american vs french revolution essay

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How Did the American Revolution Influence the French Revolution?

By: Julie Marks

Updated: August 7, 2024 | Original: May 1, 2018

When American colonists won independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War , the French, who participated in the war themselves, were both close allies and key participants. 

Several years after the revolt in America, French reformers faced political, social and economic hardships that mirrored the colonists’ struggles. While the French Revolution was a complex conflict with numerous triggers and causes, the American Revolution set the stage for an effective uprising that the French had observed firsthand.

The Revolutions Shared Similar Causes

Although the French and American people had several distinct and differing motives for revolting against their ruling governments, some similar causes led to both revolutions, including the following:

Economic struggles: Both the Americans and French dealt with a taxation system they found discriminating and unfair. Additionally, France’s involvement in the American Revolution, along with extravagant spending practices by King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette , left the country on the verge of bankruptcy.

Monarchy:  Although the American colonists had lived in a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system, they revolted against the royal powers of King George III just like the French rose up against Louis XVI.

Unequal rights: Like the American colonists, the French felt that specific rights were only granted to certain segments of society, namely the elite and aristocrats.

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Enlightenment Philosophy Was a Major Influence

Many experts believe that the same ideologies that sparked the American Revolution had long percolated through French culture.

During the war in North American colonies, some allied Frenchmen fought side by side with soldiers of the Continental Army, which allowed for the exchanging of values, ideas and philosophies.

One key ideological movement, known as the  Enlightenment , was central to the American uprising. Enlightenment stressed the idea of natural rights and equality for all citizens.

The ideas of the Enlightenment flowed from Europe to the North American continent and sparked a revolution that made enlightened thought all the more popular back across the Atlantic.

The Declaration of Independence Became a Template for the French

The French who had direct contact with the Americans were able to successfully implement Enlightenment ideas into a new political system.

The National Assembly in France even used the American Declaration of Independence as a model when drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789. 

Much like the American document, the French declaration included Enlightenment principles, such as equal rights and popular sovereignty.

Americans' Victory Encouraged the French

The Americans’ victory over the British may have been one of the greatest catalysts for the French Revolution.

The French people saw that a revolt could be successful—even against a major military power–and that lasting change was possible. Many experts argue that this gave them the motivation to rebel. The newly-formed government of the United States also became a model for French reformers.

Ideas that were once just abstract thoughts—such as popular sovereignty, natural rights, constitutional checks and balances and separation of powers—were now part of an actual political system that worked.

What Was the Extent of America’s Influence?

Though most historians agree that the American Revolution influenced the French Revolution, which lasted from 1789-1799, some scholars debate the significance and extent of its impact.

France, a country on the verge of financial collapse with an outdated feudal system and a wildly unpopular monarchy, was a powder keg waiting to explode, with or without the American war to serve as an example.

Other political, social and religious factors also activated the French people’s appetite for change.

Though there were clear differences between the motives for each revolt and how the two wars were fought, most experts believe that the war in America at least partly paved the way for France’s own uprising. The Americans provided a working model of revolutionary success that cannot have been lost on the French.

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The American and the French Revolutions

This essay will specifically compare the American and French Revolutions, highlighting their similarities and differences in ideals, leadership, and their respective influences on global politics and society. Moreover, at PapersOwl, there are additional free essay samples connected to American Revolution.

How it works

The right of revolution was an idea proposed by Enlightenment Philosopher John Locke, which inspired and challenged the colonies in America and the people of France to revolt. Displeased with their current positions with their governments, they mustered up the courage and strength to challenge authority. Through their battles and hardships, both revolutions sought a government that mirrored the Enlightenment beliefs of natural rights, power of the people, and equality. With those goals in mind, they demonstrated the idea that through revolution, change was indeed possible.

In the American and French Revolutions, there were significant differences and similarities in the goals, causes, and events that ultimately led to the outcomes of each. This essay has been written with a view to compare and contrast the American and French Revolutions.

