Enlightenment Ideas Inspired The American and French Revolutions

Madison’s primary focus throughout the beginning of this paper is factions. He holds a deep disdain for them as he thinks that they solely focus on themselves, while hurting other Americans, which is evident in this quote, (“…united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the

However, Madison explained that there are two methods of removing the causes of faction. First, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence. “Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an ailment, without which it instantly expires,” Madison stated. What Madison was trying to say is that liberty and factions go hand in hand. Liberty promotes a faction to grow and get more powerful. In this way, it is better to lessen liberty among individuals to provide for what is best for the overall society. If people are not free to form and express their points of view, then factions could never take hold.

In the presence of a powerful fraction, there is nothing to protect the minority factions from being overpowered; that a true direct democracy would be incapable of maintaining the protection of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. A large republic government will impart power to elected representatives, making the power of factions to affect the vote is greatly decreased. Madison believes that this type of government should be put in the new constitution.

The American and French revolutions both compare and contrast in their origins and outcomes; both revolutions began due to the common peoples need to obtain independence and liberty from an oppressive government. The American Revolution was triggered by the American colonists need for financial independence from the overpowering nation of Great Britain, while the French revolution was a struggle to gain social equality among the masses. Although the American and French Revolutions were fought over the same ideas, the American Revolution is considered more “conservative” than the French. The intent of the American revolutionaries was not to initiate a revolution, but rather to gain their

The only way to manage faction is to remove its causes and to control its effects. By removing its causes Madison believes that liberty will be destroyed, or that by giving every citizen the same opinions, passions, and interests, would be impossible because people can never all be the same. Madison wanted the United States to be a republic, a form of democracy in which power is vested in representatives, so there will be a greater number of citizens represented and we will also be able to have more control over the factions effects.

The American and the French revolutions had many similarities and differences. One similarity being is that they both wanted to escape the rule of their King. Second, they both started by an uprising of people against unfair taxation by the monarchy. The French peasants were not represented by the Parliament. It was mainly composed of middle and upper class people. Now, the American colonists were not represented in England because of their lack of presence. Both wanted to set up a Republic, which provided liberty and justice to all classes of citizens. Just like France, the American colonists were composed up mainly middle and lower class citizens. The American Revolution started out by not wanting bloodshed and violence. France started

The French and American revolutions were both countries fighting for independence, almost one after another, the American first, and then the French. Both were very similar, while also, very different. Both were inspired by Enlightenment thinkers, and both involved citizens against the king. The French revolutionists were inspired by the American patriots.

With the concept of majority tyranny in mind, the founder’s, including Madison, divided the power of the government into three different branches. The need

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

The new ideas started controversy amongst the United States and so a Revolution started. The British raised taxes on goods to pay off their war debt; however this angered the colonists and so they boycotted goods. They also dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor to protest. This was the last straw and the American Revolution broke out. The American Revolution happened because Americans wanted freedom from Britain. They wanted their own government, so the American Revolution occurred. The Revolution is extremely important because if it had never happened, we would not have the freedom and independence that we have today. We would still be living under Britain's rules and ideals. Some Enlightenment thinkers that transformed the Revolution and still impact today are Montesquieu, who created the idea of separation of powers, which we still use today. John Locke helped form the ideas included in the Declaration of Independence, like life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Voltaire believed in freedom of speech as religion, which the US Bill of Rights is based off of. These well-known philosophers transformed the United States and helped start the Revolution because of all the controversy. The Enlightenment philosophers and ideals impacted the American Revolution

One of the biggest sources that factions come from are from the distribution of land. There are two main ones, those with lots and land and those with little land. Even though these groups conflict, the government is obliged to guard the interests of each group. Madison stated two ways to control factions, which were to remove its causes and controlling its effect. Madison says next that he worries about corruption of members of the new government, but says it is less likely because representative will be chosen by a large population. He also discusses the differences between a republic and a democracy, along with that the main goal of the Constitution is to make all 13 states secure from threats and invasion.

The French Revolution began less than two decades after the American Revolution. In many ways, the American experience was an inspiration for the citizens of France. But the people of the two countries had different situations and had different concerns, which influenced the way each revolution began, progressed, and ended. In this assignment you will write an essay that compares and contrasts the two revolutions.

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.

Madison is trying to point out that the power of the government needs to be spread out and that there needs to be checks and balances. There needs to be checks and balances in order to prevent one branch of government from gaining too much power and making decisions on its own. John Dalberg-Acton said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." as quoted in Letters of Thomas Jefferson Concerning Philology and the Classics, Volume 137

The French and American revolutions are both very significant in the world’s history. The American Revolution happened first, around the last half of the 18th century where the Thirteen Colonies became the United States of America, and gained independence from the British Empire. The French revolution on the other hand, was from 1789 until the turn of the century 1799. For the French people this was a period of political and social turmoil. The idea of Enlightenment stuck a large population of the French people and led to many changes in society. These two individual revolutions have many comparisons and although they are not identical they become intertwined with separate philosophies on politics and economic expansion.