In this unit, you examined the American and French Revolutions. The American Revolution, sparked by conflict over British rule and influenced by Enlightenment ideas, broke colonial ties with a monarchy and yielded a new nation. The French Revolution, inspired by the American Revolution as well as the Enlightenment, freed French citizens from an absolute monarchy and secured equality before the law for all male citizens.
When one looks at all the revolutions the earth there are many differences. Evry revolution is different but every revolution have one thing in common, one group of people is being oppressed by another. For this essay we are supposed to compare two different revolutions to the American Revolution. The two others I chose are the Cuban revolution and the Haitian revolution. To begin, I will look at a little back ground of each revolution and then the main cause. Once I get done with that, I will then compare the causes to each other.
Revolutions were significant events in history that dramatically affected the rights of the inhabitants. The Latin American revolution as well as the Haitian revolution were led to gain independence from the colonial power of France, Spain, and Portugal. The Latin American revolution led by Simon Bolivar and the Haitian Revolution have both similarities and differences as they both started due to the want for political, economic and social changes.
In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution. Due to these uprisings in different parts of the world, it had a varying political objective, but it appears to be that it was roused by the Enlightenment's radical
In the first place, both the American and French Revolution had their causes that would change history. The American Revolution was caused by the greed of the British and the thoughts of the enlightened people. All the peasants wanted to be free of the unfair taxation on items such as tea and stamps considering they had no say. This coincides with James Otis’s phrase, “taxation without representation is tyranny,” which led to, “no taxation without representation.” Enlightened thinkers such as Locke gave the ideas that it was the government's job to protect the people life, liberty, and property.These enlightened thinkers
One of the political causes of the French revolution was the weak monarchy. This was so because the kings were responsible for taking all of the taxes that the peasants earned, along with even the crops that they grew. The peasants were therefore ill-treated, as they did not have proper food to eat or a suitable place to sleep. However, in the Haitian revolution, things were quite different. There were slaves fighting for their
The French, Haitian, and American Revolutions were all sparked from the minds of the colonists, slaves, or lower classes who were treated with inequality by their own governments. In each location, there was a noticeable trend of mistreatment between government and people. In Haiti, slaves brought over by the French who captured the island, and forced them into brutal labor in what was the most valuable and wealthy are at the time. The government and leadership in France was corrupt as they were in much debt. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived in Versailles far from the other forms of government, abusing the country wealth. And lastly, the British stripped the Americans of their rights and exploited them for much of their own possessions.
Overall, the Haitian Revolution is a contrast to the French Revolution because the main reasons and goals of the people were different. In Haiti, the news of American Independence motivated slaves to unite and fight for equality from European nations. Meanwhile in France, the radicals hoped that by overthrowing the monarchy, a new assembly would be created and France would become a republic. Enlightenment philosophies played a role in both revolutions, yet the main reasons for the events differed from one
An economic revolution is defined as a change in the economic system of a society in terms of creation, expansion, and interaction. D’Augy’s quote “We have not brought half a million slaves from the coasts of Africa to make them into French citizens” in Document 3 is full of hatred and resentment towards slaves. D’Augy wants to convince people of the risks in recognizing the rights of slaves and treating slaves like French citizens. Furthermore, voodoo rituals mentioned in Document 5, where everyone “threw themselves on their knees and swore blindly to obey the orders of Boukman”, was an economic change since the slaves went from a life of passively working for their oppressors to actively attempting to overthrow their masters. These changes will soon be repeated in countries like the German Coast Uprising of 1811 in the United States. Naturally, the bloodiness of the Haitian Revolution aroused fear among many. For example, Thomas Jefferson in Document 9 wanted to end contact and abolish trade in order to ensure peace and stop violence between different groups of people. Jefferson knew that contact with Haiti would cause slavery to be a debated question for the United States. With Haiti being another republic, the new country no longer imported slaves from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which ultimately shaped the economy particularly in the Western
The years 1750-1900 are better known as the Revolution Era. During this time period, there were several revolutions that occurred throughout the developing world. Two of the main revolutions were the French Revolution and the Latin American Revolution. Both revolutions followed the anatomy of a revolution and had comparable causes, however the French Revolution politically better outcomes, whereas the Latin American Revolution resulted in poverty and lost territory.
The American revolution and the French Revolution are two major incidents happened in the 1700s, which had intense social impacts on both French and American societies. In general, the American Revolution was more successful than the French revolution. The similarity between them is that the citizens in both countries, both faced the block of common economical development of the government. However, there is a difference that makes the American revolution succeeded while the French revolution doesn’t. The American Revolution turned the American society into a republic, as the French Revolution eventually led the French society into dictatorship and more chaos in the
The American and French Revolution both had similar stages that a revolution consists of having a normal stage, widespread dissatisfaction, and the transfer of power and effect. The Americans and French both had a normal stage in which they were ruled by and monarchs were chosen in a traditional way. They both had a time when both sides oppressed the French and British government. Lastly, both parties got power in the end from whom they wanted to be free from. All revolutions have many stages which they go through, these three stages are the main bits of a
French overthrew their internal government, while Haiti overthrew their external government. The French revolution was the start of enlightenment ideas coming into place in Europe. The french were in debt The French monarchs had unlimited power and also declared themselves as representatives of god. This revolution stirred among the French leading to the rise of Napoleon. The Haitian Revolution influenced slave rebellions in the United States and the British Colonies. It truly had a huge impact on the rest of the world. The French did not have slavery and haiti did support slavery. The conditions before the french revolution were good because of economic growth, foreign trade and good agriculture. The growth of number of people rose, prices increased with the development of capitalism system. The standard of living started to suffer so they had to work in order to eliminate the suffering. They also had to pay taxes to the government. A poor financial situation led to economic crisis. Haiti 's economy before the revolution was good but when the revolution started the economy
After several reforms, Frenchmen gained new rights. They obtained the freedom to speak and press. Education had been reformed and became free, compulsory, universal, and secular. Jobs were opened for all class based on talents (Doc 6). All these new ideas had influenced Toussaint L’ Ouverture, a self taught salve. He used the ideas like freedom of speech and social equality to support his revolt on abolishing slavery (Doc 7). Many parts of the Haitian Constitution were similar to the French Constitution. This show that French Constitution's ideas have great contribution to the Haitian revolution. If the French Constitution wasn’t made, Toussaint probably won’t be successful on persuade the Haitian to
In order to fully understand what took place in the Haitian Revolution, one must also be cognizant of why the revolution occurred in the first place. Before the Haitian Revolution, there were five distinct social groups on Saint-Domingue, now called Haiti. The white