An Overlook over the Similarities of the American, French, and Haitian Revolution By Keri Phillips Throughout history, and present day, you will find people who did not like their government's actions, and in some cases, it went to as far as them having a revolution. Three of the most influential revolutions that occurred during 1750- 1900, was the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. These revolutions held large impacting outcomes on their countries and people. While the revolutions started because of the citizen's unhappiness over what the government was doing, a lot of the ideas that were expressed during this time was influenced by the Enlightenment theories, especially the thought of equality for all. The American Revolution was …show more content…
the first of the three revolutions to start this, as well as the want to break away from British rule. Many things lead up to the built up anger to spark the revolution.
One of these things was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was when British Parliament decided that every piece of paper used should be taxed, as well as sugar, tea and trade items. Parliament also decided that the colonists should be forced to house British soldiers, known as the Quartering Act. The invasions of these laws brought anger saying “that Parliament could do nothing in the colonies that it could not do in Britain because the Americans were protected by all the common-law rights of the British” (Traditions and Encounters). Although the colonists were technically British citizens, Parliament did not treat them the same in multiple ways. In response to the new taxes and Acts, the colonists decided to boycott British products, go against British officials, and start protests like the Boston Tea Party. This was when a bunch of white men decided to dress like Native Americans, and through a bunch of British tea into the Boston Harbor. By this time tension between Americans and the British were very high, and it didn’t take long for the war to …show more content…
start. The final battle was at Yorktown. Soon after a bunch of men decided that it was time to write up the Declaration of Independence, which made sure that everybody was able to keep their rights. Among those, there were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Similar to the Declaration of Independence was the French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
Both of these declarations were inspired by having a history of the people not having a say in their government. Although both parties worked for the chance of equality for all, the French’s actions concerning the “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” took it a step farther. The National Assembly went as far as abolishing the old social order, as well as the labor and fees service, consequently, also limiting the influence the church has over France as a whole. Also similar to the Americans is their hatred towards those that use to rule them. In France, they went as far as to sentence King Louis XIV and Queen Marie Antoinette to the guillotine, a form of execution. Over time the French were taken over by general Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon proved to be a very driven man on the things he cared about. One of those things being in charge of Saint-Domingo, modern day Haiti. In Saint-Domingo, their main population consisted of slaves, helping it become one of the richest colonies from sugar, coffee, and cotton, but their owners lived in fear of revolts against them. Most of the slaves lived under awful conditions and were forced to work long amounts of time at once. In time some slaves broke away and fled to the mountains, only coming back for the food, weapons, and new recruits, although this started a vicious cycle of slaves being free and France going back to the Caribbean
and Africa to get more. When the French rebellion started, it gave the white men of the island hopes to govern themselves as well, but they were resistant to equality for the slaves. This helped to the motivation of the start of the civil war that had broken out between the white settlers and the blacks, in 1791. The main people who led the Haitian Revolution was Toussaint L'Ouverture. He was able to take the rebels and turn them into a disciplined army and in six years was able to control most of Saint-Domingo. Once he got it he created a constitution that assured equality and freedom for all, although he did not fully cut themselves off from the French leadership, in fear of retaliation from Napoleon. Although, when he did come to attack and gain control again, the former slaves were victorious against the french forces thanks to the help of yellow fever, and were able to declare independence in 1804. Toussaint L'ouverture, George Washington, and Napoleon Bonaparte all can relate to each other because all three of them took over in hopes of a better future for their country and people, by distancing themselves from those who use to rule them. All three of them was victorious in getting their people to or very close to independence and equality for all and got them on a track to keep it going and improve on it over the years.
One of the British actions that angered the colonists was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was passed in response to colonist's complaints about the Sugar Act. The Stamp Act, according to the chart in document one, forced colonists to buy a stamp and place it on all of their paper products. Colonists boycotted the Stamp Act and and formed the Committees of Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty, according to document two, tarred and feathered British officials and tax collectors to protest the Stamp A...
After the French and Indian War, Great Britain was in tremendous debt and had additional land to rule. By cause of their debt and their obligation to their new land, they began to put taxes on the colonists living in that land. The colonists were enraged because they were getting taxed without representation in British Parliament. Two acts that caused some of these reactions are the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. Overall, British actions after 1763 caused numerous reactions from the colonists, which led to the American Revolution.