The causes of the revolutions in France and America were very similar. Both revolutions were caused, in one way or another, by taxes. In the American Revolution, the colonies in America were being ruled overseas by a limited monarchy and were generally allowed to govern themselves. The colonial assemblies, elected by the people, passed laws, paid the governors elected by the King and held the “power of the purse,” in which taxes were only passed or raised with the consent of the people. So when Britain found itself in debt after the French and Indian war, and decided to tax the people without their consent, the colonies showed resentment towards their leaders. Eventually, their protests led to the American Revolution. The French Revolution’s tax dilemma was one of the differences between the French and American Revolution. Being ruled by an absolute monarch, the taxes were, like the American Revolution’s, imposed without the consent of the people. However, in the French’s case, the commoners or peasants had little or no say.

The title of an absolute monarch did not allow peasants or common people to rise against the decisions of the absolute monarchy because they claimed that the king ruled with the “divine right” from God, and therefore no power on earth could stop or order him. In French society, there was the Estates-General, France’s only representative assembly, which consisted of 3 Estates. The Third Estate, mainly consisting of peasants and commoners, paid almost all the taxes and had no special privileges, but The First and Second Estates did not pay taxes and lived lavishly on the taxes collected from the Third. After allying with the colonies in the American Revolution, France, like Britain in the American Revolution, found themselves in a bad financial situation. The French King wanted to impose more taxes upon the Third Estate but, already being unfairly overtaxed, the Third Estate rose up against the monarchy and inevitably caused the French Revolution.

The difference between the causes of the American and the French Revolution was the governments of their time and the amount of power the people were allowed to have. In the French Revolution, the people’s discontent with the King, and his unfair taxing and spending habits, gave the Third Estate a goal to draft a new and fair constitution for the government. In the American Revolution, their original goal was to revolt against the taxes. But soon after Thomas Paine’s words in his pamphlet “Common Sense” were published and spread throughout the colonies, the American Revolution’s goal changed to gaining independence as a new nation apart from Britain. The shared goal to form a better government was one of the main similarities between the American and French Revolution.

There are also similarities and differences that can be seen in the events and outcomes of the French and American Revolutions. In the American Revolution, a group representative of the thirteen colonies called the Continental Congress formed in 1775. In 1789, the French Revolution’s Third Estate changed their name to the National Assembly. Both of these groups represented the people calling for change and, for a period of time, governed the people of the revolutions in their earliest stages. In the American Revolution, on July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress accepted Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, uniting the colonists as Americans in the fight to become an independent nation. Inspired by the American’s Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution also penned their own declaration called the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.” Both declarations were based on the same ideas of John Locke in his philosophy of “natural law.” These declarations were important documents in history, stating the goals of the Revolutions that readily reflected and shared many of the Enlightenment ideas of reason and law, but the outcomes of both revolutions were very opposite.

In the American Revolution’s outcome, the colonies were able to win independence from Britain with the help of the French. But in contrast, the French Revolution’s outcome did not fulfill its original goal as wished. After Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena, France was left in the hands of the Congress of Vienna meeting, where representatives of the countries neighboring France decided upon the future of France after the Revolution. In the Congress of Vienna, the French monarchy was restored, and the throne was given to Louis XVI’s brother. The representatives tried their best to restore France and reverse the revolution, but despite their efforts, some of the changes made were irreversible. Although the French Revolution’s result did not fulfill the original goals of the people, its place in history did not fail to have an impact on the future. The difference between the American and the French Revolution was their success in accomplishing and fulfilling their goals, but what both revolutions’ outcomes had in common was that both resulted in change.

The American Revolution and the French Revolution were important milestones in history that demonstrated the possibility of change through revolution. After 8 long years, the colonies of the American Revolution finally won their independence from Britain. Although the outcome of the French Revolution did not fulfill their original goals for government reform, change was unmistakably present through it all. Together, the similarities and differences in the both of the Revolutions illustrate their fight for change and a better government. The outcomes of the American and the French Revolutions have, and will forever continue to, influence the decisions our leaders make in the betterment of our lives today.

