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Passage: Modern 'global' historiography argues that the Atlantic revolutions of the late eighteenth century were not isolated national events but part of a single, interconnected 'Atlantic System.' This perspective emphasizes the flow of people, ideas, and commodities across the ocean, linking the struggles in Philadelphia, Paris, and Saint-Domingue. For instance, the fiscal crisis of the French monarchy was partially driven by its involvement in the American War of Independence, and the ideas of the 'Rights of Man' were quickly radicalized by enslaved people in the Caribbean. By studying these events as a global web, historians move away from 'methodological nationalism'—the assumption that the nation-state is the only natural unit of historical analysis. This approach highlights how local crises are often symptoms of international pressures. The author's use of the term 'methodological nationalism' is most nearly intended to describe a:

1. Political ideology that advocates for the superiority of one's own nation.
2. Method for calculating the economic output of a revolutionary state.
3. Global movement that seeks to eliminate the existence of all nation-states.
4. A narrow scholarly focus that limits analysis to the boundaries of a single country.

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