<span>It was by their independence in 1776 and they had a policy of mercantilism and a high degree of autonomy and they resisted to the demands of London for a greater control. The Seven Years War left the three European kingdoms (Britain, France, and Spain) in bankruptcy and thanks to the thought developed in the century of the lights would provoke in them a feeling of independence. Each of these colonies developed its own system of government, and, they voted in favor of its local government. In this way, they had a collective change of identity.</span>
The Enlightenment period resulted in the creation of many different ideas seen in politics all across the world. A perfect example would be the concept of natural rights. Natural rights are supposed to be basic rights that all humans have. When first developed these included life, liberty, and property. This concept was seen in the French Revolution, as the Third Estate fought for the idea and used the phrase "Liberty, equality, and fraternity" to display what natural rights they had as citizens.
Another Enlightenment idea seen in democratic revolutions is the idea of the social contract. The social contract was an agreement between the people and the government that stated that citizens would give up some of their freedoms so that the government could make laws. If a government failed to own up to their end of the social contract, the citizens had a right to revolt. This is a perfect example of what happened during the American Revolution. American colonists felt that the British government was being unjust and was not ruling by the consent of the governed (aka the consent of the people) so they rebelled.
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was an organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin Pierce. Douglas introduced the bill with the goal of opening up new lands to development and facilitating construction of a transcontinental railroad, but the Kansas–Nebraska Act is most notable for effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise, stoking national tensions over slavery, and contributing to a series of armed conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas".
The United States had acquired vast amounts of sparsely-settled land in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, and since the 1840s Douglas had sought to establish a territorial government in a portion of the Louisiana Purchase that was still unorganized. Douglas's efforts were stymied by Senator David Rice Atchison and other Southern leaders who refused to allow the creation of territories that banned slavery; slavery would have been banned because the Missouri Compromise outlawed slavery in territory north of latitude 36°30' north. To win the support of Southerners like Atchison, Pierce and Douglas agreed to back the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, with the status of slavery instead decided on the basis of "popular sovereignty." Under popular sovereignty, the citizens of each territory, rather than Congress, would determine whether or not slavery would be allowed.