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France and the American Revolution

During the struggle for American independence, France provided the money, troops, armament, military leadership, and naval support that tipped the balance of military power and paved the way for the Continental Army’s ultimate victory. These crucial French contributions exemplify the global character of the war and became the basis for more than two centuries of Franco-American brotherhood in arms.

THE CONNECTION THAT MADE INDEPENDENCE POSSIBLE

The American alliance with the French was hard fought, with characters such as Benjamin Franklin pushing interest in the Patriot cause overseas and Americans at home pushing forward in battle to prove their mettle. After demonstrating their strength at Saratoga, the Americans secured an ally, and the French gained an opportunity to deliver a devastating blow to their old adversary. With French forces amplifying the power of the Continentals, strategy shifted, and the war’s reach even spread around the world on the high seas.  

France in the American Revolution

Strange Bedfellows: Why France Intervened in the American Revolution

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Gunpowder and the Revolutionary War

French figures in the revolution.

From a young king set on making France the supreme European monarchy, to the men in the French Court ushering the king toward the Patriot cause, to the Frenchmen who crossed the Atlantic to fight for and alongside a people whose liberty was at stake, France supported American independence with a plethora of people. Without their fighting spirit, the American Revolution would’ve looked much different.

King Louis XVI

Comte de Grasse

Marquis de Lafayette

Marquis de Chastellux

Jacques-Donatien Le Rey de Chaumont

Armand Louis de Gontaut

Louis le Begue Duportail

Augustin de la Balme

Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte

Charles Gravier

Louis-Alexandre Berthier

When the french came to fight.

The springboard for a formal alliance with the French, the two-part Battle of Saratoga was a much-needed American victory to overcome the shadow that was cast by the disastrous Battle of Quebec. Horatio Gates and the Northern Department of the Continental Army overcame John Burgoyne and his British forces, persuading the French that the Americans would make a worthy partner. Over the course of the Revolution, France provided an estimated 12,000 soldiers and 32,000 sailors to the American war effort. 

The Battle of Flamborough Head

DOCUMENTS THAT DEFINED THE COURSE OF HISTORY

Of the many words that have been written on this global connection, some of the most telling can be found within the documents that were composed amidst the historic events. These documents illuminate the goals and conclusions of a successful partnership, as well as ideas on civics and government that the Revolution imparted.

Treaty of Alliance with France

Treaty of Paris

Lafayette's Draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

After america’s revolution.

French assistance was critical to winning the Revolutionary War, but our European ally’s course became bumpy during a complicated and bloody revolution of its own. In these tumultuous years, American relations with France suffered setbacks like the XYZ Affair and even teetered on the brink of armed conflict. But divisions were mended, and the American appreciation nurtured. Legend holds that leaders of the American Expeditionary Force, arriving in France during WWI declared, “Lafayette, we are here.”

The Quasi-War

The XYZ Affair

Keeping a franco-american legacy alive.

In efforts to remember this history-laden alliance and those linked to it, commemorative projects have been launched, linking these stories to the physical landscapes they unfolded upon. One may now visit several of the sites that the Continental army and allied French forces did when they trekked from Newport, R.I., to Yorktown, Va., in 1781. Or, if interested in the “Hero of Two Worlds” (A.K.A. the Marquis de Lafayette), one will soon be able to follow in his 1824–25 footsteps on a trail dedicated to the legendary figure’s American tour.

• Creating a Route to Victory »
• The Lafayette Trail: Mapping General Lafayette’s Farewell Tour in the United States (1824-1825) »

French Revolution vs. the American Revolution: Which Was More Important?

