Compare And Contrast The American And French Revolution

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The American and French Revolution are not duplicates of each other, but they are very similar. They both got their idea from Enlightenment thinkers. Angry with the monarchy’s way of dealing with taxes, they wanted equal rights. Even with both Revolution developing years apart they had very similar desires and obstacles to face. John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot, and Baron de Montesquieu were all part of the Enlightenment. John Locke an American enlightenment thinker thought people had natural rights and that government should have limited power. Baron de Montesquieu a French enlightenment thinker developed the ideas of separation of powers and check and balances. Denis Diderot also a French enlightenment thinker created an encyclopedia that explained the new ideas on the topics of government, philosophy, and religion. Framers of the United States Constitution would use these ideas. When the Enlightenment ideas went from France and beyond Europe they were found in books like Diderot’s Encyclopedia. As the ideas spread over the years American and French lives would change slowly. …show more content…

American colonies were placed with new taxes, and still weren’t allowed to elect representatives to Parliament; creating cries of “No taxation without representation!” With all the new taxes Britain kept creating, the American’s rebelled against them resulting in the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre sparking the flame of the revolution. French peasants had to pay the heaviest taxes; leaving them to starve. Meanwhile French clergy and nobles were exempt from taxation. With fear and famine, French peasants arrived outside the Bastille demanding weaponry and getting denied. This enraged the mob sparking the flame for the French