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Winner of the 2010 Book Award from the New England Historical AssociationAmerican constitutionalism represents this country's greatest gift to human freedom, yet its story remains largely untold. For over two hundred years, its ideals, ideas, and institutions influenced different peoples in different lands at different times. American constitutionalism and the revolutionary republican documents on which it is based affected countless countries by helping them develop their own constitutional democracies. Western constitutionalism - of which America was a part along with Britain and France - reached a major turning point in global history in 1989, when the forces of democracy exceeded the forces of autocracy for the first time.Historian George Athan Billias traces the spread of American constitutionalism - from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean region, to Asia and Africa - beginning chronologically with the American Revolution and the fateful \"shot heard round the world\" and ending with the conclusion of the Cold War in 1989. The American model contributed significantly by spearheading the drive to greater democracy throughout the Western world, and Billias's landmark study tells a story that will change the way readers view the important role American constitutionalism played during this era.

The claim by certain rulers to universal empire has a long history stretching as far back as the Assyrian and Achaemenid Empires. This book traces its various manifestations in classical antiquity, the Islamic world, Asia and Central America as well as considering seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European discussions of international order. As such it is an exercise in comparative world history combining a multiplicity of approaches, from ancient history, to literary and philosophical studies, to the history of art and international relations and historical sociology. The notion of universal, imperial rule is presented as an elusive and much coveted prize among monarchs in history, around which developed forms of kingship and political culture. Different facets of the phenomenon are explored under three, broadly conceived, headings: symbolism, ceremony and diplomatic relations; universal or cosmopolitan literary high-cultures; and, finally, the inclination to present universal imperial rule as an expression of cosmic order.

This collection of essays draws on fresh readings of classic texts as well as rigorous research in the archives of Europe's greatest imperial power. Its contributors paint a powerful picture of the nature and implementation of political economy in the long eighteenth century, from the East to the West Indies.

The present volume aims at outlining a new field of research with regard to the history of diplomacy: the material culture of diplomatic interaction in early modern and modern times. The material culture of diplomacy includes all practices in foreign policy communication in which single artifacts, samples of artifacts, or else the whole material setting of diplomatic interaction is supposed to be constitutive for creating an intended effect in terms of diplomatic objectives. The chapters of this volume focus on intercultural diplomacy in different regions of the world wherein diplomatic actors of various kinds might have been confronted by a whole universe of unfamiliar artifacts and artifact-related practices. Most of them concentrate on gift giving as a diplomatic practice that offers multiple insights in the complex dynamics of diplomatic relations between representatives of culturally highly diverse political entities. In doing so, they gainfully apply different theoretical approaches of material culture as an interdisciplinary field of study to the investigation of diplomatic cultures across the globe. As a result, it becomes obvious that future research into the history of diplomacy should take into account material practices much more thoroughly than has been done before.

The first exploration of the profound and often catastrophic impact the American Revolution had on the rest of the world While the American Revolution led to domestic peace and liberty, it ultimately had a catastrophic global impact-it strengthened the British Empire and led to widespread persecution and duress. From the opium wars in China to anti-imperial rebellions in Peru to the colonization of Australia-the inspirational impact the American success had on fringe uprisings was outweighed by the influence it had on the tightening fists of oppressive world powers. Here Matthew Lockwood presents, in vivid detail, the neglected story of this unintended revolution. It sowed the seeds of collapse for the preeminent empires of the early modern era, setting the stage for the global domination of Britain, Russia, and the United States. Lockwood illuminates the forgotten stories and experiences of the communities and individuals who adapted to this new world in which the global balance of power had been drastically altered.

This volume is the result of an international conference held at Sapienza University in Rome on June 20 and 21, 2013, as the final stage of the PRIN (Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale) project \"Empires and Nations from the 18th to the 20th century\", during which scholars from all over the world - academics, specialists, young researchers, PhD students and post-doctorates - confronted diverse, but connected, topics on the relations between multinational empires and the idea of the nation. In this way, the reality of the historical empires and national states was represented, and concepts such as identity, nationality, and sovereignty analyzed. The first part of this work is dedicated to the analysis of the origins of nation-states in the context of the multinational Habsburg, Ottoman and Tsarist empires, while the second pays particular attention to the issue of national minorities, which followed the dissolution of the great empires. The third part is related to national identity and focuses on art and culture by presenting artists, painters, writers and intellectuals who had played key roles in the formation of their national identities. Such pioneers include Hungarians, Romanians, Serbs, Georgians, Chinese, and Brazilians. Specific sections are dedicated to theoretical approaches and concepts such as imperialism, geopolitics, nationality, and regionalism, and to the analysis of religious and gender issues.

