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Compare And Contrast French Revolution And Haitian Revolution

Decent Essays

During the Age of Revolution, several colonies and nations underwent many major reforms and changes. The French overthrew an absolute monarch and shortly thereafter the Haitians seceded from their mother country, France. Although the reforms of the two nations during the revolutions were different, the French and Haitian Revolutions were remarkably similar in the fact that the Enlightenment and nationalism both played significant roles. The French Revolution was ended with the end of absolutism and the reign of Napoleon, while the Haitian Revolution ended when Napoleon loosened the reigns and allowed Haiti to become an independent country. The French government consisted of the king and the Estates General, which allowed the clergy, nobility …show more content…

During the French Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was written and many actions were completed with Enlightenment philosophies, such as those by Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu. Rousseau wrote the Social Contract, which opposed absolutism and stated that the government should only, and can only govern with the consent of the governed. This idea was heavily supported and spread, as the Third Estate was not properly represented in the Estates General. King Louis XVI continuously abused his power by over-taxing the Third Estate and bribed the nobles and clergy, the first and second estate respectively, into siding with him. Voltaire’s philosophies were that there should be freedom of speech and religion, as well as, a separation of church and state. During the French revolution, his philosophies were the justification behind the beheading of Robespierre, and the pact made by Napoleon with the Roman Catholic Church, also known as the Concordat. Montesquieu’s idea of separation of power influenced the equal administrative powers of the French government so that one branch could not overpower another. The Haitian Revolution was influenced by the Enlightenment’s idea of equality and Locke’s natural rights of man. The island of Haiti was a colony of France which produced sugar, along with other cash crops, and provided trade supplies

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