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French Revolution: The Influential Point Of The American Revolution

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The year 1789 was an important one for France. The American Revolution had recently ended in a victory and now the French wanted to take their stand. France had helped the Americans in their war and the ideas of democracy and liberty were in the air. Liberty is the idea of living freely within a society, being able to think, speak and act any way that you want to without being controlled by the government. Because of the French Revolution it led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the creation of a democracy. Another influential point that the Revolution made was that the French created the Constitution of 1792 which granted freedom of speech, religion, and equality before the law, and they also abolished slavery and gave legal rights to women. The French Revolution was inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution but carried the ideas one step further. The Americans spoke about liberty and equality but still kept people as slaves and did not grant rights to women, while the French did. The American Revolution was led by wealthy, educated men, but the French Revolution was led by peasants and ordinary …show more content…

They wanted to be sure that everyone in their society had liberty, not just the wealthy people who owned land. The first rule written into the French Constitution was, “That his subjects of the third estate, equal by such status to all other citizens, present themselves before the common father without other distinction which might degrade them.” (World For Us, “Cahiers de Doléances”). This implies that everyone is of equal status under God, their “common father”, that since God gives liberty to everyone, the government cannot just give liberty to a certain class or “estate” of people as the King had done. Another essential part of the French Constitution was the idea that everyone was welcome to France and that even foreigners could share “equality, liberty, security,

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