BRITAIN
THE UNION JACK + ACT OF THE UNION 1801
The flag combines the crosses of the three countries united under one Sovereign: the
kingdoms of England and Wales, the kingdom of Scotland and, the Kingdom of Ireland. The
fald consists of three heraldic crosses:
- The cross of St George, patron saint of England since the 1270’s.
- The cross saltire of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland.
- The cross saltire of St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland.
During James I reign, the cross of St George was combined with the cross of St Andrew
(1606). This Union Flag was combined following the Act of Union of Ireland with England
(and wales) and Scotland in 1801, to create a new union flag.
Act of the Union, 1801 The Irish rebellion of 1798 (in the context of the Atlantic Revolutions)
sought parliamentary reform (universal male suffrage; full Catholic emancipation) and an end
to British rule. Fearing that Ireland might ally itself with France, the British government used
bribery and diplomacy to reach a legislative agreement with the Irish parliament that united
England and Scotland with Ireland. Britain thus became the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, a union that lasted until 15 January 1922.
THE MAGNA CARTA 1215
King John was defeated in 1204 by Phillip II of France who conquered Normady. This blow
to royal prestige and finances encouraged John’s domestic opponents ro rebel.
In 1215, John was forced to accept the terms of what came to be known as the Magna
Carta. This charter of liberties was a condemnation of John’s use of feudal, judicial and other
governmental powers, as it definedited royal rights by, for example, needing the consent of
the parliament to raise taxes.
THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR, 1337-1453
A conflict with France broke out in 1337, following the confiscation of the English Duchy of
Guyenne by French King Philip VI. This confrontation led to the Hundred Years’ War, an
intermittent struggle between England and France that spanned more than 100 years, during
the 14th and 15th centuries.
Under Henry VI, the English were driven from all but Calais and the Channel Islands. On
behalf of Charles VII, who drove the English out, Joan of Arc rallied French resistance in the
late 1420s, particularly at Orléans. In 1475, the English King Edward IV and the French King
Louis XI agreed to a seven-year truce and to settle their differences by negotiation rather
than by force of arms. Edward was to withdraw from France. This truce survived and
essentially marked the end of the Hundred Years’ War despite the fact that a peace traty was
never signed.
THE WARS OF THE ROSES, 1455-1485
In the context of the Hundred Years’ War, Henry VI’s defeat in France precipitated the Wars
of the Roses, a series of dynastic struggles between the Houses of Lancaster and York. The
wars were named, years later, after the insignia of the contending parties: The White Rose of
York and the Red Rose of Lancaster.
The political situation was fragile due to the Hundred Years’ War, and Henry VI was suffering
from mental illness. In 1453, during a crisis, Richard, Duke of York, was appointed protector
of the realm. Henry recovered in 1455, but York took up arms and the Wars of the Roses
began. Years later, the Lancastrian Henry Tudor claimed his right to the crown and fought
Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, where the king was killed. Legend has it that his
crown was placed on Henry’s immediately afterwards, Henry was proclaimed King Henry VII.
THE REFORMATION 1529
Henry VIII most consequential decision was to break up with the vatican ans start the
English Reformation in 1529. English Kings had had serious conflicts with the Vatican before
Henry VIII, but remained sincerely Catholic and resisted the spread of Lutheran ideas in
England since the 1520s. The breach with Rome was due to various causes or thesis:
a) The immediate cause of the Reformation: Henry’s wish to divorce his wife Catherine
of Aragon
b) Political interest. Henry’s breach with Rome offered control over the English clergy
and its enormous wealth.
c) Previous anti-Catholic sentiment, in particular the Anglican doctrines of John Wycliffe,
who took part in the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 and translated the Bible into English so
ordinary people could read it. He and his followers (Lollards) opposed many of the
practices of the Catholic clergy they considered corrupt.
- Religion was a major feature of life in early modern Europe. Jews, Muslims and
Christians lived in Europe, but the Christian faith was dominant, and the Catholic
Church had enormous power and influence, religious rituals marked events of life
and the calendar.
- • Influenced by Erasmus and Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, during 15th century
Renaissance humanism sought to reform church and society according to the model
of classical and Christian antiquity, to be achieved through a return to the Bible
studied in its original languages.
