1789

Andress (Modern History/Univ. of Portsmouth; The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France, 2006) skillfully brings together the revolutionary currents from France, Britain and America in this exuberant study of the “hour of universal ferment.”

The explosive year of 1789 saw the convergence of a host of often contradictory forces—equality and human rights; the diminution of monarchial power; the spur to abolition, as well as new ways of enslavement; renewed global expansion; and the launch of the industrial revolution in the harnessing of cotton manufacturing and steam—that would usher in the modern age. Andress proceeds both chronologically and contextually, demonstrating a terrific grasp of the vast material. During the time, both France and the fledging American republic were reeling from the ramifications of the War of Independence, as both were close to bankruptcy (France having largely financed it) and grappling with constitutional crises. The new American Congress convened in New York City and argued over issues of federalism and debated a bill of rights. Meanwhile, Britain, under Prime Minister William Pitt, was recovering from the “trial of the century” of East India Company governor general Warren Hastings, as well as the destabilizing madness of George III. The same year that William Wilberforce made the ringing parliamentary denunciation of the slave trade, the new governor general of India, Lord Cornwallis, consolidated British supremacy in India; Captain Bligh wrestled mutiny aboard the Bounty; and President George Washington attempted to broker land treaties with the Indians. Rights, as Andress notes, provided the tinder of 1789, the apotheosis of Enlightenment ideals, disseminated by legendary figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. This important message endured through the turmoil and bloodshed that followed the French Revolution.

A thorough, bracing primer for students of global history.