These two conflicts of principle and practical government are cited as among the most influential revolutions of modern times. However, we Americans often operate under the mistaken assumption that they were in equal in importance. We love our history with its fight for liberty and its noble aims. We are also proud of our international mark for justice, which has been left in the age of the Pax Americana . So, we often assume that just as events in American politics are important to world affairs now, this early American event must have been the most important of its time.

In a sense this is true. Great Britain, the premier imperial power of the age, had lost its American colonies. This change of policy towards British colonies in general, and settler colonies in particular, led to the “second British Empire,” which was far less heavy handed than the first. This accounts for the fact that none of the later British settler colonies rebelled.

So there is a truth to the idea of an influential American Revolution. But in the context of eighteenth and nineteenth-century politics, the American Revolution was dwarfed in importance by the French Revolution, which laid the foundation for radical, secular, and bloody revolutions that would become common in the centuries to follow. It was here that the notions of absolute equality, disrespect for private property, and an elevation of political ends of the “General Will” over individual freedom came to characterize the revolutionary model.

As a result of the French Revolution, large-scale standing armies came to dominate the realm of warfare on the continent of Europe. Also, the first charismatic dictator came to wield global authority, threatening the very existence of weaker nations. It was in the wake of this spirit of rationalism that a civil law code became the norm of legal structures. The entire history of Europe, and the world, was shaped by this seminal event. Its nations were forged in the fires of the French Revolutionary armies and the Napoleonic Regimes that became massive, global powers. Many of the nations they ruled lived under the shadow of the ideologies of the French Revolution.

This is part of the reason why there are enduring differences between the former colonies of the British Empire and of the other European Empires. Ideas have consequences, and the upheavals that rocked France and the world after the French Revolution had profound consequences for the world we live in today. Many evil regimes of our time can trace their ideological roots back to this same event. For this reason, it is worth our time to consider its impact.

I’ll be writing a second article on this next week, so stay tuned!

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American and French Revolution: Compare and Contrast

Table of contents, background and context, causes and triggers, key similarities, key differences, long-term impact.

• Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution . Vintage, 1993.
• Doyle, William. The Oxford History of the French Revolution . Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Hobsbawm, Eric J. Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality . Cambridge University Press, 1992.

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Differences Between the American Revolution and the French Revolution

What are the differences between the american and french revolutions, colony vs. country, freedom vs. overthrow, lexington vs. the bastille, locke vs. rousseau, representation vs. repression, class divisions vs. ideology, concise victory vs. inconclusive ending.

During the last quarter of the 18th century, two countries fought revolutionary wars that altered the course of history by fracturing the traditional political systems of monarchy, colonies and feudalism. Rooted in the fight for freedom and liberty for every individual, the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution of 1789 followed vastly different paths toward obtaining similar goals. Often compared because of similarities in ideology, era and impact, dissimilarities exist between the American Revolution and the French Revolution in context, complexity and outcome.

Location is a key difference between the two wars. The American Revolutionary War took place in thirteen colonies, in North America, an ocean away from its ruling monarchy in Great Britain, in Europe. The French Revolution took place within France itself, an action that directly threatened the French monarchy.

The difference in location also affected the intent of each revolution. American revolutionaries were not looking to change the British empire’s monarchy; they simply desired to be free from its rule using Enlightenment liberties and Enlightenment ideas about natural rights and human rights. On the other hand, the cause of the French revolution revolved around French fighters demanding fundamental changes be made to the way they were governed. In essence, Americans intended to break away to form a new government and establish a new country and a new form of government within their own country, whereas in France, the intent was to replace or change the existing government.

Both revolutions began with battles kindled by the needs of leaders opposed to the established government, however, the battles themselves were dissimilar. In the American colonies, minutemen gathered in Lexington on April 19, 1775, to prevent British government troops from capturing Patriot leaders and arms. In that brief skirmish, famous for “the shot heard 'round the world,” only one British soldier was injured, while 18 Americans were killed or wounded. The French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, to rescue imprisoned revolutionary leaders. The all-day siege and capture of the royal fortress by a mob of revolutionaries resulted in more than 100 dead or wounded rioters, as well as the murder of the fortress’ military governor, Bernard-Jordan de Launay.

