History

Economic Equality in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions

Wim Klooster, Clark University

Abstract

WHILE hierarchy had been a cornerstone of medieval and early modern societies, during the Enlightenment literate Europeans began to discuss the desirability of human equality. That ideal carried over into the Age of Revolutions (1775–1824), when some authors and activists specifically pursued economic equality. I will provide a brief survey of plans and policies on both sides of the Atlantic that aimed to introduce some form of equality or at least take the edge off of existing inequality.