The American and French Revolutions

Age of Revolutions

American, 1775-1783

French, 1789-99

Haiti, 1791-1803

Latin America, 1810-1825

*Enlightenment, late 17th-18th c.

Inspired by Scientific Revolution

Laws of nature

New ideas about social, political, and religious order

Natural laws for society

*John Locke, 1632-1704

Law of nature: All people are "equal and independent, [and] no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."

 

 

Social contract

Background of the American Revolution

*Seven Years' Wars (1756-1763)

Europe

Prussia and Britain vs. France and Austria

N. America

French and Indian War

India

Britain vs. France

British drive for revenue

*Sugar Act, 1764

East India Company tea monopoly, 1773

Mercantilist trade

Second Continental Congress

Philadelphia, May 1775

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Can you identify enlightenment ideals?

“We hold these truths to be self evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their power from the consent of the governed.”

War of Independence, 1776-1781

American allies

France, 1778

Spain, 1779

*Yorktown, Virginia, 1781

Treaty of Paris, 1783

Significance of American Revolution

Radical

Influential

Why was the revolution incomplete?

French Revolution

Financial crisis

Catholic Church and Nobility owned 40% of land

Seven Years' Wars

*Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792)

*Estates General, convened 1614, 1789

1st Estate

100,000 Catholic clergy

2nd Estate

400,000 nobles

3rd Estate

24 million common people

Public Unrest

National Assembly, June 1789

Storming of Bastille, July 14, 1789

Women March on Versailles, October 5, 1789

Constitutional monarchy, 1791

Legislature

Restricted voting (under 1% of pop.)

End of Monarchy

Royal family attempts escape, Summer 1791

Austrian and Prussian threat

French declare war and end monarchy, April 1792

Anti-nobility panic

Public looting

*National Convention

Elected Sept. 1792

Universal male suffrage

7.5% of voters participate

Louis XVI beheaded, Jan. 1793

*Reign of Terror, 1793-4

*Maximilien Robespierre
40,000 executed

The Revolution Fades

Directory, 1795-99

Popular dictatorship, 1799

*Napoleon Bonaparte

Study Questions-Lecture

1. How were the American and French revolutions influenced by the Enlightenment?
2. What were the causes of the American and French Revolutions?
3. How did the outcomes of the American and French Revolutions differ? What explains the differences?

Study Questions-Reading

Hansen 628-57

1. Rank the American, French, Haitian, and Latin American revolutions according to their success at implementing enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality. List the positive and negative characteristics of each revolution.

Andrea, The Human Record, pp. 188-194

1. How does the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" reflect enlightenment ideals? Think about its limits on government authority and granting of citizen rights.

2. How do the political cartoons depict the relationship between the Three Estates?