- • By the turn of the century, corruption in the Church was widespread, but the
Church's refusal to address these criticisms eventually led to various schisms that
established different Protestant Christian sects (at that time).
- • The church was increasingly being questioned, particularly by Martin Luther
(1483–1546) and Jean Calvin (1509–1564). They argued against Catholic theology
and church practices such as selling indulgences (promises that the purchaser would
be let off some of the penalties of purgatory), arguing that there was no justification in
the Bible for such actions.
• In October 1517, Luther posted a series of arguments, the “Disputation on the Power and
Efficacy of Indulgences”, later known as his 95 Theses. Thanks to the invention of the
printing press around 1440, they spread rapidly throughout Germany in 1518 and to other
countries, including England and France, in 1519.
• According to Luther, if God had ordained purgatory, the Pope could not shorten the time
spent there, and if the Pope had such authority, he should relieve the souls suffering there by
setting them free without payment. By questioning the sale of indulgences, Luther
challenged the authority of the Pope and, by extension, the entire hierarchy of the Church.
Citing Romans 1:17 (which reads in part, "The righteous shall live by faith"), Luther claimed
that there should be no intermediary between the believer and God, and that Scripture
dictated the Christian's path, not the Church's precepts.
• Pope Leo X threatened Luther with excommunication unless he recanted, but Luther
refused and was excommunicated in 1521.
In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which recognised Henry VIII as "Supreme
Head of the Church of England", thus severing ecclesiastical ties with Rome. The Act also
required English subjects to swear an oath of allegiance recognising his marriage to Anne
Boleyn. It was repealed in 1555 under Mary I, but in 1558 during the reign of Elizabeth I the
Parliament passed a second Act of Supremacy.
ENGLISH CIVIL WARS
The English Civil Wars occurred in the British Isles between Charles I (and his son Charles
II) and opposing groups in the different kingdoms (Parliamentarians in England, Covenanters
in Scotland and Confederates in Ireland). Between 1642 and 1646, England experienced an
intense conflict between the Royalists ('Cavaliers') and the Parliamentarians ('Roundheads').
This 1st War paved the way for the reform of the Parliamentary armies with the creation of
the New Model Army (1645), a centralised standing army with central funding and direction,
which forced the King to surrender in 1646.
• English Civil War(s) (2nd 1648) The Second War of 1648 was a series of royalist uprisings
in England and Wales and an invasion of northern England by the Scots, all of which were
defeated by Parliament's New Model Army. These events convinced Parliament that the king
could not be trusted. In January 1649 he was tried, found guilty of 'traitorously and
maliciously levying war against the present Parliament and the people' and executed.
• English Civil War(s) (3rd 1650-1651), or the Anglo-Scottish War Oliver Cromwell and the
New Model Army invaded Scotland in July 1650 to prevent Charles II from using a Scottish
army to invade England. Although the Scottish were defeated once, they managed to raise
another army and attempted to take London. Cromwell's victory at Worcester (1651) was
followed by Charles II's exile in France, giving Cromwell control of England and ending the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
RESTORATION 1660
Both Charles II and his brother and successor James II-VII were “closet” Catholics and
hoped to restore Catholicism. They also sought to increase the centrality of the state in ways
characteristic of the Old Regime. Their political authoritarianism and religious tolerance (e.g.
the Declaration of Indulgence of 1687) alienated the Protestant establishment, which tried
unsuccessfully to exclude James from the succession. After the birth of a Catholic heir in
1688, seven leading Englishmen invited the Dutch prince William of Orange, who was
married to James's daughter Mary Stuart, to seize power.
THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION, 1688
The Glorious Revolution was very brief. In November 1688 William landed with is army in
England, carrying banners with the slogan Pro Religione protestante - Pro libero Parlamento.
James escaped to France. On 23 February 1689, William (III) and Mary (II) were proclaimed
King and Queen after signing a Bill of Rights that justified the coup by arguing that James
had abdicated and left the throne vacant, recognized the privileges of Parliament and barred
Roman Catholics from the throne. The change of king from James II to William III of England
has been called a "glorious" revolution because it was a peaceful change of monarchy (at
least in England) and preserved the traditions of government.
