During the late eighteenth century, the people of France began to feel a sense of dissatisfaction towards the government due to a number of causes. Many scholars argue that the nobility and bourgeoisie, or middle class, had internal conflicts with each other or that the two classes had similar interests and formed an educated elite. In addition, France was very poor at the time and sported a massive financial debt due to the nation’s participation in the American Revolution. This in turn led to famine and popular unrest within the citizens of France. Although many monarchs, such as Louis XIV and those of Prussia and Austria, opposed the idea of a revolution, the citizens, influenced by Enlightenment ideas, realized that kings were unnecessary and overthrew …show more content…
Due to the enormous national debt, King Louis XIV had no choice but to increase taxes. In 1787, the minister of finance imposed a tax on all land and formed assemblies to help institute the tax. The minister persuaded Louis XIV to call an Assembly of Notables, or a group of nobles and clergy, to gain support for the heavy taxation. The notables advocated for a meeting of the Estates General since the sizable tax would have a great impact on the economy of the nation. The Estates General was essentially a legislative body made up of representatives from the three social classes; the last time it met prior to the 1789 congregation was in 1614. The clergy, nobility, and commoners each elected their representatives separately and created a list of grievances. Although the spokesmen for each class had different living conditions,
The French Revolution and the American Revolution have many similarities but there are definitely some differences between these two wars as well. Yes, both wars were focused around liberty and equality and both were trying to gain freedom but the main difference between these two wars were the context. (www.quora.com) America wanted to gain freedom from rules and taxes that Great Britain had put upon them, whereas France wanted to abolish the French monarchy and form a better government where people had more freedom of speech.
Enlightenment ideas of the 1700th inspired the third estate to revolt against absolute authority and the social class system of the Old Regime. The third estate were the lower class citizens who made up nearly ninety-seven percent of the French population during the time, most of which are discontent with their living conditions. They began to question the social structure with ideas from philosophers such as Rousseau and Voltaire. The citizens were especially influenced by the Enlightenment ideals of equality, democracy, and liberty. Using logic and reason, most of the third estate believed that people are naturally born equal and that they should not be subordinate to anyone in society. In addition, the Enlightenment also emphasized
No one could have imagined the impact that the Enlightenment would have and its long-lasting effect. The Enlightenment and its ideas became so widespread that they did not only affect France, but many other countries also. The French Revolution was directly inspired and influenced by the Enlightenment. Revolutionaries in France built their cause around the ideals of the Age of Reason.
The French Revolution was a period of far-reaching social and political change in France that lasted from 1789 to 1799. Before the revolution there was a period of time called the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement in which followers considered that human reason brought a move from theory to practice and criticism to reforming education, household administration, social reactions and politics. Voltaire, a French philosopher and contributor to the Age of Enlightenment, expressed these ideas utilizing his intelligence, wit and style to mark his name as one of France’s greatest writers. The Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution to a great extent by introducing new ideas that encouraged questioning of authority and religion, advancing people’s outlook on commodities, and forcing citizens to compare their need with the Republic’s needs. This further brought an uprising of people wanting more such as equality and civil rights. In the process to do so there were 250,000 casualties in the Reign of Terror followed the Thermidorian Reaction which implemented an oligarchy government called the Directory. Royalist riots prompted the Coup d’etat of Fructidor which brought Napoleon into Directory which he later overthrows and creates an Authoritarian Republic.
The American and French Revolutions were both fundamentally based on the Enlightenment ideas. The main ideas that they followed were by John Locke. His ideas inspired the Americans and the French to have a revolution. In these revolutions, the Americans had success and the French failed. The success that the Americans experienced wad due to the protection of rights they had. These rights are 'Life, Liberty and Property.? In America a constitution was put together that provided for a stable government and also a representative government. In France failure was caused by chaos, terror, fear and war. The French were unsuccessful because they failed to create a democratic
Enlightenment thinkers, also known as philosophers had a major impact on the American and French Revolution. Philosophers from the 1700s influenced the making of two documents known as United States’ Declaration of Independence and France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens. The Declaration of Independence is a document that was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson. It reflects the beliefs of enlightenment philosopher, John Locke. Written in 1793 by Marquis de Lafayette, the Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen was influenced by the beliefs of Voltaire, another Enlightenment thinker. John Locke didn’t like the idea of absolute monarchy. He favored the idea of self- government and equal rights. Locke believed that the
To what extent were Enlightenment ideas responsible for the outbreak of the French Revolution and the reforms of 1789?
