled in republican principles. And if that was going to happen, then women themselves needed to be well educated. And while that may pale in comparison to our contemporary ideals for women’s equality, many women back then saw it as a dignified way to contribute to the new nation. Okay, so that’s how revolutionary ideals affected American society. Now let’s shift and talk about how revolutionary ideals affected the global society. Now as I mentioned in the last video, no one expected the American colonists to win a war against Britain, and yet, they did. And to further inspire the watching world, the Americans achieved this victory not in order to establish another old school monarchy, but rather a government built on the Enlightenment ideals of natural rights and individual liberty. And it was especially this that inspired other revolutionary movements throughout the world. First, is the French Revolution which began in 1789. So by the 1780s France was like shoulders deep in economic woes, mainly caused by war spending. And in order to solve that problem King Louis XVI called in 1789 a meeting of the Estates-General. The Estates-General was an official body that represented the three estates of the French population, namely, the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. And even though the third estate represented like 98% of the population, they still had an equal vote with the other two estates, the clergy and the nobility, which really only represented about 2% of the population. Now the third estate may have been less educated, but they could do math, and what that kind of math told them was that the other two estates were taking a representative dump on them. I made that joke in my AP World history videos. Second time, still funny. Anyway, as a result of all this the Third Estate broke away and formed their own representative body called the National Assembly. And when Louis XVI heard about such insolence, he threatened to arrest the leaders of the National Assembly. And in response to that, on July 14th, 1789, an angry crowd stormed the Bastille, which was a prison that in the eyes of the people symbolized monarchical abuse and the corruption of the aristocracy. And out of all this, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was produced and it was deeply influenced by the American Declaration of Independence and included protections of basic human rights and provided for a limited monarchy. Then there was the Haitian Revolution in 1791. Haiti happened to be a French colony, and as the majority enslaved population of the island got wind of the French revolutionaries crying out for freedom, they were like, ummm… yes please. And so the enslaved population of Haiti rose up in revolution against their masters and killed many of them and burned their houses as well. A Haitian named Toussaint L’ouverture took charge and led the rebellion against the French enslavers. And much like the American Revolution, it was altogether surprising when the Hatians actually clinched a victory against the French and established an independent Haitian government. It was the first successful revolution of enslaved people and the first black-led independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. And then the dominoes kept falling. Latin American countries began rebelling against their colonizers as well, specifically Spain and Portugal. And when it was all over, countries like Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile had all overthrown their former colonizing powers. Okay, that’s what you need to know about Unit 3 Topic 2 of the AP U.S. History curriculum. I’ve got way more help for you to get an A in your class and a five on your exam in May click it, and get it. If you want me to keep making these videos for you then go ahead and subscribe because that’ll give me the signal to keep going. Heimler out.