*The dissident elites in the American Revolution were the New England merchants, southern planters, and royalists.

*British attempted to assert greater control over colonial affairs after a long period of salutary neglect, including the imposition of unpopular taxes, colonial opposition to British attempts to impose greater control over the colonies and to make them repay the crown for its defense of them during the French and Indian War.

*Motivations and decisions about involvement in the American Revolution and the War for Independence ranged from the ideals of the Enlightenment, loyalty, and religious conviction.

*Colonists resisted imperial taxes and other Parliamentary innovations with protests and with boycotts of British goods, called nonimportation agreements.

*The dissident ellites in the Latin American revolution were Simón Bolívar, Jose de San Martin, and Jose Artigas.

*Much of the mass frustration that led to the French Revolution came from the Third Estate. This was the class of commoners in France. They were dissatisfied with their lack of rights and blamed the monarchy and aristocracy for this.

*Part of the revolutions originated in changing ideas in Europe and the Americas about the role of government and individual rights from the Enlightenment. But Latin American independence was also a specific reaction to the conflicts in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars.

*The immediate trigger of the conflict was Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) in 1807 and 1808.

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*While the Catholic minority there mostly backed Irish independence, the Protestant majority were mostly unionist/loyalist.

*The revolutions in America and France inspired the Irish Revolutionaries. They believed that if Americans successfully fought against unjust taxation, the suspension of local government, and trade restrictions, Ireland could too.

*They became teachers, firefighters, police officers, labor leaders, farmers, business owners, and more. Along the way, Irish Americans contributed enormously to the American labor movement — championing safe working conditions, advocating for children's rights, and fighting racism, prejudice, and income inequality.