Analyzing the American Revolution and the French Revolution - Essay Example

At face value, it might not appear as if the American Revolution in the French Revolution share much in common. However, as a function of analyzing the commonalities and dissimilarities that these two historical occurrences share, the focus of this brief analysis will be to highlight the core commonalities that prompted both the American and French populations to actively resist the level of control that it been placed upon them by the authorities at that time; the British Empire and the French monarchy respectively. Through such an understanding and interpretation, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed level of appreciation for the causal factors that ultimately precipitated the rise of modern democracy within the Western world. Firstly, it must be understood that both the American Revolution and the French Revolution were partially predicated upon the economic hardships that both of these stakeholders were experiencing. In the case of the American colonies, the seven years war/French Indian war had created an economic hardship that the British Empire sought to escape from (Sherman, 2001). The most logical means through which the British Empire could pay off the massive amount of debt that it had accrued during this conflict was to raise taxes upon the colonies that it administered (Brunkhorst, nd). Naturally, unaccustomed to additional duties, tariffs, and taxes, the American population became frustrated with the hardship that living a frontier life, in addition to being expected to pay for the King’s most recent war, was too much; lending these individuals to rise up against the British overlords in the hopes that the economic situation, and the overall quality/liberty that an individual could have within the 13 colonies could be maximized. Not dissimilarly, the French monarchy was also face with a fundamental issue of paying off the debt that it experienced as a direct result of the very same conflict. Unable to draw upon the resource of colonies, at least the same extent of the British Empire could, the French instead opted to increase the amount of money that was expected from peasants within the countryside (Desan, 2008). These discontent, disenfranchised, and utterly forgot individuals soon presented this added hardship and rose against the nobles as a means of not only winning the freedom they had long desired but also of freeing themselves and future generations from the unnecessary economic hardship of unreasonable taxation. A further similarity that can be understood between these two revolutions has to do with the fact that they were both successful. Within the colonies, the revolution was able to create United States of America; a system of governance that the world had not yet seen – predicated upon the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and guiding framework for the way in which the government and the citizens should engage/interact with one another. Similarly, the French Revolution was also successful in the fact that created the French Republic (Dunn, 2009). However, a core dissimilarity that exists is with regards to the inherent rights of the population that the Republic of France granted once it was established. Another interesting element of similarity between these two revolutions has to do with the fact that both revolutionaries in France and revolutionaries within the United States were mainly supportive of the cause that their brethren across the ocean was engaging. Whereas it is true that individual such as John Adams actively denounced the bloodletting that was being experienced within the Republic of France, others such as Thomas Jefferson were mainly supportive of the process that was taking place. By much the same token, prominent philosophical debates within the French Revolution were oftentimes categorized by a level of abject awe and a discussion concerning the merits of the prior American Revolution; using it as a model for engagement with the ills of the current times. Another core and important differential that exists between the two has to do with the fact that the United States did not experienced what many have referred to as a “mobocracy”. The frustration with the French monarchy and the centuries of cruelty that the peasants had experienced at the hands of the nobles created what has come to be known as “The Reign of Terror”; a time in which individuals, some of whom were truly guiltless, were put to death with great cruelty under the suspicion that they might have a level of corroborative engagement with the nobles or the monarchy. Similarly, another core differential that exists between these two revolutions has to do with the fact that the United States remained actively neutral with regards to exporting its own particular understanding of governance; at least in the intervening years after the revolutionary war (Layton-Harvey, 2011). By means of contrast, the French Republic was very much revolutionary even after it was created; ultimately leading to the Napoleonic wars and the failed establishment of Republican forms of government elsewhere throughout Europe in the period immediately after the French Revolution. Ultimately, even though these two revolutions share a great many similarities, it cannot be stated that they were predicated upon the same needs and ultimately addressed the same problems. The unique dynamic within France was one that was completely incomparable with the experience of the colonists of the United States had had prior to revolting against the leadership of the British Empire. By much the same token, the experience that the downtrodden French peasants had undergone under the cruel and in different leadership of the monarchy was completely and entirely dissimilar to the economic situation that the colonists experience within the 13 colonies. However, both of these revolutions fostered similar ideals and promoted and engagement and understanding with respect to the fact that the divine right of kings and the era of unquestioned monarchy was drawing to a close. Regardless of whether or not the French revolution or the American Revolution can be considered as one in the same, the reader can come to the profound appreciation of the fact that both of these occurrences had a transformative power with regards to the way in which governance and an understanding of the citizen’s role towards the government would be predicated in the years to come. References Brunkhorst, H. (n.d). The Primacy of the Political: A History of Political Thought from the Greeks to the French and American Revolutions. Perspectives On Politics, 10(1), 173-174. Desan, S. (2008). Transatlantic Spaces of Revolution: The French Revolution, Sciotomanie, and American Lands. Journal Of Early Modern History, 12(6), 467-505. doi:10.1163/157006509X436897 Dunn, S. (2009, July 13). Liberty or Liberté? > The History Club. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://history.scout.com/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/130/liberty-or-liberte Layton-Harvey, J. (2011). "History Written with a Little Spite": Palmer, Brinton, and an American Debate on the French Revolution.Historical Reflections, 37(3), 38-55. doi:10.3167/hrrh.2011.370304 Sherman, D. & Salisbury, J. (2001). The West in the world : a mid-length narrative history. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Read More