The Enlightenment
Enlightenment thinkers challenged the unlimited power of this type of ruler, arguing that governments should serve the people instead.
What is an absolute monarch (or king)?
This group caused tension in France because they believed the system was unfair, as they paid most of the taxes and had less political power.
What is the 3rd Estate?
This system contributed to support for independence by creating resentment among Indigenous and mestizo groups who had fewer opportunities than peninsulares.
What is the La Casta System?
This influential Jacobin leader and bourgeois lawyer led the Reign of Terror in France.
Who is Maximilien Robespierre?
Both revolutions were caused by this "ingredient," where lower classes like the Third Estate and the lower castes were treated unfairly.
What is social inequality?
Popularized by thinker John Locke, these are defined as the right to life, liberty, and property.
What are Natural Rights?
By the late 1700s, the French Revolution was fueled by government debt, an unequal tax system, and rising prices for this staple food.
What is bread?
Father Hidalgo’s "Cry of Dolores" speech asked Mexicans, "Will you free yourselves?", reflecting this specific Enlightenment idea.
What are Natural Rights?
This device was the primary method of execution during the Reign of Terror, famously used on King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
What is the Guillotine?
Both revolutions were inspired by these types of ideas, which included "natural rights" and the "social contract".
What are Enlightenment ideas?
This agreement occurs when a group of people come together to form a government for the purpose of protecting people's rights.
What is the Social Contract?
The storming of the Bastille was significant beyond capturing a prison because it demonstrated that ordinary people could successfully challenge this.
What is established authority (or the monarchy)?
Jose Maria Morelos used Enlightenment ideas in this 1813 political manifesto that advocated for independence and abolishing slavery.
What is Sentimientos de la Nación (Sentiments of the Nation)?
This emergency government was given broad powers to defend the Revolution and punish suspected enemies.
What is the Committee of Public Safety?
Prompt: France's "spark" was the storming of the Bastille, while Mexico's "spark" was this famous speech by Father Hidalgo.
What is El Grito de Dolores?
Montesquieu argued that a country should limit political power by dividing it among different parts of government, such as the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
What is the Separation of Powers? (or limited government)
Following the Reign of Terror, a power vacuum led to the rise of this French military leader who later crowned himself emperor in 1804.
Who is Napoleon Bonaparte?
This Mexican military leader became the 2nd president of Mexico in 1829, famously declaring "La patria es primero" and abolishing slavery.
Who is Vicente Guerrero?
Blaming him for the Revolution's violence, 24-year-old Charlotte Corday assassinated this radical journalist in his bathtub.
Who is Jean-Paul Marat?
A major difference between the two conflicts is that France fought against its own monarchy, while Mexico fought to end this European country's colonial rule.
What is Spain (or Spanish colonial rule)?
The Enlightenment was caused in part by the Renaissance and this other "Revolution" of the 16th and 17th centuries involving natural world discoveries.
What is the Scientific Revolution?
During the Revolution, France changed expectations about how the country should be governed by abolishing its monarchy and establishing this.
What is a republic?
This figure allied with Vicente Guerrero to win independence, crafted the Plan of Iguala, and briefly ruled as the Emperor of Mexico in 1822.
Who is Augustin Iturbide?
Robespierre justified the extreme violence of the Reign of Terror by arguing that harsh measures were absolutely necessary to protect the Republic from this group.
Who are the enemies (or suspected enemies) of the Revolution?
Both revolutions ultimately challenged older systems of authority and created expectations that a government's power should come from here.
What is the people (or the citizens)?