BILL OF RIGHTS 1689 + ACT OF TOLERATION 1689 + ACT OF SETTLEMENT 1701
The Bill of Rights of 1689 is a very important law passed by the English Parliament after
the Glorious Revolution. It helped limit the power of the king or queen and made
Parliament stronger. It also protected some basic rights of the people. King James II was
acting like a dictator—ignoring Parliament and trying to rule alone. So, Parliament invited
William and Mary to take the throne, but only if they agreed to follow certain rules. Those
rules became the Bill of Rights.
The king or queen can’t make or cancel laws without Parliament’s okay.
No taxes can be collected unless Parliament agrees.
People have the right to complain to the king or queen (petition) without being
punished.
Elections for Parliament must be free (not controlled by the king).
Parliament must be called regularly (the king can’t just ignore it).
No army can be kept in peace time unless Parliament agrees.
No cruel or unusual punishments, and no unfair fines.
Parliament and its members have freedom of speech inside Parliament.
Act of Toleration 1689 The Toleration Act was passed by Parliament 'to unite their Majesties
Protestant subjects in interest and affection'. It allowed dissenting Protestants (so-called
Nonconformists, such as Baptists and Congregationalists) freedom of worship, provided they
took a simplified version of the Oath of Allegiance.
Act of Settlement 1701 The Act of Settlement of 1701 was passed to reinforce the Bill of
Rights. The main aim was to ensure a Protestant succession to the English throne, and
remains in force. In 1707, as a result of the Act of Union, this Act was extended to Scotland.
After William’s death in 1702 he was succeeded by Mary’s sister Anne Stuart, a protestant
who reigned until 1714 but did not leave heirs. Thus, the throne passed to this second
Cousin George I, the first king of the house of Hanover (1714-1901) and the beginning of the
Georgian era (1714-1830).
IMPORTANT WOMEN FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) In Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Wollstonecraft questions sexist female education and, drawing on the empiricism of John
Locke and David Hume, argued that the sexual inequality considered "natural" by most
Western men, is in fact, like all social phenomena, the product of historical contingency and
social constructions.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1760-1830
The Industrial Revolution was a big change in how people worked and made things.
Instead of making goods by hand at home, people started using machines in factories.
Several reasons:
● Lots of coal and iron for powering machines and building things.
● Inventors and new ideas (like James Watt’s steam engine).
● A good transport system (canals, later trains).
● Money from trade and colonies to invest in factories.
● A growing population meant more workers and more buyers.
Machines replaced hand tools.
● Example: Spinning jenny and power loom in textile factories.
Factories replaced small workshops.
● People started working in big buildings, not at home.
Steam power became common.
● Steam engines helped power machines, trains, and boats.
Transport improved.
● Roads, canals, and railways made it easier to move goods and people.
Cities grew quickly.
● Many people moved from the countryside to work in factories (urbanization).
Key factors of British Industrial Revolution
● Natural resources ○ Coast and rivers - coal mines – insularity
● Scientific revolution XVII ○ Entrepreneurship: applying modern science to production.
Innovation and circulation of technological knowledge; e.g. Invention of the Spinning Jenny
1764 by James Hargreaves; steam engine
● Surplus capital from the agricultural revolution ○ Changes in land ownership: enclosures
and rural poverty ○ Improvements in cultivation and animal breeding
● Trade expansion and capitalism ○ Exploitation and inequality, enslavement ○ Colonies:
cotton, sugar, tobacco, etc. ○ Enshrinement of private property, and private companies with
royal charters granting them monopolies ○ Factory system
● Demographic and socio-political changes ○ Demographic revolution (18th century: from 5
to nearly 9 million) ○ Increased social mobility
ABOLITION OF SLAVE TRADE
After several years, on 23 May 1806, the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill was passed to
prevent British traders from importing slaves into the territories of foreign powers. It set the
stage for the complete abolition of British trade. Prime Minister, Lord Grenville, introduced
the Slave Trade Abolition Bill for its first reading in the House of Lords on 2 January 1807. In
1833, the Parliament passed An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British
Colonies. Equiano was enslaved in West Africa and deported to the Americas. He managed
to buy his freedom, and to publish an autobiography, a key piece for abolition.ç
SUFFRAGIST MOVEMENT 1850S
1856: The first petition for equal suffrage was launched by a committee of women who had
entered London's first colleges for women, Queen's College and Bedford College.
