American Revolution Dbq

It is likely John Locke would become an exponent of classical liberalism because he insisted that English politics depend on “rights of Englishmen” and representative government throughout Parliament. Also, he insisted that if a government doesn’t protect natural human rights, the government becomes a tyranny.

European nations generally supported the Americans in the Revolutionary War. France supplied gunpowder and weapons to Americans and even offered a formal alliance with America. A French nobleman, the marquis de Lafayette became a well-trusted general for Washington. Spain and the Netherlands declared war on Britain during the Revolution.

The American Revolution was really revolutionary because it showed that the ideas of representative government and individual liberty could be

achieved as well as the Enlightenment idea that a better world was possible.
Louis XVI called for the Estates General because he knew the absolute monarchy was losing its power when he tried to impose new taxes and exile the judges. It became the National Assembly when middle-class intellectuals argued for a single assembly dominated by the third estate. Specifically, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes in What Is the Third Estate insisted that the nobility was a tiny, overprivileged minority and that the third estate was the true strength of France. The third estate voted to call itself the “National Assembly”. The third estate pledged in the Oath of the Tennis Court that they would not disband until they had written a new constitution.
The Paris mob played a key role in the French revolution because it saved the National Assembly and broke the power of the French army. The citizens appointed their own commander, marquis de Lafayette, for the city’s military. Also, the king had no choice but to disperse his troops and recall the finance minister.
The Great Fear contributed to civil disorder because peasants burned feudal documents, sacked manor houses, seized forests and let taxes go unpaid. The National Assembly responded by abolishing all the old demands imposed on peasants such as unfair taxation or feudal dues.
The National Assembly declared that men are free and equal, every man is innocent until proven guilty, and that mankind’s natural rights are “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”. With laws, they declared free speech. Later on, they got rid of the French nobility, created a constitutional monarchy, expanded women’s rights, banned monopolies, and granted religious freedom.
France declared war against Austria in 1792 because the revolutionaries wanted to abolish tyrant monarchies and spread their type of government to other parts of Europe. The success of the French armies during the Revolution were highly impactful because they were able get Louis XVI to agree to a constitutional monarchy and they were able to defeat Austria.
The Reign of Terror happened because the government wanted to make sure no one would oppose the revolutionary government.

Sans-culottes supported local courts to judge more severely than normal which frightened the social classes and highly influenced the development of socialism. It consumed the children because their parents would die from execution or be jailed, thus the children would have no stable parents.

The Directory set up ripe conditions for Napoleon because many conservative and monarchist deputies were elected to the Directory in 1797. Then, the members started using the army to get rid of elections and to start to run a dictatorship. Napoleon consolidated his power by ending the Directory.

Napoleon’s foreign policy strengthened his standing as a leader of France. He expanded France to Belgium, Holland, parts of Germany, and northern Italy. Also, he established satellite kingdoms that would be ruled by his family members. In France and the satellite nations, he established many French laws and abolished serfdom, but also created heavy taxes for the military. Lastly, he made allies with Russia, Austria, and Prussia, who were all expected to stop trade with the

British.
The Tilsit Peace relates to Napoleon invading Russia because Russia originally agreed to boycott British goods in the Tilsit Peace but defied that agreement four years later in 1811.
Napoleon failed because Austria and Prussia deserted Napoleon and joined the Fourth Coalition with Russia and Britain. The Fourth Coalition had four countries involved, the most out of any coalition, and was intended to last for 20 years. He refused to accept an Austrian proposal that proposed that would reduce France to its original size.