ABSTRACT
Given the surge of human rights interest in the 18th century, it would be logical to imagine a 19th century in which what began as a European innovation quickly conquered world interest, as well as advancing further in the West itself. Philosophical proclamations of universal validity might give way to a genuinely multinational commitment to this new definition of human progress. The innovations involved, as against earlier political traditions everywhere, including the West, guard against setting expectations too high: surely there would be details to clarify still by 1900. But an ascending trend should be clear.
