How Did American Revolution Serve as the Inspiration for the French Revolution?

¶ … American Revolution and the French Revolution

The American Revolution was important in more than one way, and it served as inspiration for the rest of the world. The most important thing that happened as a result of the American Revolution is that a brand new country was created, and secondly, the rest of the world found that they could also achieve what they set out to do, because of the American Revolution. It was on the Fourth of July that the Declaration of Independence was signed, and this was the day that America became a free independent democracy. The American Revolution was, in fact, inspired by the very same ideals of equality, democracy, brotherhood, liberty, and freedom, that served to deliver inspiration to the French Revolution too, and what both Revolutions had in common was that they both served to inspire the people of their country that there was indeed a better world out there waiting for them. However, the different classes of people within the same country shared different ideals and dreams, like for example, whereas artisans and farmers and the like believed in the fact that an infinitely better life would begin for them, the other class of people, like the merchants and traders and the like came to the conclusion that they would rule themselves by forming their own government comprising their own class of people, by overthrowing an oppressive power that had been ruling them for a great many years. (Gowland, 2003, p. 6)

The result was that, in both the American as well as in the French revolutions the gains for the working class comprised of artisans and other craftsmen were kept to a bare minimum, while the merchant classes worked at getting more power for themselves. In other words, when the Declaration of Independence was signed in America, the 'rights of man' did not include all the rights of all the men; it meant the rights of a select few people. The French revolution in fact took its inspiration form this very document, and the result was that their Declaration was also modeled along the same lines as the former. However, worldwide opinion is that the Declaration of Independence of America granted rights and privileges only to an exclusive group of white, and also male, property owners. Therefore, the newly independent America, was a far cry from the original 'beacon of freedom' that it was intended to actually be, and one of the very major drawbacks of the newly written Constitution of America, that most patriots of America at the time believed to be the virtual envy of the entire world, did nothing to disallow slave trade, and slave trading was not abolished until the year 1808. (Gowland, 2003, p. 7)

In fact, the First President of America, George Washington, raised revenue for his newly formed country through a tax that was levied on the import of slaves. The discrimination against Africans continues unabated in America, to this day, and therefore, it can be safely and forcefully stated that the American Revolution still has a long way to go, and it is only if and when all the citizens of the country are given an equal status will America be a truly free and democratic country, that would supposedly serve as an inspiration for the entire world. (Gowland, 2003, p. 7)

John Murrin wrote an essay on the American Revolution and its effects. He used the term 'counter-cyclical revolution' to describe the American Revolution, and he also states that the primary cause of the Revolution lay in the failure of the British government to convert its success during the French and Indian Wars to a good policy for North America; it rather started to attempt to amalgamate and combine all its separate and individual parts into a single legal and administrative as well as an economic whole. The Colonists, quite naturally reacted badly to this offer, and they not only started to eulogize whatever they had in common with each other but also whatever was separating them from their own mother country. This led to a growing sense of discontent, which could only lead to growing hostility and disaffection towards the British regime. The American Revolution led to the development of an independent America, but one that was still set up on the foundations of existing Institutions. However, in France, it was entirely different. The French Revolution had higher ideals and notions than that of the American, and the primary aim of the people involved was to virtually obliterate all the various pre-existing arrangements so that there may be a complete and a total change within the society as a whole. (Harsanyi, 2005, p. 24)