Question

In what ways was the French Revolution similar to and different from the American Revolution

Answer 1

Britians treasury was drained so they taxed America and angered the colonists, similar to the French treasury being low, so they declared war on other countries to try to refill the treasury.



Both the French and American Revolution had their own declarations and constitutions written.



Both countries won their revolutions.



Each countries king was the cause of the revolution. (King George III and King Louis XIV)



Both countries were influenced by the Enlightenment ideas.





Some differences between the two revolutions that I found were...



The geographical differences is an obvious difference. Also, France wanted a new government and more money and food supply, and America just wanted their independence from Britian.



America had taxing problems and acts from the British that were hard on them, and France were the ones hard on others for money to refill their supplies.



The countries fought different battles. America had much more military than France in their revolution.



France declared war on other countries, unlike America.

Answer 2

When we entered the process of constituting liberal governments and the crisis of absolutism, we usually understand that the French participation in the emancipation of the Thirteen Colonies was of great importance in the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1789. Generally, the link between the two historical experiences is explained by the fact from France to participate in the United States' Wars of Independence with the sending of troops that fought in defense of the American colonists.

However, would it be satisfactory to say that the French soldiers carried back to their homeland the feeling of autonomy that inspired the Thirteen Colonies to fight against English oppression? Although it is not false, this premise does not contemplate the fact that the 18th century saw the spread of the Enlightenment ideas, which motivated the struggle of several nations against the action of monarchical regimes or contrary to the mechanism of political representation.

In order for the ideological proximity between the two historical experiences to be better developed, we suggest the presentation of two documents that can indicate, in a very clear way, how the French and American political projects were similar. As a suggestion, we recommend working with the “Declaration of Independence of the United States of America” (1776) and the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” (1789).