American Revolution

The American Revolution created several important effects which influenced the development of the French Revolution by different considerations:

1. The French people found great inspiration in how Americans defeated British rule successfully during their revolution. People demonstrated that they could remove oppressive leadership to create a better social structure based on justice. French citizens used the American independence movement as a paradigm to lead their opposition against French royal dictatorship.

2. The movements toward independence drew their influence from classical Enlightenment beliefs about sovereignty of the people and their entitlements to equal rights and liberty. Significant revolutionary ideas which focused on individual rights and government participation were essential components of both America and France during their revolutions.

3. According to history French direct military cooperation with American rebels together with substantial financial backing proved essential for the American success in the Revolution. French soldiers and civilian officials experienced revolutionary concepts through their participation during American Revolution and simultaneously depleted the national treasury leading to bankruptcy and contributing to the French Revolution.

4. The American Declaration of Independence served as the motivation for the French Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen by detailing all citizen privileges. French Revolution originated from these grounds becoming an iconic representation of their battle against both tyranny and fight for equality.

5. Diffusion of Revolutionary Ideas: The American Revolution spread revolutionary ideas across Europe and to France in particular. The actions in America fascinated and moved both French intellectuals and revolutionaries because of the struggle for freedom conducted by colonists.

The American Revolution motivated and molded French citizens into a movement for liberty and equality despite their distinct reasons for becoming involved in the French Revolution.

Major Characters involved in American Revolution

The American Revolution is a complex process, so many people contributed or participated in it. Among them, two stand out: George Washington Friendship Thomas Jefferson.

George Washington: The Military Leader

Commanding generalship of George Washington on the Army of the Continental vital in America triumph. He was an excellent leader, he showed prowess in his planning and doing the most to have the troops and the colonies match in their commitments and vision.

-Military Leadership: Specifically, the skill of maintaining discipline and raising morale of an army considering numerous failures and problems is paramount. Obviously tactical choices such as decisions to attack without warning Trenton and Princeton were meeting the psychological needs of the troops and shifting the balance of the conflict.
-Symbol of Unity: Washington indeed was the personification of Revolution. That character together with the he integrity that he portrayed was a unifying factor that was admired by the American people, which they were willing to go to any length to support.

Thomas Jefferson: The Ideologue

Thomas Jefferson, the great writer and the political theorist, voiced the ideas of the Revolution.

– Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson was a writer and he wrote the Declaration of Independence. This was a document not only for announcing the independence of America but also for stating the principle of individual freedom and political self rule.
-Advocate Republicanism: Jefferson was a strict republicanist; he thought that people must have the sovereignty power the government authority must be confined. These sets of ideas has shaped the political evolution of America in a great way.

Washington and Jefferson were two predestined personalities which made American revolution real. Not only did military leadership take full charge of victory by making the domicile in Washington the sine qua non but on an ideological level Jefferson also contributed significantly to form the new nation.

In the context of the Australian colonies in the period of the American Revolution, ‘liberty’ and ‘self-government’ shifted from the concept of British colonies to basic political virtues of a new nation. In its earliest usage, ‘liberty formed a part of a legalistic understanding of the rights of individual citizens under British law, the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. This is because colonists felt they had the freedom to be productive without interference a freedom they felt the British were violating through policies such as the imposition of taxes without consent.

The phenomenon of liberty over time evolved into applying to concepts drawn from the Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke as the revolution was on full swing. From English constitutional rights it moved to ‘natural rights’ – fundamental liberties such as life, property and liberty. Thomas Paine just escalated it with ‘Common Sense’, claiming liberty couldn’t exist with monarchy and calling for independence.

As did ‘self-governance’. First of the local assemblies who were subject to British control, it evolved to what is understood today as sovereignty of the popular. The same held true for the Continental Congress and state constitutions, as the colonists attempted to create republican governments that would not be influenced by the British empire.

Thus, by the Revolution’s end ‘liberty’, concept was linked with ‘republicanism’ – individual and composite freedom and self-rule. In a critical manner, self governance evolved during the period of articles of confederation and later during the constitution through managing both state and federal relations and at same time actively involving citizens in political decision making. These changes set the context for the United States, but arguments for or against them and specifically with respect to equality, would continue. That is the way, in which ideas of the revolution about liberty and self-government influenced future movements for justice and democracy.

The civil war by American from the year 1861 to 1865 between the Northern also called as Union and the Southern, called as Confederates primarily concerning slave, economics and sovereignty. There had been rising conflict for several decades because of different opinions on the issue of the spread of slavery into new regions and its impact to the economy of the United States of America.

Civil War broke out on the 12th of April in 1861 through a successful attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The North side was instituted by President Abraham Lincoln and its aim was to preserve the Union while in the long run eradicates slavery. The South was led by President Jefferson Davis and crossed their aim so as to enslave their nation so as to maintain their agricultural-based economy and slave culture.

Some of the major wars fought included the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 where the tide was turned for the Union and of Sherman’s march to the sea in 1864 that destroyed much of Southern infrastructure. It came to the halt on April 9, 1865, Civil War’s officially recognized peace started when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.

They determined that the Civil War was 620,000 deaths and immense devastation in the South; but it abolished slavery through the 13th Amendment and produced Reconstruction to dramatically alter the social fabric of America and the political culture of the country.