Comparing the French and American Revolutions
Both Events Sought Political Change But One Affected Social Change
There is a tendency to equate the American Revolution of 1776 with the French Revolution of 1789. France supported the American cause, sent troops, and forward thinking French intellectuals like the marquis de Lafayette figured prominently in the early days of the French Revolution. American patriots like Thomas Paine went to France and assisted in the condemnation of Louis XVI, causing his execution in January 1793. Even Thomas Jefferson had strong feelings toward France, resulting in widespread Federalist suspicions during the height of the excesses in Paris known as the Reign of Terror.
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was strictly a war for independence. Unlike the French Revolution or, for that matter, the 1917 Russian Revolution, it was not a social revolution. Following the 1783 treaty of peace, the new United States made scant social changes, unlike the effects in France after 1789. People still used playing cards featuring kings and queens and there was no rush to eradicate so-called “royal” names, although the Church of England did change its name to the Episcopal Church.
As Columbia University historian Howard Zinn demonstrates, the only significant changes in the newly formed states after 1783 affected political leadership. The American War for Independence, as the British like to call it, was a political event. The same local, colonial elites that held power before the war, like George Washington in Virginia, now held power without the oversight of royal governors.
Pre-revolutionary “Tories” that opposed regime change, like Lord Fairfax, also of Virginia and a great friend of Washington, left the new nation. In most cases, their properties were confiscated. In America, there was no “Reign of Terror;” property rights were respected and protected by law and the same property qualifications used as a standard for pre-revolutionary political participation were retained. Law conformed to British common law.
The French Revolution
Like the later Russian Revolution, the French Revolution was both political and social. Pre-revolutionary ruling elites, notably the clergy and the nobility, lost all privileges. A concerted effort was made to destroy the power of the church, which held a monopoly on education and owned vast wealth. Voltaire, the Enlightenment ideologue of the Revolution, had once said that the only thing to do with the church was to “crush the infamous thing.”
While emulating the United States in supporting natural rights and freedoms, the French Revolution soon devolved into a bloodbath of terror following the September 1792 Paris massacres. Throughout 1793 and 1794 terror reigned as thousands were beheaded. The glorious republic had given way to fear and blood-lust. Little wonder that the Washington and John Adams presidencies looked askance at events in France and attempted to keep such sentiments from reaching the American shores.
Popular Revolution in the 18th Century
Rather than suggesting a direct link between the American and French experiences, it may be more beneficial to assess the popular sentiments of long-over burdened peasants and serfs in Europe in the mid to late 18th Century. Catherine the Great of Russia experienced the greatest peasant uprising in the history of Russia with the bloody Pugachev Revolt. Elsewhere in Europe the desire for change was evident.
England had already experienced political change in the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89. King George III’s attempt to reassert divine right rule was thwarted by the Whigs. In other parts of Europe reform was in the air as rulers like Joseph II of Austria and Frederick the Great embraced some reforms based on Enlightened absolutism.
Differences in Motivation
The French and American Revolutions differed significantly in motivation and strategy. Additionally, each “revolution” had different outcomes that would ultimately lead toward vastly different results in the next century. The relationship between the two events is purely cosmetic.
Sources:
- Robert Darnton, The Kiss of Lamourette: Reflections in Cultural History (New York: W.W.Norton and Company, 1990)
- David MacKenzie, Violent Solutions: Revolutions, Nationalism, and Secret Societies in Europe to 1918 (New York: University Press of America, Inc., 1996)
- Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989)
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (on-line edition)
French General Rochambeau Reviews Troops
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