Compare And Contrast The American And French Revolution

Tanner Lee

Mr. Olavarri

10 Scholars Advanced World History, Period 6

28 October 2015

Comparing and Contrasting the American and French Revolutions

The American and French revolutions, both significant and important revolutions in their time period and throughout history as a whole, had many central elements. They also share a variety of similarities such as the growing popularity of Enlightenment period ideas of freedom, and both had the same general goal: to overthrow monarchy. These revolutions were also very different. For instance, the French revolution was significantly more radical than that of America. In addition, the scale and institution of battles and wars was significantly different .

The American Revolution had many dominant elements

contributing to the success of the Americans against the British parliament. But there are 2 in particular that are key; the taxation of American colonists, and the Declaration of Independence. The British taxation of Colonists was a major spark in starting the revolution, beginning in the early 1760’s. The Boston Tea Party, an event in 1773 involving American colonists who dumped over 300 boxes of tea overboard British cargo ships due to over taxed price on tea and other products, was monumental in starting the revolution. In The American Revolution, 1775-1783 by John Richard Alden, he explains “When the British Government heard the news, it decided to punish the colonies…Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, including a law that closed Boston Harbor until the people of Boston paid for the tea (The American Revolution, 1775-1783, 17).” The Intolerable Acts, a set of laws restricting American Colonists, created further tension between the colonies and the homeland, eventually leading to the Revolution against Britain.
Another significant element was the Declaration of Independence. “By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain (U.S. Dept. of State: Office of The Historian, The Declaration of Independence, 1776).” The Declaration, where America declared independence, formed the powerful country it is today. The U.S. Department of State also states that, “The Declaration’s most important diplomatic effect was to allow for recognition of the United States by friendly foreign governments (U.S. Dept. of State: Office of The Historian, The Declaration of Independence, 1776).” Not only did this document pave the way for the future of Americans, it was also a beacon to other countries, influencing the ideas of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (The Charters of Freedom “A New World Is at Hand”, The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription).”
The French also had a wide variety of important factors.

Two of the main elements include the economic struggle within the country and the social factors involving citizens and social classes. Previous to the French war, France was struggling economically. They had recently spent $250 million dollars aiding the Americans in their war for independence against Britain (International World History Project, FRENCH REVOLUTION: An Overview). Because of this, France was in deep poverty, and as an effect, the poor citizens’ lives became worse. King Louis XVI taxed the low class in an effort to maintain the economy, causing the low class to start revolting against the king. Because of the economic problems within France’s system, it caused social tension and conflict within the own civil bounds of the country, specifically between the noble class (aristocratic) and middle class

(bourgeois).
This leads into the next major element for the French Revolution; political and social conflicts amongst the social classes. “To understand the nature and causes of the political crisis that launched the French…Revolutions, we need a sense of the structures of the Old Regimes and of the conflicts to which they were prone in the times before the outbreaks of the Revolutions… Countries [were] held together by autocratic monarchies focused upon tasks of maintaining internal order and of contending with external foes (Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China, 47).” The Aristocrats (elite or noble class) strived for self-empowerment over the country. Through control of Parliament, they cancelled tax increases on their class passed by the king in attempts to attain power over the state and maintain the current social classes. The Bourgeois class consisted of merchants, manufactures, bankers or doctors. They were wealthy but had very little power due to the Aristocracy. (WordPress: French Revolution, Estates General). Because of the lack of power in the middle class and the desire to keep power with the nobility, political conflicts arose, with wars and battles following.
Even though the French and American Revolutions were fought against different countries and people, and hundreds of miles apart, both revolutions had many things in common such as the growing popularity of Enlightenment period ideas of freedom and liberty, especially the government’s role in governing a people. John Locke, a British philosopher (1632-1704) addressed topics related to government. He wrote many books, and publicly spoke concerning the role of governments. “Among Locke's political works he is most famous for The Second Treatise of Government in which he argues that sovereignty resides in the people and explains the nature of legitimate government in terms of natural rights and the social contract (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, John Locke).” This idea that the people should have power to make laws and govern themselves became rapidly popular and adopted by many people in the 1700-1800’s, especially by the Americans and French. His philosophies, as well as many other Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire and Adam Smith changed the way of thinking throughout both the American and French revolution. America’s Bill of Rights and France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man were both heavily influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and were very similar in ideas and morals concerning freedom, liberty, and man’s natural rights.
As well as similar influences, both revolutions were caused by the desire to overthrow or change the government and monarchy.

The Americans wanted freedom from their motherland, Britain, and all taxes, laws, and connections severed. The French wanted to dispose of King Louis XVI, and to rebuild France into a powerful country ruled ‘by the people, for the people’. The Declaration of the Rights of Man states in the first sentence that, “The representatives of the French people…believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties…(Constitution Society, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen).” The United States Constitution states that, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America (The Constitution of the United States, The Bill of Rights & All Amendments).” On comparing the opening sentences of both documents, they are extremely similar. Both

express the idea that man has a set of natural laws or freedoms that the government should not interfere with nor neglect. Both documents were written to express these values to their people and the governments they are rebelling against. Both France and America were fighting for the same rights talked about in the Constitution and Declaration of the Rights of Man. Similarly, both of their previous governments, in their perspectives, removed those natural rights, which caused the need for change and rebellion.
On contrasting both Revolutions, it becomes evident that there are many differences. One of the main dissimilarities of the French Revolution was the radical efforts made by the lower and middle classes. Sean Busick, Associate Professor of History at Athens State University, explains, “One of the many differences between the American and French Revolutions is that, unlike the French, Americans did not fight for an abstraction. Americans initially took up arms against the British to defend and preserve the traditional rights of Englishmen (The Imaginative Conservative, The American and French Revolutions Compared).” Although the Americans were simply defending their self-claimed homeland and the rights they believed, the French Revolution was entirely about demolishing the previous system. The people wanted new social classes, new government systems, new ideas of reasoning and power, even over previous religious ideas. Their battle was fought entirely over who should have the right to rule over France. This radical outlook on their revolution is a huge difference when comparing the American and French revolutions.
The final major difference between both the French and American Revolutions was the scale and organization of physical war. The American Revolution, to start off, was composed of individual battles composed into one major war against Britain. Battles such as the ones at Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Battle of Yorktown all were part of a bigger war against the motherland. France on the other hand, was much more chaotic and brutal. France, unlike America, executed a lot of civilians by use of the guillotine, the official execution method in that time. “The guillotine was heavily used during the reign of Terror with an estimated death toll range between 15000 and 40000 (Bastille Day and the French Revolution (1789), The Guillotine).” In addition, the French revolution consisted of a lot of killings of authority and unorganized battles and massacres within their country.