Similarities Between French And American Revolution

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Another important similarity between the two revolutions in France and America was their emphasis on Enlightenment thought. The first of these ideas is the idea of popular sovereignty. This is the idea that governments were only legitimate if they got their powers from the consent of the people. It also holds that the people should have the ultimate power over their government. Both the French and American Revolutions were based in large part on the desire to take power away from aristocratic elites and give that power to the people. The second idea is the idea of individual freedom. Many Enlightenment thinkers believed that people have certain rights simply by virtue of the fact that they are human. In pre-Revolutionary times, these