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Baron de Montesquieu publishes the book On the Spirit of Laws. He proposes the idea of separation of powers so that individuals or groups would not be able to gain total control of the government. This idea would later be known as checks and balances.
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America declares independence. On July 4, 1776, America declared independence from England. This sparked war between the two countries. The idea of declaring independence from Britian was to get away from the abuses of the King. America wins the war.
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Napoleon overthrows the directory through a coup d'etat. In 1799 the Directory lost control of France. When Napoleon returned from Egypt many of his friends urged him to seize political power through a coup d'etat.
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Napoleon crowns himself emperor, begins to create a vast European Empire. In 1804 Napoleon made himself emperor and French voters supported him. When the pope was going to place a crown on Napoleon's head, Napoleon took the crown from the pope and placed
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Haiti wins independence from France. In 1804, the French colony called Saint Domingue wa the first Latin American territory to free itself from European rule. Nearly 500,000 enslaved Africans worked on French plantation and they eventually rose up against
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Padre Hidalgo calls for Mexican independence. On September 16, 1810, Hidalgo rang the bells of his village chuch and gathered peasants. He called for a rebellion against the oppressive Spanish. The next day Hidalgo's Indian and Mestizo followers began to
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Napoleon is defeated at the battle of waterloo. During the period called the 100 days, Lous XVI's brother assumed the throne as Louis XVIII. However the king was very unpopular amon the subjects and especially the peasants. News of these troubles in Fran
