French and American Revolutions: Foreign Policy Aftermath

The Collapse of the Ancien Régime and Revolutionary Interpretations

The French Revolution is not just the story of a rising revolution — it is also a tale of the breakdown of the ancien régime. Bukovansky (2009, 170) notes that although the Marxist interpretation frames the French bourgeoisie as revolting against and overthrowing a monarchy rooted in feudalism, numerous historians have challenged this view over the years. The disagreements that contributed to the collapse of the ancien régime stemmed from tensions permeating old-regime political culture in the mid- to late eighteenth century (2009, 170).

Some historians see the Reign of Terror as a portentous predecessor of contemporary tyranny, while others argue that this view fails to recognize the important role the Revolution played in establishing the precedents of democratic institutions such as elections, representative government, and written constitutions. The unsuccessful attempts of the urban lower middle classes to secure economic and political gains foreshadowed the class conflicts of the nineteenth century. While major historical interpretations of the French Revolution vary considerably, virtually all agree that it had a profound impact on the shaping of the modern world.

Unlike the French Revolution — a sweeping social revolution that broke the institutional foundations of the ancien régime and transferred power from the ruling elite to a new social group — the American Revolution transformed a monarchical society, in which colonists were subjects of the Crown, into a brand new republic. In this new republic, citizens would be participants in the political process rather than passive subjects.

Economic and Diplomatic Crises of the New American Republic

The Revolution created a severe economic depression that nearly bankrupted the national government. France and the Netherlands offered loans, but only at extremely high interest rates. Because of this shortage of capital, the new republic had an especially difficult time conducting commercial transactions. Individual states issued paper money that was essentially worthless, and many of the nation's infant industries were overwhelmed by a flood of British imports.

The southern states were hit the hardest by economic problems. Planters lost approximately 60,000 slaves during the Revolution, including around 25,000 in South Carolina and 5,000 in Georgia (Mintz 2010). Britain imposed new trade regulations that prohibited the sale of various American agricultural products in the West Indies, one of the South's leading markets (2010).

Foreign policy also presented serious challenges. Americans now lacked the protection of the British flag, which left sailors aboard American ships vulnerable to seizure by North African pirates who then sold them into slavery. In 1785, Algerian pirates boarded an American merchant vessel sailing off the coast of Portugal, seized its twenty-one-member crew, and enslaved them for twenty-one years. Over the following eight years, approximately a hundred more Americans were forced into slavery (Mintz 2010).

At the same time, Britain refused to evacuate its military posts in Detroit, Oswego, New York, and other locations in the Northwest, citing the states' refusal to restore loyalist property that had been confiscated during the Revolution. Meanwhile, Spain refused to recognize American territorial claims between the Ohio River and Florida, and in 1784 closed the Mississippi River in an effort to acquire the area that would become Kentucky and Tennessee (Mintz 2010).