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Dbq American Revolution

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During the 1500s to 1900s, major world powers in Europe and in the Americas took action through revolution in order to shape their society into a more idealistic one. Revolutions led people to question previously accepted thoughts and societal issues, leading to changes in thought and reconstruction of society and its structure. During the Scientific Revolution, scientists questioned the accepted teachings of the ancient Greco-romans and the Church by creating new inventions and innovations. Shifts in thoughts about society and its issues brought significant reforms, such as during the Haitian Revolution, which restructured its form of government and the social hierarchy. The Industrial Revolution brought many unintended consequences, such …show more content…

One example was the Haitian slave revolt, which inspired the idea that colored people should be at the top of the social hierarchy, instead of the rich, white plantation owners. Because of this, the slaves of Haiti revolted, and gave Haiti its independence from France. After the Revolution, many reforms were established to govern Haiti. In January 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines restored Haiti’s sugar cane farms and boosted the agriculture industry. He also gave fair wages, limited working hours, and improved overall working conditions for all jobs, strengthening Haiti’s economy, and initiated international trade with other nations such as the United States. Dessalines and Toussaint Louverture also wrote the Constitutions of 1801 and 1805, which forever abolished slavery, and limited foreigner (white) political and social influence in Haiti. The slave revolt also restructured their government, which is documented in the Haitian Constitution of 1806. It created three branches of government, giving the people a voice in government and political affairs, and also limited the power of the government through checks and balances. Lastly, they drafted the Haitian Civil Code based on the French Napoleonic Code, which abolished societal privileges based on social status, as well as legalized marriage between foreigners and Haitians, which immensely increased the blend of cultures in Haiti. Another example was the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, which increased the desire to create and sell goods faster in order to make profit. As a result, new machines such as the spinning mule and spinning jenny were created in order to spin thread and create textiles faster and more efficiently. The cotton gin was also invented by Eli Whitney, which increased the amount of cotton that was being used in England from 1.5 million to 80 million pounds of cotton. The increase of

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