The Atlantic Revolutions of the late eighteenth century were not just democratic revolutions, as R.R. Palmer would have it; they were also egalitarian revolutions. American, Dutch and French revolutionaries were convinced that their experiment with democratic government could only succeed in societies with a more or less equal distribution of property. Hence, they introduced a host of laws designed to create or maintain greater social equality. While the economic egalitarianism of the Atlantic Revolutions has been more or less forgotten by historians and the broader public, it can plausibly be argued that the Atlantic Revolutions constitute a “usable past” for contemporary egalitarians.