The members of the Continental Congress in the American colonies drafted the Declaration of Independence to separate themselves from Britain and to express their belief that every individual has the equal opportunity right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The American ideology was based on the works of British philosopher John Locke. France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was founded on the teachings of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, written with the aim to end the social and political inequalities of the time of King Louis XVI.

Taxation played a role in both wars, however, the people’s objections to the taxes in each country were dissimilar. Americans objected to the fact that colonists had no say in how the collected taxes were spent, or taxation without representation. However, American revolutionaries themselves, like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were financially successful and lived relatively comfortable lives. In contrast, the revolting French peasants were starving and destitute as a result of over-taxation, and thus their fight was in part driven by survival instincts. French revolutionists also objected to the inequality in the taxation -- French clergy and noblemen were taxed less than commoners.

A significant difference exists in the categories of people fighting in each revolution. In France, the combatants were largely separated by economic classes – the rich from the poor, the lower class or the third estate to the upper class. For Americans, the separations were ideological, in that the warring parties divided over loyalty to the crown and absolute monarchy and the desire for freedom for American colonists. In some cases, differing political and philosophical views led to divisions within families and resulted in some soldiers fighting brother against brother in many colonies like New York.

The Treaty of Paris outlined cessation conditions to end the American War for Independence, and its signing on Sept. 3, 1783, marked the conflict’s end and later allowed for the United States of America to be formed. Unrest and conflict continued within France into the 19th century. This political instability and persistent violence make the conclusion of the French Revolution of 1789 difficult to pinpoint. Although the notorious “Reign of Terror” ended in 1794 and a new constitution was approved in 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état on Nov. 9, 1799, is most often considered to be the end of the French Revolution.

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• U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian -- Milestones -- 1776-1783 -- Treaty of Paris
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• U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian -- Milestones -- 1750-1775
• U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian: The United States and the French Revolution
• Heritage Foundation: The Nature of Rights in American Politics: A Comparison of Three Revolutions

A former art instructor, high school counselor and party planner, Christine Bartsch writes fashion, travel, interior design, education and entertainment content. Bartsch earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in communications/psychology/fine arts from Wisconsin Lutheran College and a creative writing Master of Fine Arts from Spalding University. She's written scripts for film/television productions and worked as the senior writer at a video game company.

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Revolution Around the World

France and the american revolution.

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The Revolution Around the World series explores the impact of the American Revolution on the globe and the influence of people from other countries on the Revolutionary era. 

What was happening around the world in 1776? When and why did different countries get involved in the Revolutionary War? What was the impact of the broader American Revolution on those countries? 

Take a closer look as we examine France's involvement in the American Revolution.

What was happening in France in 1776?

In 1776, France was one of the great powers of Europe. Though still reeling from the loss of its American colonies at the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, the country remained a global power with a strong army and navy. Like Great Britain, France had a young king. In 1776, Louis XVI was just 22 years old and had been king for only two years. His reign, which would end during the French Revolution, was only just beginning. He and members of his court looked eagerly towards America for the flourishing of new Enlightenment ideas and for the potential harm it might do to their old nemesis, the British.  

When did France become involved in the American Revolution?

From the outset of the Revolutionary War, French intellectuals followed events in America. Some of the earliest printings of the new American state constitutions (some of which are displayed in the Museum) were in French, a direct attempt to curry favor with European audiences. Benjamin Franklin arrived in Paris in December 1776 as the first official representative of the United States in France. Franklin and others worked to secure secret shipments of French weapons, equipment, and uniforms. In 1778, the relationship between France and the United States was formalized with the Treaty of Alliance.

Which side did France choose, and why?

