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1748 Montesquieu publishes book, On the Spirit of Laws
In 1748, Montesquieu published a famous book called, On the Spirit of Laws. In this book, he proposed that a separation of powers would keep any one part of the government from gaining total control. He wrote that this ,"should be a check to power," so his idea later was called checks and balances. His ideas about separation of powers and checks and balances were used in the United States Constitution. -
1789 French Revolution
The Third Estate named themselves the National Assembly and would pass laws and reforms under the name of the French people. The third estate voted to establish the National Assembly and claimed that this was the end of the absolute monarchy and the beginning of a representative government. When the 3rd estate delegates were locked out of the meeting room they met at a tennis court and pledged the Tennis Court Oath which was that they would stay there until they made up a constitution. -
1799 Napoleon overthrows the Directory through a coup d'etat
Haratio Nelson defeats Napoleon and the British takes over the Suez Canal. Once he loses he goes back to France and tells them that he won the battle in Egypt.Napoleon took troops under his command and surrounded the national legislature to drive out most of it's members. The remaining lawmakers voted to end the Directory and instead they established the 3 consuls of which, Napoleon was one of. Napoleon took the title of first consul and the powers of a dictator. -
1815 Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo
After Napoleon was banished from France and taken to Elba ,a tiny island on the Italian coast he came back to France and became the emperor once again. The British army which was led by the Duke of Wellington prepared for battle near a village called Waterloo in Belgium. He surrendered and his defeat called for the Hundred Days. Napoleon was taken to St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic. He lived for 6 years and died of a stomach ailment. -
1810 Padre Hidalgo calls for Mexican Independence
Padre Miguel Hidalgo who was a priest in the small village called Dolores rang churge bells and peasants gathered at the church. He called for rebellion against the Spanish called the "grito de Dolores." His Indian and mestizo followers marched toward Mexico CIty and his army soon consisted of 80,000 men. This scared the Spanish army and creoles who did not want to lose their property and the control of the land and thie rlives. They came together to defeat Hidalgo in 1811. -
1804 Napoleon crowns himself emperor, begins to create a vast Europe Empire
French voters supported Napoleon's decision to make himself emperor of France. During the ceremony in Nortre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the pope waited for him with the crown. As thousands watched, Napoleon took the crown quickly from the Pope's hands and placed it on his own head. He was symbolizing that he was more powerful than the Church. Usually the ruler of France were crowned by the Pope. -
1776 America declares Independence
As a result of the Second Continental Congress in July 1776, a document called the Declaration of Independence was written by a politcal leader, Thomas Jefferson. It was based on the ideas of John Locke and the Enlightenment. It included a long list of George III's abuses and it concluded by claiming that the colonies would be seperated from Britain and become independent. The British would not let them leave without a fight and the colonists won the war with the help of the French. -
1804 Haiti wins freedom from France
A French colony called Saint Domingue held nearly 500,000 enslaved Africans who worked on mainly French sugar plantations. They outnumbered their slave owners greatly. The opressed slaves in the French colony of Haiti rebelled against their French masters. 100,000 enslaved Africans revolted and a leader called Toussaint L'Overture had gained control of the entire island and freed all the enslaved Africans. His lieutenant Jean Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti and independent country.