1866: John S. Mill and Henry Fawcett put forward another proposal, also driven by women,
for suffrage without distinction of sex.
1867: NSWS - National Society for Women's Suffrage by Lydia Becker.
1897: NUWSS - National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies by Millicent Garret Fawcett.
THE SUFFRAGETTE MOVEMENT
Women's Social and Political Union (1903), led by Emmeline Pankhurst After decades of
peaceful demands, the suffragette movement turned to more direct actions to raise public
awareness (including arson and bomb attacks on public buildings, churches and artworks),
which were brutally repressed by governments.
More than 1000 suffragettes were imprisoned between 1908 and 1914: some staged hunger
strikes, a tactic that prison officials countered by force-feeding them. In 1909, Home
Secretary Herbert Gladstone ordered imprisoned suffragettes who went on hunger strike to
be force-fed.
The government passed the 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act,
commonly known as the Cat and Mouse Act. It allowed the early release of prisoners
weakened by hunger striking, to be recalled to prison once recovered, where the process
would begin again.
AMERICA
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES 1607-1733
In 1606, King James I partitioned the Atlantic coast in two: the southern part for the London
Company (Virginia Company) and the northern part for the Plymouth Company. 17th and
early 18th centuries expeditions resulted in the establishment of the Thirteen Colonies.
- New England : • Massachusetts • New Hampshire • Rhode Island • Connecticut
- Middle Colonies: • New York • Pennsylvania • New Jersey • Delaware
- Chesapeake Colonies: • Maryland • Virginia
- Southern Colonies • North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia
THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR OR THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 1754-1763
The Seven Years’ War was a conflict involving the main European powers, and British and
French colonial territories in North America, and India. The conflict in the colonies was
known as the French and Indian War (1754– 1763). France lost and ceded the territory east
of the Mississippi and present-day Canada to Britain in the Treaty of Paris. Britain also got
Spanish Florida and consolidated its possessions in India, becoming the world's greatest
colonial power. The British conquest of Canada in 1759 somehow encouraged American
independence in different ways. - by removing a common (Catholic) enemy, - by British
attempts to increase taxes
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775-1783
The war erupted after more than a decade of tension between the British monarchy and its
North American colonies. In April 1775, skirmishes broke out between British regulars
suppressing the rebellious colonists and American provincials (Battles of Lexington and
Concord), marking the beginning of the American Revolution. The conflict became
internationalised with the support of France (in 1778) and Spain (in 1779) for the colonies
against Britain. The Netherlands also officially recognised the United States, providing it with
financial support, while waging its own war against Britain. The American Revolution ended
with the formal political independence of the 13 North American colonies from Britain.
150.000-200.000 inhabitants of the colonies fought in the war, 1/3 died. Most of them fought
as patriots, some as loyalists (ca. 20%-30% of the population, among them black enslaved
and Native Americans who trusted in a British victory to achieve freedom and keep their
lands). Civilian involvement gave the war a revolutionary dimension and encouraged
nationalist feelings (which circumscribed the nation to whites, excluding African and Native
Americans). After Britain’s defeat at Yorktown (1781) negotiations led to the Peace of Paris
(1783): Britain acknowledged the Independence of the USA and ceded her territories East of
the Mississippi to the US, Senegal to France and British West Florida to Spain (British since
1763).
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
Along with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the Bill of Rights is
considered one of the three most important founding documents of the United States. It was
influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason, as well as English
documents such as the Magna Carta or the English Bill of Rights.
It was adopted by the first US Congress in 1789 and ratified in 1791 in the form of ten
amendments that limited the power of Congress and established basic individual rights:
freedom of religion, speech and print; protection from arbitrary arrest, trial by jury, etc.
The 10th Amendment gave the states all powers not expressly delegated; it proved
particularly controversial in the run-up to the Civil War.
