What were the factors behind the age of revolution in the Atlantic world?
The Three EstatesFrench inhabitants were legally divided into three orders, or estates: the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else. In this political cartoon from 1789 a peasant of the third estate struggles under the weight of a happy clergyman and a plumed nobleman. The caption — “Let’s hope this game ends soon” — sets forth a program of reform that any peasant could understand. (Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France/The Bridgeman Art Library)
TTHE ORIGINS OF REVOLUTIONS in the Atlantic world were complex, and no one cause lay behind them. However, a series of shared factors helped set the stage for reform. They included: fundamental social and economic changes and political crises that eroded state authority; the impact of political ideas derived from the Enlightenment; and, perhaps most important, imperial competition and financial crises generated by the expenses of imperial warfare.