French Revolution

The French Revolution occurred from 5 May 1789 to 9-10 November 1799. Image: Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier, Representation of The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 26 August 1789 (c. 1789). This work is in the public domain in the United States.

On 5 May 1789, the Estates-General, representing the nobility, the clergy, and the common people, held a meeting at the request of the King to address France’s financial difficulties. At this meeting, the Third Estate (the commoners) protested the merely symbolic double representation that they had been granted by the King. This protest resulted in a fracture among the three estates and precipitated the French Revolution. On 17 June, members of the Third Estate designated themselves the National Assembly and claimed to represent the people of the nation, thus preparing the way for the foundation of the republic. Several pivotal events followed in quick succession: the storming of the Bastille (14 July), the approval of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 August), and the march on Versailles that led to the enforced relocation of the royal family to Paris (5-6 October). These revolutionary acts fired the imagination of many regarding the political future of France, and, indeed, all of Europe. The republican period of the revolution continued in various phases until 9-10 November 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte supplanted the government.

Articles

Diane Piccitto, "On 1793 and the Aftermath of the French Revolution"

Vindication of the Rights of Woman

In January 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which laid out the tenets of what today we call ‘equality’ or ‘liberal’ feminist theory. She further promoted a new model of the nation grounded on a family politics produced by egalitarian marriages. Image: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman title page from the first American edition, 1792 (Library of Congress).  This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Anne K. Mellor, "On the Publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman"

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Ghislaine McDayter, "On the Publication of William Godwin’s Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1798"

Reign of Terror

A period of violence that occurred a few years after the start of the French Revolution. Image: Anonymous, Portrait of Maximilien de Robespierre (c. 1790), Carnavalet Museum. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

On 5 September 1793, the National Convention, France’s ruling body from 1793 to 1795, officially put into effect terror measures in order to subdue opposition to and punish insufficient support for the revolution and the new regime. From the autumn of 1793 until the summer of 1794, thousands of people across the country were imprisoned and executed (including the Queen) under the ruthless leadership of Maximilien Robespierre. The guillotine, particularly the one in Paris’s Place de la Révolution, served as the bloody emblem of the fear tactics that began to manifest themselves first in the formation of the Committee of Public Safety (6 April 1793) and subsequently in the implementation of the Law of Suspects (17 September 1793). The Terror ended on 27 July 1794 with the overthrow of Robespierre, who was guillotined the next day.

Articles

Diane Piccitto, "On 1793 and the Aftermath of the French Revolution"

Haitian Independence

On January 1st, 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared independence from France, making Haiti the first sovereign nation in Latin America. This announcement came after the expulsion of the French army from Haiti after Napoleon Bonaparte announced his intentions to conquer Haiti from the black leaders and restore slavery. The first state to recognize Haiti's sovereignty was France, after demanding tribute from the Haitian government under threat of invasion. The first non-coerced recognition came from the British in 1833, and later the United States in 1862.

The Tragic loss of William Shelley

William Shelley

The Death of William Shelley was at around the same time as the creation of "Frankenstein". This harsh moment in Mary Shelley's life is seen in the way that she writes Frankenstein; she write as if she was in deep pain. The way she makes Victor loose most of his family to the creature, can be compared to the way in which Shelley loses the lives of her family. During this time resurrectionist were on the prowl for fresh bodies so they could rake in tons of cash. This worry must have been weighing on her mind following the death of her own child. This makes her connection to Frankenstein a bit more emotional and thought provoking than thought before.

Percy and Mary were distraught at the death of William, who was the third child they had lost. Mary approached a nervous breakdown. She even modeled the name of Victors youngest brother as William. In the novel the creature strangled Willaim Frankenstein, but in real life William Shelley's son died from an illness

Peterloo massacre

On 16 August 1819, at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, more than 60,000 workers gathered to demonstrate in favor of an expansion of suffrage in England. In an attempt to disperse the crowd and arrest the organizers of the demonstration, local cavalry and members of the 15th Hussars and 88th Foot attacked the crowd, killing a dozen protestors and injuring as many as 600. Though Wellington was not involved, the incident was dubbed “Peterloo” because of his persistent opposition to reform in the House of Lords. Image: Richard Carlisle, To Henry Hunt, Esq., as chairman of the emeeting assembled in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, sixteenth day of August, 1819, and to the female Reformers of Manchester and the adjacent towns who were exposed to and suffered from the wanton and fiendish attack made on them by that brutal armed force, the Manchester and Cheshire Yeomanry Cavalry, this plate is dedicated by their fellow labourer, Richard Carlile: a coloured engraving that depicts the Peterloo Massacre (1 October 1819), Manchester Library Services. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

Sean Grass, “On the Death of the Duke of Wellington, 14 September 1852″

Death of William Wordsworth

Romantic poet William Wordsworth turned 80 on 7 April 1850. He caught a cold on a country walk that year, and after a short illness, he died at home at Rydal Mount of pleurisy on 23 April 1850. His funeral was held on 27 April 1850 in St. Oswald's Church, Grasmere, and he was buried in the graveyard near the yew trees he had planted. 

Although Wordsworth had been the Poet Laureate of England since 1843, he was no longer writing new verse. As Samantha Matthews notes, when Wordsworth died, most contemporary newspapers and periodicals made little of the event (35). Yet, the public who had long revered Wordsworth in life turned in grave into a "shrine for actual and imagined pilgrimage" (35). 

Photo by Amy Gates

Bibliography

Matthews, Samantha. "Wordsworth's Mortal Remains." The Wordsworth Circle, vol. 34, no. 1, 2003, pp. 35-39, doi:10.1086/TWC24044918.

Publication of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"

Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species on November 24, 1859, which was 23 years after he returned from his voayage to the Galápagos Islands. Darwin knew that his theory would be found controversial at the time, which is why he was hesitant to publish. At the time, scientists believed that species were fixed, which is the direct opposite of what Darwin's research suggested. Darwin was also afraid of the probable religious backlash that he would receive, fearing being declared a "heratic" with "blasphemous" ideas. 

Darwin received a letter from an English naturalist Alfred Wallace in 1858 where Wallace gave a summary on his theory, On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type. Darwin was surprised at the fact that Wallace wrote out what was essentially Darwin's theory. After the two met, Wallace encouraged Darwin to publish his findings with Wallace's as support because Darwin had signifigantly more research in favor of his theory. A little over a year later, Darwin published his theory. 

Only 1,250 copies of On the Origin of Species were printed, in anticipation of the public uproar that Darwin suspected would occur due to his theory. All the copies sold out in one day. Though many people, including some of Darwin's family and friends, were angry with his findings, many found Darwin's theory fascinating and agreed with him due to the amount of evidence he compiled. Darwin went on to publish many more books throughout the 1870s.

Sources: 

https://necsi.edu/darwins-later-life