Causes of the American and French Revolutions: Enlightenment Ideas, Social Inequality and Economic Crisis

The Colonies and the Path to Independence

The British colonies in America reached a period of great prosperity during the eighteenth century, thanks to the consolidation of a colonial society. The colonists were British subjects loyal to the Crown, but the taxes the Crown imposed to fund its wars increased tensions (Doc. 3).

• 1773: The Boston Tea Party protests the sea cargo tax on tea.
• 1775: The war against Great Britain begins.
• July 4, 1776: In Philadelphia, the United States declares its independence.

The Ideas Behind the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, rests on three principles:

1. All men are created equal and possess inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
2. Governments exist to guarantee these rights.
3. Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Victory and Independence

After the Battle of Saratoga, the American forces won the final victory in 1781. With the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, Great Britain recognized American independence. In 1787, the Constitution established the first stable federal republic. Inspired by Montesquieu, it divided power into executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Figures such as Washington, Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were key to this process.

The Enlightenment in Europe

The eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment, was a cultural movement that began in England and spread across Europe.

1. Rationalism held that reason is the indisputable principle: the human mind, with its own power, can attain correct knowledge.
2. Deism held that everything operates according to the laws of nature.
3. It imposed on every person the duty of tolerance, even toward those who did not think as they did.

Enlightened Absolutism

In that era, absolute monarchy was the form of government in most of Europe. From it arose enlightened despotism, in which governments adopted some Enlightenment ideas. In France there was no enlightened monarch. Enlightened monarchs were found in Prussia, Austria, Russia and Spain, but not in France.

The Philosophers

• John Locke opposed absolutism and the divine right of kings, and his ideas supported the revolution.
• Montesquieu, in The Spirit of the Laws (1748), proposed the separation of the three powers of the state.
• Voltaire and Rousseau championed new ideas of freedom, tolerance and a new social contract.

The Causes of the French Revolution

Political Causes

The government had no effective limits: there were frequent abuses of power, and the people paid the cost of the state's spending.

Social Causes

In 1789 French society was divided into three estates:

• The clergy: about 120 thousand people who enjoyed great privileges and were exempt from taxes. The high clergy (bishops, abbots, canons) lived in luxury, while the lower clergy (friars, priests, vicars) lived in poverty.
• The nobility: about 350 thousand people who held many honorific and fiscal privileges.
• The common people: the integrated Bourgeoisie (capitalists, industrialists, merchants and professionals), the urban middle classes (artisans, servants and workers), and the peasants, who made up more than 80% of the population.

Economic Causes

Since the reign of Louis XIV, France had taken part in costly wars that were largely useless, and the spending of the royal court consumed much of the state's income. As a result, France was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Immediate Causes

In 1774 Louis XVI inherited a country in serious financial trouble and, to resolve the economic crisis, he decided to summon the Assembly of Notables and propose new taxes. The notables rejected his proposals for taxes, and this led to the convening of the Estates-General.