The 'Age of Revolution' is a term seldom used in Scandinavian historiography, despite the fact that Scandinavia was far from untouched by the late eighteenth-century revolutions in Europe and America. Scandinavia did experience its outbursts of radical thought, its assassinations and radical reforms, but these occurred within reasonably stable political structures, practices and ways of thinking. As recent research on the political cultures of the Nordic countries clearly demonstrates, the Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish experiences of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries offer a more differentiated look at what constitutes 'revolutionary' change in this period compared with other regions in Europe. They provide an alternative story of an incipient transition towards modernity, a 'Nordic model' in which radical change takes place within an apparent continuity of the established order. The long-term products of the processes of change that began in the Age of Revolution were some of the most progressive and stable political systems in the modern world. At the same time, the Scandinavian countries provide a number of instances which are directly relevant to comparisons particularly within the northwest European cultural area. Presenting the latest research on political culture in Scandinavia, this volume with twenty-seven contributions focuses on four key aspects: the crisis of monarchy; the transformation in political debate; the emerging influence of commercial interest in politics; and the shifting boundaries of political participation. Each section is preceded by an introduction that draws out the main themes of the chapters and how they contribute to the broader themes of the volume and to overall European history. Generously illustrated throughout, this book will introduce non-Scandinavian readers to developments in the Nordic countries during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries and both complement and challenge research into the political cultures of Europe and America. Contents: Preface, Thomas Munck; General introduction, Pasi Ihalainen and Karen Sennefelt; Section I The Crisis and Renewal of Monarchy: The crisis and renewal of monarchy: introduction, Michael Bregnsbo; The monarchy in the Swedish age of liberty (1719-1772), Jonas Nordin; The image of kingship in Sweden 1772-1809, Henrika Tandefelt; Struensee and the political culture of absolutism, Michael Bregnsbo; The great, the pages and the end of 18th century Danish court culture, Ulrik Langen; Postal censorship and the control of public sentiment in late absolutist Denmark, Sune Christian Pedersen. Section II The Transformation of Political Debate: The transformation of political debate: introduction, Pasi Ihalainen; Gradual reconsiderations of Lutheran conceptions of politics, Michael Bregnsbo and Pasi Ihalainen; Aristocratic notions of liberty and patriotism in the age of liberty, Charlotta Wolff; Freedom of the press and social equality in Sweden, 1766-1772, Marie-Christine Skuncke; The politics of publishing: freedom of the press in Denmark, 1770-1773, Henrik Horstbøll; The transformation of Danish monarchism in the age of enlightenment, Jeppe Nevers; Continuity and change in the language of politics at the Swedish Diet, 1769-1810, Pasi Ihalainen and Anders Sundin; Marriage, family and gender in Swedish political language, 1750-1820, Karin Hassan Jansson. Section III Commercial Interests and Politics in Scandinavia, 1730-1815: Commercial interests and politics in Scandinavia, 1730-1815; introduction, Patrik Winton; The politics of commerce in Sweden, 1730-1770, Patrik Winton; The Swedish Diet as a forum for gathering commercial and political information, Petri Karonen; Political practices among merchants in Denmark and Norway in the period of absolutism, Bård Frydenlund; Iceland under British protection during the Napoleonic wars, Anna Agnarsdóttir. Section IV The Shifting Boundaries of Political Participation: The shifting boundaries of political p Pasi Ihalainen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, Michael Bregnsbo, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark, Karin Sennefelt, Uppsala University, Sweden and Patrik Winton, Uppsala University, Sweden.

This book provides a synthesis of the most recent scholarly literature on the diplomatic, political, social, economic, and cultural history of eighteenth-century and revolutionary France. On the basis of that synthesis, and current theoretical writing on major modern revolutions, the book argues that the outbreak of the French Revolution, and the dramatic developments of the subsequent ten years, were attributable to the interacting pressures of international and domestic politics on those national leaders attempting to govern France and to modernize its institutions. The book furthermore contends that the Revolution of 1789–1799, reconceptualized in this fashion, needs to be placed in the larger contexts of 'early modern' and 'modern' French history and modern 'progressive' sociopolitical revolutions. In staking out these positions, the book offers a unique interpretation of the French Revolution, one that dissents from both the Marxian socioeconomic orthodoxy of earlier times and more recent 'political-cultural' analyses.

In British Captives from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1563-1760, Nabil Matar furnishes a list of the names of all captives in the British archive and presents a chronological study of the historical and social background of British captivity.