The Age of Revolutions
Enlightenment ideas explode into political action as the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions overthrow established authority and establish new principles of governance based on popular sovereignty and natural rights.
Stamp Act Ignites Colonial Resistance
British taxation without colonial representation sparks a constitutional crisis that will escalate into revolution within a decade.
American Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson's declaration articulates Lockean principles of natural rights and government by consent, justifying the American break from Britain.
Treaty of Paris Ends the American Revolution
Britain recognizes American independence, and the world's first large-scale republic begins the experiment of self-governance.
US Constitution Drafted
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia creates a federal republic with separation of powers, directly implementing Montesquieu's and Locke's ideas.
Storming of the Bastille
A Parisian mob storms the Bastille fortress-prison, marking the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution and the collapse of absolute monarchy.
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The French National Assembly proclaims universal rights to liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression — the Enlightenment made into law.
Execution of Louis XVI
The French king is guillotined in Paris, sending shockwaves across Europe and marking the point of no return for the Revolution.
The Reign of Terror
Under Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, an estimated 17,000 are executed by guillotine as the Revolution devours its own.
Haitian Slave Revolt Begins
Enslaved people in Saint-Domingue launch the largest and only successful slave revolt in history, demanding the liberty that the French Revolution promised but denied them.
Haitian Independence Declared
Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Haiti independent — the world's first free Black republic and the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere.