The Impact Of The French Revolution And The Haitian Revolution

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As more revolutions occurred around the globe in the 18th century, they could almost always be connected to the philosophies brought about by the Age of Enlightenment. This age, encouraging freedom and equality, as well as a government that protected the natural rights of citizens, naturally conflicted with any abuses of power by a government. As a result, it would lead to revolutions such as the French Revolution, the Venezuelan Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution. Furthermore, these three in particular were influenced in their changes in government, the leaders that were inspired by these philosophies, the ways that they obtained freedom, and what they accomplished regarding human rights. Of the three, it would appear that the Haitian Revolution stayed closest to the ideas of the Enlightenment.

As expected, the governments before these three revolutions changed because of the philosophies of the Enlightenment. In France, it was dominated by two social classes called estates, while the Third Estate, consisting of 98% of the population, had little or no say in government decisions. The government that replaced it was a republic, with the intentions to defend the rights of the people, in accordance with the beliefs
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The French Revolution brought about rights for women and abolished slavery, but these were almost immediately changed. The Venezuelan Revolution gave rights to free citizens, but not to slaves, who consisted of 20% of the population. Regardless, inequality was still rampant afterwards, with white citizens known as criollos having a higher status than the mixed race of mestizos. On the other hand, Haiti saw one of the first successful slave revolts in history, in which they actually gained their independence. Ultimately, these revolutions would all promote the values of freedom and liberty, although Haiti arguably achieved

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