ABSTRACT
Political revolutions involve a change not just in rulers but also in the institutions of rule: The resulting institutional changes usually have lasting consequences. Revolutions are also in general quite unpredictable. Revolutionaries may (or not) have a clear idea of the new institutions that they wish to create: They may focus on replacing the old. The revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries generally reflected the ideals of popular sovereignty that had emerged over the previous centuries. These ideals guided revolutionaries to create institutions that reflected the popular will. Social stratification could both encourage and shape revolutions. Religion loomed large in some revolutions but not others. Technology and health occasionally play a role. Histories of the American Revolution focus naturally on the thirteen British colonies that would together form the United States.
