The American and French Revolutions

The American and French Revolutions

How were the French Revolution and the American Revolution similar? How were they different?

In what ways was the French Revolution more radical, as well as more threatening to Europe than the American Revolution?

Do you think a French style revolution would have worked in the United States? Why or why not?

The French and American Revolutions were similar in that both revolutions were waged due to dissatisfaction of the existing government. Both the American colonists and the French drew from Enlightenment political thought of equality, individual rights to life, liberty, happiness, and security, and that sovereignty resided with the people.

The North American Colonists were unhappy about the taxation placed on them by the British Parliament. They felt they should govern their own affairs rather than follow instructions from London. They organized the Continental Congress in 1774 to organize the colonies’ resistance to British; war started when the British troops and colonial militia fought at the village of Lexington. In 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence focused on Enlightenment political thought. It declared, among other things, that all men are created equal with certain unalienable rights, being Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The declaration adopted John Locke’s theory of government that individuals establish government to secure these rights and government gets their power and authority from “the consent of the governed.” It said when government infringes on individual rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new Government. The Declaration of Independence also included a long list of grievances and specific abuses charged to the Bristish government and proclaimed the colonies “free and independent states” with full power to declare war, pursue peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other things that independent states have the right to do.

Fiscal problems faced by France led to the French revolution. Approximately 75 percent of the government’s revenue was going to pay off war debts and to French armed forces. Unable to raise revenue from the peasantry, King Louis XVI attempted to increase taxes on the French nobility. They balked and forced the King to summon the Estates General. On June 27, 1789, after several weeks of debate and no agreement in sight, the third estate of the Estates General, the lowest political class, seceded and became the National Assembly due to their unequal representation in the Estates General and after their call for social and political reform was denied. The goal of the National assembly was to provide France with a new constitution and they swore not to disband until they had one. In fear of the King attempting to undo these events a crowd stormed the Bastille in search of weapons on July 14, 1789. Fighting resulted and the military garrison ultimately surrendered to the crowd after killing several of the attackers. The garrison was killed and his head was mounted on a spiked and paraded through the streets of Paris. News of the Bastille spread and fighting took place in many cities throughout France.

As a result, the National Assembly began a process of political and social reform. They announced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in August, 1789 to convey the principles for reform. Similar to the American colonists’ Declaration of Independence, this document put the theories of Enlightenment into practice. It proclaimed the equality of all men, sovereignty in the people, and upheld individual rights to liberty, property, and security.

The revolutions were different in that the American Revolution was political and the French Revolution was political and social. The colonists were politically disenchanted. They wanted to be treated as equals and they wanted to have a voice in how they were governed. However, there was no upper class as in France so there was no need for a social revolution. The American colonists wanted separation but they did not seek to denounce British law and they kept the majority of their British social and cultural heritage.

On the other hand, the National Assembly in France completed reconfigured French society. They eliminated the old social order, altered the role of the church by seizing church lands, abolishing the first estate, making clergy civilians and requiring them to take an oath of loyalty to the state.

They were also different in that the American colonists relied heavily on its allies to defeat the British. France, Spain, the Netherlands, and some German principalities all contributed to the colonists’ quest for independence in an effort to weaken the British regime.

The French Revolution was more radical and more threatening to Europe than the America Revolution. After the National Assembly put the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in place and reconfigured French society, French nobility made and attempt to mobilize foreign powers in support of the king and to restore the ancient regime. The Assembly’s answer was to wage war on Austria and Prussia in 1792 and Spain, Britain, and the Netherlands in 1793. To avoid defeat the revolutionary leaders created the Convention which abolished the monarchy and made France a republic. The Convention drafted people and resources for use in the war. The used the guillotine for executions and in 1793 sent King Louis and Queen Marie Antionette to the guillotine after convicting them of treason.

There was further unrest and instability with the reign of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobin party. In their quest for restructuring, the Jacobin party unleashed a reign of terror to promote their agenda. They attempted to eliminate the influence of Christianity