In the Age of Democratic Revolution, countries on both sides of the Atlantic were linked together through trade networks, diplomatic ties, and social interactions. More importantly, however, they also shared a common revolutionary dynamic that oscillated back and forth across the ocean. Revolutionary Currents explores the global crosscurrents and revolutionary ideologies that inspired four great modern revolutions England's Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, the American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution in 1789, and the Mexican Revolution in the early 1800s. Michael A. Morrison and Melinda S. Zook bring together noted historians to look at how each nation reshaped these revolutionary traditions, making them their own, and exported them once again. In examining each event, the contributors respond to the historiographical trends of revolutionary ideology, transatlantic cross-fertilzation of ideas, and nation-building. In assessing and analyzing the ideas, traditions, and nationalisms that inspired revolution and nation-building in the modern world, this book breaks new ground in the area of transatlantic history."

In the Age of Democratic Revolution, countries on both sides of the Atlantic were linked together through trade networks, diplomatic ties, and social interactions. More importantly, however, they also shared a common revolutionary dynamic that oscillated back and forth across the ocean. Revolutionary Currents explores the global crosscurrents and revolutionary ideologies that inspired four great modern revolutions-England's Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, the American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution in 1789, and the Mexican Revolution in the early 1800s. Michael A. Morrison and Melinda S. Zook bring together noted historians to look at how each nation reshaped these revolutionary traditions, making them their own, and exported them once again. In examining each event, the contributors respond to the historiographical trends of revolutionary ideology, transatlantic cross-fertilzation of ideas, and nation-building. In assessing and analyzing the ideas, traditions, and nationalisms that inspired revolution and nation-building in the modern world, this book breaks new ground in the area of transatlantic history.

This volume of novel and interdisciplinary essays offers an interpretation of the revolution of 1688-1689 and of the late Stuart and early Hanoverian world. By dealing with little-explored issues from the perspectives of British, Dutch and colonial American history, and of British political and religious history and theory, literature, law and women's history, the contributors place the revolution in a broader context and in doing so unite multiple disciplines. Several overriding conclusions emerge. The revolution was more complex and subtle in process, ideology, settlement and result than has been acknowledged previously. A lively print culture assured the circulation and importance of political and religious ideas. Radical as well as conservative ideas survived. The events of 1688-89 comprised many revolutions that played out differently and were perceived differently from the vantage point of high or popular culture or in the contexts of England, Scotland, Ireland, France and the American colonies.

Originally published in 1987. Lady Rachel Russell (1637-1723) was regarded as "one of the best women" by many of the most powerful people of her time. Wife of Lord William Russell, the prominent Whig opponent of King Charles II who was executed for treason in 1683, Lady Russell emerged as a political figure in her own right during the Glorious Revolution and throughout her forty-year widowhood. Award-winning historian Lois G. Schwoerer has written a biography that illuminates both the political life and the lives of women in late Stuart England. Lady Russell's interest in politics and religion blossomed during her marriage to Lord Russell and after his death: "as William became a Whig martyr, Rachel became a Whig saint." Her wealth, contacts, and role as her husband's surrogate gave her considerable influence to intercede in high government appointments, lend support in elections, and exchange favors with her friend Mary of Orange. In her domestic life she similarly took steps usually reserved to men, managing large estates in London and Hampshire and negotiating favorable marriage contracts for each of her three children. Although Lady Russell was unusual for her time, she was by no means unique. Other notable women shared her concerns and traits, although to differing degrees and effects. Schwoerer suggests that the horizons of women's lives in the seventeenth century may have extended farther than is often supposed.

Originally published in 1974. In her study of primary materials in England and the United States, Schwoerer traces the origin, development, and articulation in both Parliament and in the popular press of the attitude opposing standing armies in seventeenth-century England and the American colonies. Central to the criticism of armies at that time was the conviction that ultimate military power should be vested in Parliament, not the Crown. Schwoerer shows how the many diverse elements of England's antimilitarism, including political principle, propaganda, parliamentary tactics, parochialism, and partisanship, hardened with every confrontation between the Crown or Protector and Parliament. The author finds a general predisposition to distrust professional soldiers early in the century, and from the 1620s onward she notes opposition to a standing army in times of peace. Highlighting the growth of the antimilitary tradition, Schwoerer traces the development of this attitude from the Petition of Right in 1628 to the 1641-1642 crisis over the Militia Bill/Ordinance, the military settlements of 1660 and 1689, and the climactic events of 1667-1699. Schwoerer shows how the anti-standing-army ideology affected the constitutional thinking of the American colonists and manifested itself in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. She addresses timeless questions of how to provide for a nation's defense while preserving individual liberty, citizen responsibility for military service, and the relationship of executive and legislative authority over the army.

Guns had an enormous impact on the social, economic, cultural, and political lives of civilian men, women and children of all social strata in early modern England. In this study, Lois Schwoerer identifies and analyzes England's domestic gun culture from 1500 to 1740, uncovering how guns became available, what effects they had on society, and how different sectors of the population contributed to gun culture. The rise of guns made for recreational use followed the development of a robust gun industry intended by King Henry VIII to produce artillery and military handguns for war. Located first in London, the gun industry brought the city new sounds, smells, street names, shops, sights, and communities of gun workers, many of whom were immigrants. Elite men used guns for hunting, target shooting, and protection. They collected beautifully decorated guns, gave them as gifts, and included them in portraits and coats-of-arms, regarding firearms as a mark of status, power, and sophistication. With statutes and proclamations, the government legally denied firearms to subjects with an annual income under GBP100?about 98 percent of the population?whose reactions ranged from grudging acceptance to willful disobedience. Schwoerer shows how this domestic gun culture influenced England's Bill of Rights in 1689, a document often cited to support the claim that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution conveys the right to have arms as an Anglo-American legacy. Schwoerer shows that the Bill of Rights did not grant a universal right to have arms, but rather a right restricted by religion, law, and economic standing, terms that reflected the nation's gun culture. Examining everything from gunmakers' records to wills, and from period portraits to toy guns, Gun Culture in Early Modern England offers new data and fresh insights on the place of the gun in English society.