France chose to support the American Revolutionaries for two reasons. First, in global politics, France had been engaged in periodic wars with Great Britain. However, being a colonial power, they did not want to appear to be endorsing rebellious colonies. Two years after the American Revolutionaries declared the independence of the United States, France formalized its alliance with the new country. Second, many people in France, especially the nobility, were deeply engaged in the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment and were inspired by new ideas about human society, rationalism, science, and progress. They viewed the American states, with their republican forms of government, as the embodiment of some of these new ideas.

Who were the key French players in this story?

The list of French people involved in the Revolutionary War is impressive. Independent Frenchmen such as the Marquis de Lafayette traveled to America to join the war effort. Later in the Revolutionary War, French soldiers and sailors were instrumental in the victory of the United States. Officers like the Comte de Rochambeau and the Comte de Grasse led the French land and sea forces that made possible Washington’s victory at Yorktown in 1781. Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who would go on to design Washington, DC, joined the Revolutionary forces in 1777. On a late summer day in 1782, he sat on a hillside in Verplanck’s Point, New York, and sketched the only known image of Washington’s tent in the field.

What was the impact of France's involvement?

France helped make the victory of the United States possible. Continental soldiers used French weapons and wore French-made uniforms and, by the end of the war, they fought alongside French soldiers. The French army and navy battled the British all over the world, from Asia and Africa to the Caribbean, which stretched the capabilities of the British war effort in America. A number of Revolutionary War battles didn’t even include Americans – the last battle of the war occurred when British and French ships clashed off the coast of India in 1783. But the American Revolution continued long after the Revolutionary War was over. Ideas about liberty and equality helped inspire the French Revolution and independence movements in French colonies, such as Haiti, for generations after 1783.

Dive Even Deeper

• Related Read the Revolutions: Investigate France's role in the American Revolution even further with Jonathan Israel's The Expanding Blaze , Thomas Flemings' The Perils of Peace , and David Head's A Crisis of Peace . Looking for a kid-friendly option? Check out Selena Castrovilla's Revolutionary Friends .
• From the Collection: Explore the Museum's collection to see an intricately designed French sword , a French musket marked "UNITED STATES," and a French gorget .
• Lafayette in the Collection: Explore the Museum's collection for artifacts related to Lafayette, including a parade banner marking his 1824 return to the United States, a brazier said to who been brought to the United States by Lafayette, and a painting depicting Baron de Kalb introducing Lafayette to Silas Deane.
• True Colours Flag Project: Learn more about France's role in the Revolutionary War at sea through the Museum's  True Colours Flag Project , which set out to recreate large flags flown by privateers and navy ships by countries like the United States, France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, and more during the Revolutionary War at sea.

French Gorget

The Perils of Peace

Lafayette Parade Banner

French and American Revolutions Compared Essay

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Bibliography

Baker, Hunter. “The Soul of Liberty.” Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity 25, no. 3 (May/June 2012): 36-43.

Goldstone, Jack A. Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Studies. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003.

Jones, Gareth Stedman. “An End to Poverty: The French Revolution and the Promise of a World Beyond Want.” Historical Research 78, no. 200 (May 2005): 193-207.

Perovic, Sanja. “Other People’s Lives: Exemplary History and the French Revolution.” Literature & History 21, no. 2 (Autumn 2012): 16-31.

“Revolution: America—The Story of Us” (video). Web.

Ziesche, Philipp. “Exporting American Revolutions: Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Jefferson, and the National Struggle for Universal Rights in Revolutionary France.” Journal of the Early Republic 26, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 419-447.

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1. IvyPanda . "French and American Revolutions Compared." August 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/french-and-american-revolutions-compared/.

IvyPanda . "French and American Revolutions Compared." August 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/french-and-american-revolutions-compared/.

Home — Essay Samples — History — French Revolution — Comparing The American and French Revolutions

Comparing The American and French Revolutions

• Categories: French Revolution

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Words: 575 |

Published: Aug 1, 2024

Words: 575 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

The causes of the revolutions, the course of the revolutions, the implications of the revolutions.

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