Search

Resumen Este artículo analiza cómo a inicios del siglo XIX las autoridades en Nueva Granada y Venezuela percibieron las revoluciones en el Caribe francés. Para ello, rastrea la ruta de una flota francesa que partió de Martinica con el fin de vender más de doscientos prisioneros de guerra negros. Contemporáneos describieron la llegada de esta expedición con analogías entre enfermedad, epidemia y revolución. Se argumenta que las metáforas orgánicas estructuraron las decisiones de las autoridades al rechazar o aceptar la trata de estos deportados. Asimismo, con evidencia de contrabando, se ilustra cómo hicieron uso selectivo de estas metáforas al tratar de prevenir nuevas rebeliones. Abstract This article analyzes how, at the turn of the nineteenth century, officials in Nueva Granada and Venezuela perceived the revolutions in the French Caribbean. Accordingly, it tracks the route of a French fleet that sailed from Martinique to sell more than two hundred black prisoners of war. Contemporaries described the arrival of this expedition with analogies among diseases, epidemics, and revolution. It argues that organic metaphors structured the decisions officials made in accepting, or rejecting, the traffic of these deported people. By showing evidence of smuggling, the article also illustrates how authorities selectively used these metaphors while trying to prevent new rebellions.

Recent historical studies tend to confirm the antimodernist interpretation, emphasizing the strong premodern roots of nations and nationalism. However, a broad comparative analysis of the rise of the nation-state during the Age of Revolution shows that earlier notions of nationhood did not have a significant role in the creation of nation-states in Europe and the Americas. They were not the consequence of a glorious national revolt, but of a clash between the Old Regime and new ideals of political legitimacy. Many of these conflicts led to civil wars and the survival of the nation-state was mostly determined by the geopolitical constellation. The boundaries of the nation were defined in terms of civilization, whereas language and culture were largely irrelevant. Within these new nation-states, a universalist nationalization process began. In many instances, citizenship was awarded easier to foreigners than to “uncivilized” inhabitants, while Classical Antiquity was preferred over the national past.

This thesis presents an analysis of the 1797 fleet mutinies at Spithead and the Nore based on an application of methodologies drawn from social, economic, and cultural history. Using both quantitative and qualitative sources, I present a new interpretation of these momentous events that reveals the centrality of perceptions of fairness and ‘good usage’ to their causation, course, and legacy with implications for historiographies of labour relations and popular protest. I have analysed the evidence used in previous studies to support the interpretation that the mutinies were revolutionary in their intentions and concluded that this does not provide a credible case. For the first time, I have quantified the impact of the stagnation of sailors’ wages between 1653 and 1797 on their purchasing power and conclude that this was a, but not the, cause of mutiny. Through the study of mutineer writings, rhetoric, and behaviour, I argue that insult and hurt pride were key motivators of mutiny and that relative rather than absolute naval conditions were pivotal causes of dissatisfaction. I assert that complex social inversions were employed by mutineer leaders to create legitimacy and encourage obedience towards their regime while minimising the need for violence or coercion. The practical challenges inherent to daily life during mutiny are contended to have encouraged continuity and moderation on both sides. Far from a ‘terror’, the judicial response to the mutinies was, I conclude, both pragmatic and conciliatory, while also within precedent for naval justice and reflective of judicial practice in civil society. The public perceptions of the mutinies are found to have been hotly contested and rehabilitation of the navy had to wait for redemption provided by victory at sea. Frequent comparisons are drawn between naval practice and the wider attitudes and prevailing circumstances in British society on shore.

Los movimientos migratorios entre las dos orillas del Atlántico han sido de gran relevancia, tanto por su cantidad como por su heterogeneidad, desde el momento en que estos territorios se pusieron en contacto. El flujo constante de personas, así como de mercancías e ideas en este ámbito oceánico, propició que en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII los círculos republicanos ingleses y americanos estrecharan sus vínculos, con algunas mujeres como activistas notables. La escritora inglesa Catharine Macaulay (1731-1791), además de escribir sobre los cruciales acontecimientos del momento, cruzó el océano con el deseo de estar cerca y vivirlos en primera persona. Por otro lado, debido a intereses comunes mantuvo una intensa relación epistolar durante más de veinte años con la escritora americana Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814). A pesar de las limitaciones que encontraron en ámbitos primordialmente masculinos, como el de la historia y la política, la contribución de estas mujeres no se limitó al esperable apoyo, sino que sus inquietudes se plasmaron en algunos importantes escritos para la causa republicana. Pese a ello y paradójicamente, estos movimientos revolucionarios no conllevaron cambios significativos en la situación y los derechos de las mujeres. Migratory movements between both sides of the Atlantic have been highly relevant, both in terms of their numbers and heterogeneity, right from the moment that contact was established. The constant flow of people, as well as of goods and ideas, in the Ocean scenario during the second half of the eighteenth century fostered the strengthening of bonds between English and American republican circles, with some women as notable activists. The English writer Catharine Macaulay (1731-1791), besides writing about the crucial events of the time, crossed the Atlantic with the desire of being there and experiencing everything first hand. Additionally, an intense epistolary exchange, the result of shared interests, kept her in contact with the American writer Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) for more than twenty years. Despite the restrictions these two women found in fields, such as history and politics, considered chiefly male, their contribution was not just the expected support, but also some important writings in which they expressed their concerns about the republican cause. Notwithstanding all this, and paradoxically, these revolutionary movements did not bring about significant changes in the situation and rights of women.

…le confieso que tanto como deseo la libertad y la independencia del Nuevo Mundo, otro tanto temo la anarquía y el sistema revolucionario. No quiera Dios que estos hermosos países tengan la [misma] suerte de Saint-Domingue, teatro de sangre y de crímenes, so pretexto de establecer la libertad; antes valiera que se quedaran un siglo más bajo la opresión bárbara e imbécil de España! –Francisco de Miranda, Carta a Turnbull, 1798 Desde el punto de vista de la historiografía venezolana y de la ven...