Political Revolutions: The American And French Revolution

Both, American and French, revolutions began due to the discontent with the current government. The Americans in the colonies were unhappy due to increase in taxes on a wide selection of imported articles by the Townshend Act (1767) and especially on tea. They also protested the requirement of having to provide lodging and accommodations for British soldiers by the Quartering Act (1765). The French was encountering fiscal problems which were the start for revolution. The French government also increased taxes, especially on the poor because French nobles and the clergy estates were exempt from this. This had outraged the third estate which eventually led to the formation of The National Assembly. The two uprisings had many influences including …show more content…
These rights also came from the values of the Enlightenment. Again, in Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government it is stated that the people have the right to remove and replace their rulers along with individual’s rights to life, liberty, and property. Even enlightenment philosophe Voltaire criticized the French monarchy and the Church considering them representatives of tyranny. The American Revolution was mainly a political revolution while the French revolution was a mix of political, social, and an economic revolution. Shortly before the American Revolution had officially begun, the British waged a tremendously costly confrontation in North America known as the French and Indian War. This triumph in the War guaranteed Britain would control international trade and the empire would flourish. The British tightened its power of the colonies but, the colonists had become used to a level of self-government. Most colonies already had a legislative parliament that organized regulation affecting taxation and security and that controlled the payments to royal officials. These colonists resisted when the British intensified interference in these roles by raising taxes on the colonists.