The American and French Revolutions
During the late 1700's, two great revolutions occurred, the American Revolution and the French Revolution. These two historical events happened at the same time, but had a great number of differences and very little similarity. When French Revolution occurred, it turned into a very violent and bloody event, while the American Revolution was almost nonviolent, aside from the war. In 1774, King Louis XVI made a decision that could have prevented the French Revolution by breathing new life into the French economy: he appointed Physiocrat Robert Turgot as Controller General of Finance.
The Physiocrats were a small band of followers of the French physician Francois Quesnay, whose economic prescriptions included reduced taxes, less regulation, the elimination of government-granted monopolies and internal tolls and tariffs, ideas that found their rallying cry in the famous slogan, "laissez-faire, laissez-passer.? The Physiocrats exerted a profound influence on Adam Smith, who had spent time in France in the 1760s and whose classic 'The Wealth of Nations' embodied the Physiocratic attack on mercantilism and argued that nations get rich by practicing free trade. Of Smith, Turgot, and the Physiocrats, the great French political leader and author Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) wrote: "The basis of their whole economic system may be truly said to lie in the principle of self-interest. . .. The only function of government according to this doctrine is to protect life, liberty, and property.? Embracing the principle of free trade not just as a temporary expedient, but as a philosophy, Turgot got the king to sign an edict in January 1776 that abolished the monopolies and special privileges of th...
... middle of paper ...
... could declare war and peace only with the consent of the legislature. This National Assembly did not last long enough for that. The king did uphold the constitution and some of the revolutionaries revolted against it also. Nevertheless, the National Assembly dissolved on Sept 30, 1791 making it only lasting three years.
These two revolutions occurred relatively at same period, but were almost complete mirror reflections of one another. The patriots of the revolution in America did not really even wanted a revolution, but had no choice, which made it peaceful aside from the war. The revolutionists in France seemed almost bloodthirsty and were very quick to kill someone for any injustice. The groups of revolutionists were too radical in that they were not willing to compromise. Compromise makes the difference between a peaceful state and a reign of terror.
Revolution is one word that summarizes complete change. To put the name of a country before the word revolution means complete change in that country's government. In some way, whether it be politically, economically, or socially, the government failed to appease the people. In France and Latin America they stopped at virtually nothing to gain their goal. Latin America literally bit the hand the fed them and France beheaded their own king. This was all done in the name of reformation and change because somehow their government severely let down their people.
...on, Enlightenment ideas permeated the politics, economics, and religion of the French Revolution and the American Revolution. While both show several similarities, they predominantly differ on most things. Politically, American conservatives respected the individual and property rights of a citizen, while French politics respected the individual rights, took property rights in some cases, and used terror to influence people. Economically, the American free market idea left the economy alone, while the French input socialist ideas such as price ceilings. Religiously, the America closely associated itself with religion in the revolution, while the French public mostly despised the church.
The French Revolution and Bolshevik Revolutions were similar in the fact that they had revolutionary ideas that sparked revolutionary violence. In both cases, there were socialistic views that gave rise to the revolution, and extremist groups that executed those who opposed and the monarchy in order to make the changes they wanted. However, in the aftermath of the Revolution, France fared much better than Russia in the sense that their ideas stuck with the country. Revolutionary ideas do go hand in hand with revolutionary violence.
Analyzing the post-revolutionary governments of America and France will prove that the French Revolution was far more revolutionary than the American Revolution, due to the radical change that took place, the type of government implemented after, as well as the Napoleonic Code brought forth by Napoleon Bonaparte.
The French and Russian revolutions were really very similar in their natures. Both began as a revolution led by the bourgeoisie against a despotic monarchy and degenerated into a bloody regime headed by representatives of the peasantry. Both revolutions murdered their respective monarchs well after they had ceased to be a threat to the Revolution. Both had egalitarian and communist elements to the peasant revolution and both killed thousands of innocent people. The French revolution resulted in a vacuum that allowed Napoleon Bonaparte to become a dictator and the Russian Revolution allowed Lenin to become
The American Revolution began due to problems within the British economy. The most prevalent issue of the time was "taxation without representation". Unlike the leaders of America, the leaders of the French did not turn out to be as positive for the country. In fact, some of these leaders have caused much more harm than good.
Six years following the American Revolution, the French Revolution took place. Because France helped America in the American Revolution, their economy took a plunge. The result of this was a rise in bread prices and high tax. The events that followed were riots, strikes, and the meeting of the Third Estate. The American Revolution also gave the French people the inspiration to rise against leaders’ corruption and obstruction.
Both the French and Russian revolutions occurred because of two main reasons. Both of these revolutions were the direct results of bad leadership and a bad economy. These two reasons along with other factors caused both of these revolutions. Although they were both similar, they also had differences. A difference between the two is that the Russians had an unsuccessful "pre-revolution" in 1905. Another difference between these two revolutions is the fact that the French turned towards a democracy while the Russian government became communist.
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most other countries as well. On the other hand, Schama viewed the French Revolution as unproductive and excessively violent.
The American and French Revolutions took place between 1775 and 1789. Though they were closely related chronologically, the two revolutions were interrelated in several other important ways than just time itself.
During the summer of 1793, the radical phase of the French Revolution was intensified by the Terror, created by The Committee of Public Safety. The Terror successfully preserved the Revolution by weeding out counter-revolutionaries to eliminate corruption within the government and giving equality to all social classes which untied France under one government. However, these successes were undermined by the many failures of the Terror due to the oppression of citizens which would lead to many executions and the paranoid slaughtering of citizens from all social classes which led to the changes in support of the Revolution.
The American and the French Revolutions were started because both countries wanted to gain freedom from their oppressing governments. The Americans wanted to gain their independence from Britain, while the French wanted a new government in which the people had more say in their society. Though the reasons for the two Revolutions were similar, some of the outcomes were different, as well as some of the other aspects during and after the war.
The American Revolution and French Revolution were two long lasting uprisings that had great value to those battling for their rights and want they wanted to change. Yet there are a few distinctions details set them apart in a small way. The Americans wanted a change in their government, but the French wanted a huge change in everything including their government, religion, social structure (whereas American’s social system stayed the same) and economy. Other than the few differences they had, they two Revolutions were much alike, basically twin revolutions.
The American and the French revolutions had many similarities and differences. One similarity being is that they both wanted to escape the rule of their King. Second, they both started by an uprising of people against unfair taxation by the monarchy. The French peasants were not represented by the Parliament. It was mainly composed of middle and upper class people. Now, the American colonists were not represented in England because of their lack of presence. Both wanted to set up a Republic, which provided liberty and justice to all classes of citizens. Just like France, the American colonists were composed up mainly middle and lower class citizens. The American Revolution started out by not wanting bloodshed and violence. France started out with violence and bloodshed. (American Revolution)
One of the early differences in the revolutions is the way each began. At the beginning of the French Revolution, the government was about to collapse. While at the beginning the American Revolution, the colonist felt oppressed but had a stable governing body. The French Revolution was caused by problems that can be categorized into three categories: political and social imbalance, government bankruptcy, and Enlightenment thinking. The American Revolution was caused by impeding political laws and taxation on the British colonies by England.