Compare And Contrast The American And French Revolution

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The American Revolution and the French Revolution were equally the most important results of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a time period of people’s ideas of philosophy, politics, and society. The Enlightenment showed people that they did not need to follow the monarchy, and could have their own ideas and beliefs. It influenced the American Revolution, which changed the way people were ruled. The French Revolution was also was an important result of the Enlightenment. It helped save France from going bankrupt and helped equalize all citizens. The American and French Revolution were both built on ideas of the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment was a time period from the late 1600s to the early 1800s. “Characteristics of the Enlightenment …show more content…

After the Seven Years War, Britain started to tax the colonists even more so they could pay the money that was used in the war because the war was fought on the colonist’s land. Eventually, the colonists had enough and wanted to rebel. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, trying to free themselves from England. “...the influence of John Locke’s ideas about natural rights. In addition, the Declaration of Independence said that people unhappy with their government had the right to change it” (HMH 843). These ideas were both created by Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau and Locke. Thomas Jefferson had used Locke’s ideas while writing the Declaration of Independence and changed the words up to support the cause of the colonists. The American Revolution became very important because they were breaking apart from England, which is very powerful, and the colonists fighting back was very important for other countries that were not listening to the people of their country. After they beat England, they used Montesquieu’s idea of separating into branches so one each branch is limited by each other. This is how the Enlightenment influenced the American …show more content…

The French Revolution was caused by the Third Estate paying taxes and having fewer rights than the Second and First Estate. After helping the colonists in the Revolutionary War and the royal family spending too much money, France went into debt. This caused the Third Estate to start paying more taxes, which they revolted for. They created the National Assembly, which later created the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. “The document proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to replace the ancien régime with a system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty and representative government” (www.history.com). These were all ideas from the Enlightenment, Locke gave the ideas of equal opportunity and freedom of speech, Rousseau gave the ideas of popular sovereignty and a representative government. The French Revolution did not turn out well, but the ideas they stood up for were all the same ideas French philosophers had in the Enlightenment, and colonists had used to help fight for their

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