Political revolution

This section explores the striking, imaginative, and enduring ideas about equality, rights and freedoms that were put forward – and challenged – during the Age of Revolution, and some of their proponents. These included Thomas Paine, whose arguments about natural rights impacted on both the American and French revolutions, Mary Wollstonecraft who made a powerful case for educating and enfranchising women, Olaudah Equiano and others who pushed societies to challenge and eventually abolish transatlantic slavery and Marx and Engels’ who offered a powerful vision of a classless future. The American and French revolutions both demonstrated the power of the ordinary citizen and witnessed the birth of new republics, inspiring many others in their wake.

Sub-themes

  • A photograph of the grave of Karl Marx. A large stone plinth is surrounded by flowers, on top of the plinth is a lerge, black statue of the head of Karl Marx.

    Revolutionary ideas

    Radical thinkers of the Age of Revolution and the seismic impacts of their extraordinary ideas about equality, rights and freedoms.

  • A photograph of the inside of the museum. A small wooden writing desk can be seen in a glass case.

    American revolution

    How the American colonies defied Britain, one of the mightiest powers on earth, to secure their independence and form a new federal republic – the United States of America.

  • A photograph of the french flag flying in the wind, the far right edge is frayed

    French revolution

    The fevered fight for liberté, egalité, and fraternité in France, bringing with it a spate of violent and bloody wars across Europe and sending shockwaves of fear through the British establishment.

  • A painting showing the inside of the house of commons, the room is full of well dressed men with white hair. In the centre of the room is a table and a man can be seen speaking to the room.

    British politics in the Age of Revolution

    The continued calls for the reform of British politics and representation of marginalised sectors of society, and the establishment’s unprecedented measures to restrict and suppress these ‘radical’ ideas and demands.

  • Episodes from September Days 1830 on the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville in Brussels. Fine Arts Museum, Brussels.

    Redesigning Europe

    The Congress of Vienna and a new framework for European relations

Courtesy of the SS Great Britain Trust - A lithograph print of a painting showing the launch of the SS Great Britain steamship. Huge crowds can be seen gathered to watch the ship being launched into Bristol's floating harbour.

In the Classroom

A range of educational resources for teachers relating to the Age of Revolution.

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