The Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution that Richard Price compared to the French Revolution in his “A Discussion on the Love of Our Country” began in 1688 and ended shortly after. The revolution is arguably the event that created the Constitutional Monarchy in England. The Catholic King James II was removed from power and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and William of Orange. The revolution was initiated in November of 1688 with William of Orange’s invasion of Torbay, Devon, and concluded in January 1689 with the meeting of the Convention Parliament. At the meeting of the Convention Parliament, the English Bill of Rights was created. The Bill of Rights recognized the right for regular Parliament, free elections, and freedom of speech. The new king and queen accepted more Parliamentary restrictions than any other monarch in history.  

History.com Editors. “Glorious Revolution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Feb. 2018, www.history.com/topics/british-history/glorious-revolution.

Wollstonecraft Procures Employment as a Governess

In 1786, Wollstonecraft become the governess to Viscount Kingsborough in Ireland (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Though Stanford does not offer specifics, they note that Wollstonecraft was unsatisfied with her employment and left; shortly thereafter, she published Original Stories from Real Life... her children's book. Importantly, Stnadford does note that Wollstonecraft was frustrated with the lack of reputable employment opportunities available for women which in the period were "...a lady’s companion, a schoolteacher, and a governess," and this impediment to financial stability and intellectual discouse was the impetus for her to start a serious writing career (Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Systemic sexism and misogyny with Britain would prompt Wollstonecraft to write her, arguably, most well-known work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman... in 1792.

Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

1789 saw the publication of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Exact month of publication unknown; if you have information about the correct date, please email [email protected] with this information. The book describes Equiano's time as a slave and his life after achieving his freedom. Image: Engraving for Equiano's Interesting Narrative. This image is in the public domain in the United States as its copyright has expired.

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Isaac Land, “On the Foundings of Sierra Leone, 1787-1808″

French Revolution

The French Revolution was one of the major events and a turning point in history. The reasons behind the revolution was that there was international affairs meaning that the "empire outstrips the fiscal resources of the state". Another one is political conflict which is the people's disagreement and the taxes that they laid on them. The Enlightenment was another big part of this. It introduces a "good government" which is talked about in Rousseau's Social Contract. Then there was King Louis XVI who was unreasonable to his people. People started to revolt against the government and King which soon led the king being executed by his own people.  It may be called the French Revolution, but it still affected other countries like England. Thomas Paine, an England writer, wrote a book around the time of the revolution called The Rights of Man. The book talks about how a revolution is a right thing when the government can't protect their people. Paine's book was also arguing with Edmund Burke at the time because Edmund believed that revolutions were wrong. Back on the topic though, Paine believes in this thing called "Natural Rights". This is a quote from Thomas Paine about Natural Rights:

"Natural Rights are those which always appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the rights of others."

Paine is saying that man should have control of their own body. That they shouldn't need someone to tell them on how they should live their life, or what ruler that they should be worshipping. Every human being works in different ways . This is what Thomas Paine was trying to get at, and this is why he supported the French Revolution. He liked how he saw the citizens over in French stand up for their rights. This all ties into romanticism because this focuses on human nature. Some people like how the country is being ran, but there are other people that want change. I get that a lot of people can't agree all on one thing, but people will soon start sensing when things are getting bad when they know they are getting treated unfairly.

The Storming of the Bastille

This event kicked off 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.

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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.

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

Death of Wollstonecraft

Death of Mary Wollstonecraft on 10 September 1797. Mary Shelley, Wollstonecraft’s second daughter, was born on August 30th, after which complications from childbirth set in. Wollstonecraft developed a fever, and died on September 10th. She was buried at St. Pancras Churchyard. Image: William Blake's frontispiece to the 1791 edition of Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories from Real Life. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

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

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

William Blake Becomes Charged with Sedition

In the year 1800, Blake was invited by the poet William Hayley to live in Felpham and work as a protégé under Hayley. During this time, approximately 1802, Napoleon had amassed his troops along the Sussex Coast, and a handful of them were staying at a pub in Felpham. As time went on, things were looking good until August of 1803, when Blake came across a soldier by the name of John Schofield, who had perused onto the property tipsy. An argument ensued, with Blake telling Schofield to remove himself from the property. Schofield resisted, and Blake forcefully removed him and brought him to the Fox Inn, which was 50 yards away. To exact revenge, Schofield went to his commanding officer alongside John Cock and lied, saying Blake had "damned the King of England." After this, Blake was arrested and charged with sedition and assault. Blake posted bail and had an attorney paid for by William Hayley. There were 2 grand juries who tried Blake for these accusations, but he was ulltimately acquitted in late 1804. 

This legal altercation caused Blake to incorporate not only the judges, but the accusers and involved individuals into his poems Milton and Jerusalem. 
Attached is an image of the Fox Inn in Felpham during the current day.

Works Cited:

“Charged with Sedition.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/William-Blake/Charged-with-sedition.

The Fox Inn Image is copyrighted under Alamy Stock Photos, or www.alamy.com

Publication of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

Wordsworth published his poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" in the year 1807. This poem was inspired by a journal entry, written by his sister, Dorothy, in 1802. I chose 1807 because my primary focus is on William Wordsworth's poem and not his sisters' journal entry.

Eruption of Tambora

Eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia on 5 April 1815. Image: the summit caldera of Mount Tambora. This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted."

This geological event led to the “Year Without a Summer,” the worldwide effect of atmospheric debris and aerosols on climate and crops, especially severe in Eastern North America, Western Europe, and China. In fact, the "Year Without a Summer" belongs to a three-year period of severe climate deterioration of global scope caused by the eruption. With plummeting temperatures, and disruption to major weather systems, human communities across the globe faced crop failures, epidemic disease, and civil unrest on a catastrophic scale.

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Gillen D'Arcy Wood, "1816, The Year without a Summer"

Martin Meisel, "On the Age of the Universe"

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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Slavery Abolition Act

The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 received the Royal Assent (which means it became law) on 29 August 1833. The Act outlawed slavery throughout the British Empire; Britain’s colonial slaves were officially emancipated on 1 August 1834 when the law came into force, although most entered a form of obligatory apprenticeship that ended in 1840. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Image: the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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Elsie B. Michie, "On the Sacramental Test Act, the Catholic Relief Act, the Slavery Abolition Act, and the Factory Act"

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

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.