The number one reason that the colonists began protests, and boycotts, against the British was because they believed their natural rights as citizens were being violated. After the french and Indian War Great Britain was in massive debt. So the King began to tax the colonies. For example the heavy taxes in the colonies led to the Boston Massacre and to the Boston Tea Party. The British then adopted the policy of mercantilism.
By this point, the colonists were beginning to question Britain’s motives towards them. They believed they were being treated like slaves and being used solely for the economic growth of Britain. One night, in 1773, the colonists rebelled against these taxes on their tea. A group of men dressed as Native Americans boarded a ship at Boston Harbor and unloaded three vessels of taxed tea (Boston Tea Party). This event, known a...
The French revolted due to political, economic, and social injustices. Politically, the government was a mess. An absolute ruler can only be beneficial to the people if they cater to
Haiti has also lost many lives as an outcome of the revolutions, especially in the slave revolts and battles with French soldiers sent by Napoleon. In addition, the Haitian Revolution leader L’Ouverture died in captivity in France.
In the mid eighteenth century colonist of the new world started to rebel against Britain. Living in the colonies cost Britain a great deal of money Colonist did not like that they were being taxed. There were several acts passed that angered the colonists. For example, the Stamp Act, the Stamp Act was passed in 1765 taxed all legal documents including newspapers and other printed materials. The Stamp Act affected all that bought printed materials and it did not affect the poor because it was not too expensive. The colonist started to rebel and boycotted “No taxation without representation.” The colonists rebelled in many ways one of them was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773 as an act of revolt colonists threw tea cargo of a ship to the ocean. These acts of Britain towards the new colonies caused colonist to revolve and declare war to separate from Britain. The colonists were not justified to going to war to break away from Britain because England was paying more taxes and the mother country deserved absolute respect; however, the colonists were justified to break away from Britain because they were taxed without representation.
The French wanted to bring equality to all classes. The French revolution brought much more social change than the American revolution. Inspired by Lafayette’s declaration that, “no group, no individual may exercise authority not emanating expressly therefrom” (de Lafayette 783), the class system was destroyed. The revolutionaries were open to ending slavery, however women remained marginalized within the social structure of France. Similarly to the American revolution, the enlightenment ideas that drove the French revolution were not applied to society as a whole.
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 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)
The imperial tactics of the British Empire were exercised on the colonists through heavy taxes trade restrictions because of their mercantilist economy. The Stamp Act taxed the colonists directly on paper goods ranging from legal documents to newspapers. Colonists were perturbed because they did not receive representation in Parliament to prevent these acts from being passed or to decide where the tax money was spent. The colonists did not support taxation without representation. The Tea Act was also passed by Parliament to help lower the surplus of tea that was created by the financially troubled British East India Company. The colonists responded to this act by executing the Boston Tea Party which tossed all of the tea that was imported into the port of Boston. This precipitated the Boston Port Act which did not permit the colonists to import goods through this port. The colonists protested and refused all of these acts which helped stir the feelings of rebellion among the colonists. The British Mercantilist economy prevented the colonists from coin...
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the beginning of the revolution for the colonies of North America. When the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament, it required American colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. This included ship’s papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, and even playing cards. However, in the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measure to regulate commerce but not to raise money. Therefore, England viewed this taxes as a direct attempt to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. Due to this effects, the Stamp Act provoked such a violent reaction in the colonies, because it was seen as a threat to the colonist’s liberties and rights, as well as affecting multiple members of the society.
The Glorious revolution was a changing point in the course of history. It was the first revolution of its kind which led to many more like the American revolution. There were many similarities between the Glorious and American revolution, John Locke played a key role in both revolutions, and Locke’s ideas were mirrored in the Declaration of Independence.
The Boston tea party was a brief incident among many, composing, economic, and political crisis that ultimately caused a revolution. These events consisted of The French and Indian war, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, the Tea Act, and of course the Boston Tea Party. The incident caused by the colonies infuriated the British government therefore as punishment parliament responded to the abuse with the Coercive Acts of 1774 . When the thirteen colonies once again decided to resist the British troops revolution spread. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” This act later on lead to the American Revolutionary War, were years later independence was
Each social class in France has its own reasons for wanting a change in government. The aristocracy was upset by the king’s power, while the Bourgeoisie was upset by the privileges of the aristocracy. The peasants and urban workers were upset by their burdensome existence. The rigid, unjust social structure meant that citizens were looking for change because “all social classes.had become uncomfortable and unhappy with the status quo.” (Nardo, 13)