MANIFEST DESTINY
The resulting war with Mexico (1846-1848) was the first offensive military operation in U.S.
history and was controversial: an enthusiastic majority defended the war in the name of
Manifest Destiny, while a minority condemned it as a war of conquest driven by proslavery
interests. Many Democrats urged President Polk to conquer all of Mexico, but he signed the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), in which Mexico renounced its claims to the northern
Texas frontier and ceded California and New Mexico for $15 million.
The United States and Great Britain ended the War of 1812 with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814,
and four years later agreed to a 10-year period of joint occupation of the Northwest. The
treaty was renewed twice, but by 1846 it was clear that the Northwest was rapidly becoming
American, largely because of westward migration along the Oregon Trail. Neither country
wanted to fight another war over the boundary issue. President James Polk, facing war with
Mexico, was willing to compromise to resolve the issue. The result of the negotiations was
the Treaty of Oregon, signed between the US and GB in June 1846, ending 28 years of joint
occupation of the Pacific Northwest, covering the present-day states of Washington, Oregon
and Idaho.
Manifest Destiny was the 19th century idea that the US had a God-given right to expand and
control North America, giving it an exceptional place among the countries of the world. The
concept is thus linked to the idea of American exceptionalism. However, both concepts
originated in the 17th with the first European immigrants to America, mostly English
Protestants, or Puritans. The term became popular after the 1845 article "Annexation" by the
journalist John Louis O'Sullivan, who defended the annexation of Texas as "the fulfilment of
our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free
development of our annually multiplying millions".
The ideas of Manifest destiny and American exceptionalism were essential to sustaining
westward expansion and interventionism. The God-given, sanctioned right to conquer the
land and displace the "uncivilised" and non-Christian who were not taking full advantage of
the land justified the use of violent means to this end, without limit. This also had a profound
impact on the environment.
SLAVERY AND WOMEN
Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 with the help of abolitionists who were part of the
Underground Railroad, a secret network of people who operated from the late 18th century
until the Civil War, offering shelter and help to people from the South to escape enslavement.
In 1850, she travelled back to Maryland and helped her niece and relatives escape to
Philadelphia. This was the first of 19 trips Harriet made to guide her family, friends and
others through the Underground Railroad to their own freedom. After the Fugitive Slave Act
of 1850 made it impossible for escaped slaves to live safely in the northern states, Harriet
changed her route and took people all the way to Canada. It is estimated that she rescued
between 70 and 80 people, including her parents, and never lost a person.
Harriet became another key figure in the abolitionist movement. At the height of her fame,
Southern governments offered rewards totalling $40,000 for her capture. When the Civil War
broke out in 1861, Harriet fought in the Union Army, becoming the first woman to lead Union
troops into battle. She was denied a military pension after the war. She remained politically
active until her death, campaigning for women's rights.
CIVIL WAR 1861-1865
As the nation expanded, the differences that separated the North and the South since the
colonial era grew:
- The Northern and Central states experienced a fast industrialization and urbanization
thanks to protectionism and immigration, providing a cheap and qualified workforce. This
allowed these states to gradually abolish slavery.
- The South’s output also doubled between 1849 and 1859 but remained based on
plantation agriculture and increasingly in cotton, whose demand skyrocketed with the
Industrial revolution: by 1861 the Black Belt from Virginia to Texas produced most of the
cotton used in European factories. Slavery consolidated, spreading to new states such as
Missouri, Kentucky and Texas, in a society where all human beings were judged on a racist
basis and other grounds such as class and gender (hence the expression white trash).
The Civil War resulted in the victory of the Union over the Confederacy, mainly due to the
North's overwhelming economic superiority: the 23 Union states had 22 million inhabitants;
the 11 Confederate states had 8.5 million, including 3.5 million slaves who, for obvious
reasons, could not fight. The North had 80% of the factories and almost all the coal and iron
reserves. Its federal organisation was more efficient than that of the South, a loose
confederation of states that sometimes denied necessary men and supplies (Davis
appointed 5 prime ministers in 4 years).
The war was total, mobilising the entire population as combatants (2,000,000 in the North
and 750,000 in the South) or as industrial and agricultural workers. All the skills and
technology of the Industrial Revolution were applied to war production. It was also a war of
attrition and trenches.