Neither the United States Constitution, nor the Declaration of Independence, were written in an ideological vacuum. Rather, the ideas expressed by the various philosophers during the century and leading up to the American Revolution had tremendous influence over the Founders of the United States. These ideas came together in the creation of the U.S. constitution, working in tandem to lay the foundation for the way the government should be structured, as well as the core philosophy behind the country.
During the American Revolution many of the ideas of Enlightenment were used as the guidelines that influenced things such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Key figures and innovators like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, who have been greatly influenced by the ideas of Enlightenment, founded the United States. This is one of the key periods in time that helped shaped the United States to the way it is has become today. The Enlightenment has produced a number amount of books, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were greatly influenced by the Enlightenment. In this paper, I argue that the Enlightenment shaped the Gettysburg address presented by Lincoln and the American
The American Revolution of the 1770’s was fueled by the ideas of social equality and political liberty as well as the desire for justice and the creation of democratic institutions. This movement as well as the writings of authors, such as Rousseau and Voltaire, speaking human rights, led way to the French Revolution. With King Louis XVI reign there was much careless spending and overindulgence leaving France in a very poor financial state when he passed away. His rule had caused the majority of French people to have distinct and feelings of resentment towards the monarchy when Louis XVI came into rule. At the time, France had three basic social classes. At the top were the royals’
The French Revolution was quite different than the American Revolution predecessor. The American Revolution expressed the tensions of a colonial relationship with a distant imperial power, the French insurrection was driven by sharp conflicts within French society. Members of the titled nobility - privileged, prestigious, and wealthy - resented and resisted the monarchy's effort to subject them to new taxes. Educated middle-class men such as doctors, lawyers, lower-level officials, and merchants were growing in numbers and sometimes in wealth and were offended by the remaining privileges of the aristocracy, from which they were excluded. Ordinary urban men and women, many of whose incomes had declined for a generation, were hit particularly hard in the late 1780s by the rapidly rising price of bread and widespread unemployment. Nowhere did the example of the French Revolution echo more loudly than in
During the eighteenth century there was one central political cause for the French Revolution. King Louis XVI was a weak ruler who endured a lavish lifestyle. He disregarded the people’s needs, leaving much of the French population in discontent. Prior to the revolution the form of government was Absolute monarchy led by Louis XVI. The problem with absolute monarchy was that people were denied basic rights, and a say in government because the divine right theory was abused. The King ruled by the divine right of theory which
The French Revolution or the Revolution of 1789, was a movement that shook up the foundation of France, a country that was already in a state of crisis. During this time, France was dealing with one of its most major problems that were plaguing the country’s financial downfalls; not being able to collect enough taxes to repay their debts. Some additional causes of the Revolution, other than France’s financial struggles, were the resistance of the nobility and clergy towards any type of tax increase, the increased growth of the philosophies from the Enlightenment, and the not so amazing efforts put forth by their ruler at the time, Louis XVI, who was attempting to impose an absolute monarchy on the country.
Political, monetary, and social conditions in France added to the discontent felt by numerous French individuals particularly those of the third estate. The thoughts of the scholarly people of the Enlightenment conveyed new perspectives to government and society. The American Revolution additionally affected the happening to the French Revolution. The Philosophers planted the seeds for the French Revolution. Their objectives were to uncover and annihilate the disparities of the old administration (old order). The political discontent of France was one of the reasons for the Revolution. In the seventeenth and eighteenth hundreds of years, France was ruled by an outright government. The ruler had all the political forces. Any individual who reprimanded the administration could be captured and put in jail without trial. Louis XVI was lord at the season of the French Revolution. He was keener on chasing than overseeing France. He and his Austrian ruler, Marie Antoinette, carried on with an extreme life at the Palace of Versailles. They didn 't generally think about the condition of their nation.
The French Revolution began in 1789 and lasted until the late 1790s. During this time, French citizens redesigned their government. Like the American Revolution, the French Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideals. The Enlightenment Ideals that caused the French Revolution stated that all men are free and equal. The movement played an important role in shaping modern nations by showing the world the power that people withhold. France’s involvement in the American Revolution left them on the brink of bankruptcy. Heavy taxes were imposed, resulting in rioting, looting, and striking. As a result of the French Revolution, the people of the First Estate lost certain privileges, such as being exempt from taxes. France was no longer a monarchy, because it became a Republic after the Revolution. Both the French and American Revolutions were influenced