The French and American Revolutions

Paper Summary:

This paper examines two of the historically most consequential revolutions of modern times: The American Revolution and the French Revolution. The paper discusses how the revolutions are linked in terms of their chronological proximity to each other as well as by the fact that some of the same people were involved in both revolutions. Four particular aspects of each of the revolutions are presented and studied in comparison with the other revolution. These are: 1) The intellectual origins of these revolutions; 2) The range of socio-economic, and politico-religious factors that fed into the revolutionary attitudes of the peoples; 3) The institutional transformations that occurred as a result of each of these revolutions; 4) An assessment of the historical importance and historical consequences of each of the revolutions.

From the Paper:

"The intellectual origins of both of these revolutions are strikingly similar. The majority of intellectual antecedents were contemporary, or nearly contemporary, to the revolutions themselves but some were already hundreds of years old. When we read documents like the Declaration of Independence we find ourselves in awe of both the personal courage and the intellectual acumen of the men who wrote such words. But while they were certainly both brave and wise they did not in fact have to create the justifications for revolution that they depended upon out of whole cloth."

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