nch RAmerican and French Revolution Two revolutions sparked change in the late 1700’s. The first is the American Revolution, and then came the French revolution. When considering the American and French revolutions little is in common between them, other than both being started for liberty. The difference such as the causes of each revolution. The methods used by the Americans and the French and the outcome of both revolutions are vast and for more significant.
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. While no one event can be pointed to as the actual cause of the revolution, the war began as a disagreement over the way in which Great Britain treated the colonies versus the way the colonies felt they should be treated. Americans felt they deserved all the rights of Englishmen. The British, on the other hand, felt that the colonies were created to be used in the way that best suited the crown and parliament. This conflict is embodied in one of the rallying cries of the American Revolution: “No Taxation Without Representation.” And similar to such a cry, is the statement, “The demand for no taxation without representation was the primary force motivating the American Revolutionary movement, and for many it became a symbol of democracy;” ultimately saying that the American Revolution, as well as the colonist’s rage towards Britain, grew out of increasing, continuous restrictions placed upon the colonies by the British.
Before the Revolution started, the Americans formed a sense of unity and identity more than ever before. It shows in the Pennsylvania Gazette from 1754 that New England was forming together to gain sovereignty, liberty, and independence from Britain. There were many acts thrown by the British to the Americans. An example would be the Stamp Act; it was the tax on stamps and special seals. The outcome of these acts was boycotts from the colonist’s response, or letters sent to Britain demanding a stop on these unfair taxes.
“E pluribus Unum.” Out of many, one. A single American colony could not take on “Mother England” but the American colonies UNITED, acting together as one had the power to bring down England and lead a revolution. During 1607 the British were very involved in the American lifestyle: the who’s, what’s, where’s, why’s and how’s. It was not until all of the Acts and taxes (stamp act, tea act, tax on molasses and stamps etc.) imposed upon the colonies that thy began to open their eyes and detach from “Mother England” who was supposed to take care of them but did no such thing, that the colonies began to join together.
The British were able to collect money from American colonists by imposing many new taxes and fees. In 1765 the British started taxing on all legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets, and all other printed material. This tax was known as The Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act was the start to American boycotting. Many people started boycotting this tax, and they had the Sons of Liberty to support them.
The American Revolution was more radical and had much more significance than the French Revolution because the American Revolution was a catalyst for real, historic and permanent change. The American Revolution created a new egalitarian government that was truly based on the ideals of the philosophes of the Enlightenment and would have a lasting impact on Western Civilization. The Declaration of Independence states that its citizens would fight for their “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” and “it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish” a government that deprives them of these rights and “institute a new Government”. This was radical for its time because the Founding Fathers took principles and ideas and put them into a declaration of action against the state. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were far more than conceptual ideas during the period leading up to the American Revolution as well.
Causes of the American Revolution During the time of the settlement of the Thirteen Colonies in around early 17th century, the new rising country was able to prosper with all the new resources they gathered. However, the country itself was not entirely free, as the country still worked under the Crown of Great Britain. Great Britain still treated the folkman as if what they were back at England. However, the “Americans” wanted more freedom, or to be treated in a better way. This need for liberty sparked the desire to repel the British influence away from the colonies and start of with a clean slate, running the whole country by its own country, thus leading to the American Revolution in 1775.
As England tried to hold its grip on the becoming independent colonies, Britain was in need of a centralized colonial government that should have been established from the beginning. Due to the great distance between America and England and its inefficient policies, the colonies had a great deal of freedom. When Britain decided to enforce their influence and rule on America following the Seven Years War, there was many areas of disagreement that eventually lead to the American Revolution. Following the victory of the French and Indian War, Britain gained control of half of the continent by the scratch of a pen (94). Britain's national debt doubled during the course of the war and the cost of extended empire cause a dramatic increase in the cost of living.
The political upheaval during the last half of the 17th century was the start of The American Revolution. American Colonists were outraged on the introduction of a new system of High Taxes, such as the Stamp Act: It taxes all colonists on almost every type of document. This was taxation without representation. As the acts and taxes’ built up, the colonists had enough, and
Essay#1 – Revolutionary war There were many reasons for the American Revolution. Two of them were the economic and political changes that the colonies were going through. Only the southern colonies were bound to England by the tobacco trade and the New England and Middle Colonies, unable to find markets in Britain. The cause of the revolutionary war was definitely economic. The British throne, trying to pay off it's war debts and for the cost of protecting the colonists from local Native Americans, decided to impose taxes on the American colonists.