The American and French revolutions were two major events of Western civilization. While the timing and end results of the French and American Revolutions were different, the two were much more similar in many ways. They both broke free from oppressive government systems. Both were influenced by Enlightenment ideals when recreating their governments. They both inspired other countries to start their own revolutions to rid of monarchy and to create a republic government. The American and the French revolutions were more similar than different. One similarity being is that both the Americans and French wanted to escape the rule of their King. Also, both revolutions were started by an uprising of people against unfair taxation by the monarchy. American colonists protested against taxation passed by the English Parliament without any representation in that body. The French middle class protested against the massive taxation load they had …show more content…
The main long term causes were based on the inequality between the British colonies of America and Britain, such as the rights, declaratory acts, sugar act, the intolerable acts, the proclamation and taxation. The British were interfering too much in the affairs of the American colonist as they were limited economically and socially. The short term causes was the Boston tea party and the Boston massacre. For the French revolution, the long term causes was class division and injustice, political ineptitude of the last two monarchs of France (Louis XV and Louis XVI), the long standing financial crisis in France, frustrations of the growing middle class to receive social advancements, and war debts. The short term cause was the attack on the Bastille Prison in Paris. That's why the French still celebrate Bastille Day, like we celebrate the 4th of July. Long term causes of both revolutions was influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment (fair government, equality, civil