ABSTRACT
The nineteenth century was alternately driven by an idea of progress nurtured during the Enlightenment and haunted by the attempt to make that notion a reality in the practical form of revolution. In 1776 the coastal Atlantic colonies of North America had revolted against their master, the British Empire; soon afterward, in 1789, France underwent a revolution that rid the country of an ancient monarchy and engulfed Europe, as well as the colonial world, in the longest period of sustained warfare in modern European history. Liberalism, however, as the compass by which the progress of nations was to be directed, was not a political philosophy ensured of immediate, unqualified success. Even by the end of century, liberalism was by no means unconditionally victorious. Thus, the historical approach to knowledge emphasized the particular in contrast to the universal, using such phrases as “the genius of the nation” or “the spirit of the times” to describe the essence of epoch or people.
