American and French Revolutions: Causes and Impacts
The American Revolution: Causes and Consequences
The American Revolution was a conflict between the settlers of New England and Great Britain. The source of the problem was economic. The colonies had developed their own economic system and began to see the metropolis as a barrier to their development. The colonies were ruled by the colonial pact, which granted enough freedom to the colonists, and there were some meetings where part of the taxes were collected. This ended with conflict-generating taxes. The British government sought to monopolize the tea trade, which could ruin American traders. These traders, disguised as Indians, attacked a British ship that was in the port of Boston (Boston Tea Party).
War of Independence
In 1774, the representatives of the 13 colonies met in the first Congress in Philadelphia, where they wrote a bill of rights. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was the basis of the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4, 1776. The settlers beat the British at Saratoga and Yorktown, and the Peace of Versailles was signed, which recognized the independence of the United States.
The Legacy of the American Revolution
The Constitution of 1787 organized the new political order. The new state had a federal structure. The president controlled the executive branch and was elected every four years. George Washington was the first president of the United States. The legislature was also elected by the people and fell to Congress, consisting of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The judicial power rested with the courts. The Supreme Court controlled that laws and government actions did not violate the Constitution.
France Before the Revolution
In 1789, France was a great power that lived by the rules of the Old Regime. There were several problems:
- It was an estate society where maintaining the privileges of the nobility and clergy was paramount.
- The economic crisis deepened. The crisis particularly affected the prices of commodities such as bread.
- The deficit of the Treasury increased costs due to the American War. The cause of the deficit was that the privileged did not pay taxes.
- Political Crisis: King Louis XVI was losing support because people saw that the reforms did not advance. The privileged feared losing power due to the advancement of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The image of the kings was getting worse as they were blamed for the shortfall due to their extravagance and luxurious living.
General Meeting of Estates
Between 1783 and 1788, the finance ministers of Louis XVI (Turgot, Necker, Calonne, Brienne) tried to stop the economic crisis and decided to reform so that the privileged would pay taxes. The king tried to convince them. To do so, he called an assembly of notables, but the privileged refused to pay taxes. In 1788, he declared bankruptcy. The king was left alone to summon the Estates-General. His minister, Necker, got double the number of representatives of the Third Estate in the Estates-General. Each establishment wrote their cahiers de doléances (books of grievances), which reflected their proposals and problems. The bourgeoisie was organized in political clubs, where they discussed new ideas and policies as they thought they might seize power. They also established newspapers to spread their ideas.
The French Revolution: Key Events
In the Estates-General, the nobility and the clergy wanted a vote by estate. The members of the Third Estate defended the vote per person. In July, representatives of the Third Estate became known as the National Assembly. The king and the privileged tried to remove them from the room, but the lawmakers gathered in the ball game court, where they swore they would remain together to draft a constitution. The National Assembly was renamed the Constituent Assembly. On July 14, 1789, before the rising price of bread and rumors that the king was concentrating troops in Paris, the Parisian citizens stormed the Bastille. The Constituent Assembly removed the Old Regime’s objectives in France and wrote a constitution.