French Revolution Vs American Revolution

What Makes a Revolution Succeed? The American and French Revolutions were momentous occasions in a time of change and exploration of the world. The Enlightenment was in full swing and the works of Voltaire, Locke, and Rousseau were widely preached across Europe and began to spread overseas. These ideals of freedom and equality resonated with the common man of Europe and the call for change was imminent. This lead to the American and French Revolutions and began an entire new era of Western civilization; the era of governmental change. However, the American Revolution was much more successful than the French Revolution because of how America established more stability after their Revolution than the French did. The American Revolution was …show more content…
First, the Revolution had a large following. After the revolutionists managed to gain the upper hand and spread enough propaganda, the revolutionaries managed to persuade enough of the American population to join the rebellion and stand a fighting chance against the British. The other, more influential reason for the Revolutions success was how the United States governmentally functioned after the revolution. Once the United States of America became a sovereign nation after the Treaty of Paris, changes were immediately made to ensure that the United States would not become another European absolute monarchy. A constitution was drafted, laws, that were seen to benefit rather than restrict, were put in place, checks and balances were introduced to crack down on corruption, rules were set for the President regarding his power in office, multiple branches of government were established to ensure the balance of power, and many more monumental governmental changes were implemented. They would pave the way for many democracies in the future. These implementations limited the possibility of an American ruler who would take dictatorial powers and establish totalitarian dictatorship. This would ensure that America would have some form of order, while maintaining enough freedom to allow national unity to …show more content…
In the American Revolution, the colonists were seeking freedom from the British due to the British’s harsh treatment of the colonies and the lack of equality and respect that the British gave the colonists. In the French Revolution, the common, poor man was seeking freedom from the upper classes and demanded equality with them. These desires for freedom and equality are great examples of results of the enlightenment. The Revolutions of the world all share enlightenment ideals, whether they are freedom, equality, science, and many other ideas. The American and French Revolutions are very similar in their embodiment of the Enlightenment, but how each Revolution proceeded with those ideals are very