Revolution

 The late 1700’s were a time of great change in many societies. Pilgrims from Britain had newly founded the Americas and the French had been uneasy about the centuries of absolute rule. Both America and France threw massive revolutions, to free and return civil liberties and rights to their people. But as much as they may have tried both revolutions came out with very different results.

    The American revolution was caused by many things. They had wanted better representation for their people, who were treated unfairly and had little voice under King George III. “He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necesarry for the public good.” (American Declaration) They also desired more economic opportunity, such as colonizing the west. But the cause that pushed them the most to revolt was the desire to secure the rights hat had been taken away from King George. After this revolution, which lasted from 1776 to 1783, America smoothly transitioned into an independent republic. The Treaty of Paris had ended the war and they wrote a strong constitution to preserve the citizens rights under the law. They developed many compromises such as the bill of rights and Federal vs. State power, and the issue of slavery. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal;” (American Declaration) They also developed a new way of running the country with a president that had 4 year terms. America was much better off now that they were far away from the tyrannical king and now that they had plentiful resources and little overall debt.

The French revolution though was caused by several different things but also ended up drastically different. The French had for centuries resented the absolute rule of their country. They were also the hub for the enlightenment paradigm with people such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Diderot. These people were impacted by the involvement in the American revolution. The citizens of France were also distraught by the growing middle class and almost no political power in the government, all made worse by the growing drought and famine among them. The French revolution turned out to be very different from the american though. They had a very rough transition between 6 different types of government. They were very separated with people on the left wing and right wing of political views. Robespierre who was extreme left executed over 35 thousand people, and when the king and queen were executed it brought france to war with the European monarchs. They had no experienced leaders at the beginning until the leadership of Napoleon. Until at the end the Congress of Vienna returned the Monarch to the throne, but with less power than previously. They made a declaration based on the rule of law and civil liberties, but they still came out with a monarchy. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” (French Declaration).

Both America and France had completely different outcomes when it came to their revolutions. America smoothly transitioned into an independent republic whereas France roughly transitioned through 6 governments before finally ending up with a monarchy. But even though both of these countries had different outcomes and France had some more hardships than America they both had ended up better off than they were before.