Democracy: American and
French Revolutions
Theme: The effect of Enlightenment ideas
on government and society
Lesson 10
Enlightenment (Where we left off
on Lesson 4)
Abbé Delille recites a
poem in the salon of
Madame Geoffrin, site of
many gatherings of the
Enlightenment
philosophes
Impact of the Scientific Revolution
• Suggested that rational analysis of behavior and
institutions could have meaning in the human as
well as the natural world
• Increasingly, thinkers challenged recognized
authorities such as Aristotelian philosophy and
Christian religion and sought to explain the world
in purely rational terms
• The result was a movement known as the
“Enlightenment”
John Locke (1632-1704)
• Studied the relationship
between the individual
and the state
• Wrote An Essay
Concerning Human
Understanding in 1689
• Largely anti-authoritarian
– Opposition is both on
the level of the
individual person and
on the level of
institutions such as
government and
church
John Locke
• Individuals should use reason to search after truth rather
than simply accepting the opinion of authorities or being
subject to superstition
– Proportion assent to propositions to the evidence for
them
• There must be a distinction between the legitimate and
illegitimate functions of institutions
– Based on those distinctions, there is a corresponding
distinction for the uses of force by those institutions.
• By using reason to try to grasp the truth and by
determining the legitimate functions of institutions, the
individual and society will flourish materially and
spiritually
John Locke
• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) had described a
social contract in which people in a state of
nature ceded their individual rights to a strong
sovereign in return for his protection
• Locke offered a new social contract theory in
which people contracted with one another for a
particular kind of government, and that they
could modify or even abolish the government
– Great influence on Thomas Jefferson and the
Declaration of Independence
Voltaire
• Wrote Candide in 1759 in
which he analyzes the
problem of evil in the
world and depicts the
woes heaped upon the
world in the name of
religion
• His battle cry against the
Roman Catholic Church
was ecrasez l’infame
(“crush the damned
thing”)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (17121778)
• Many Enlightenment thinkers
condemned the legal and
social privileges enjoyed by
aristocrats and called for a
society in which all individuals
were equal before the law
• In 1762, Rousseau wrote The
Social Contract arguing that
members of a society were
collectively the sovereign
– All individuals would
participate directly in the
formulation of policy and
the creation of laws
American Revolution: New
Legislation
• In the mid-18th Century, British colonists in North
America seemed content with British rule, but in the mid1760s things started to change
• Trying to recover financial losses from the French and
Indian War (1754-1763) and the Seven Years’ War
(1756-1763), the British passed a series of new taxes on
the colonies
–
–
–
–
Sugar Act (1764)
Stamp Act (1765)
Townsend Act (1767)
Tea Act (1773)
• Other offensive legislation included the Quartering Act of
1765
American Revolution: Colonial
Response
• The colonists responded
with demands of “no
taxation without
representation,”
boycotted British
products, attacked British
officials, and staged the
Boston Tea Party (1773)
– Consistent with Rousseau
• In 1774, they organized
the Continental Congress
which coordinated the
colonies’ resistance to
British policies
American Revolution: Declaration
of Independence
• On July 4, 1776,
the Continental
Congress
adopted “The
Unanimous
Declaration of the
thirteen united
States of
America” (The
Declaration of
Independence)
American Revolution: Declaration
of Independence
• “all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”
• Governments derive their power and authority
from “the consent of the governed”
• When any government infringes upon
individual’s rights, “it is the Right of the People to
alter or abolish it, and to institute new
Government”
• Declared the colonies to be “Free and
Independent States”
Revolutionary War
• Declaring yourself to be
“Free and Independent
States” and making it so
were two different things
• On April 18, 1775, British
troops and colonial militia
skirmished at Lexington
and the American
Revolutionary War had
begun
By the rude bridge that
arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze
unfurled,
Here once the embattled
farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard
round the world.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Colonial Troops: Aug 1776
• 28,000 soldiers
• Average soldier was 20 years old with less than a year of
service
• Muskets, bayonets, light field guns
• Two or three ranks of infantry supported by light field guns
• Used simplified British tactics (experience from Seven
Years’ War)
• No Navy
• Great disparity in quality between militia and Continental
Army
• Many generals were imposed upon General George
Washington by Congress or state governments
British Troops: Aug 1776
• 24,000 soldiers
• Average soldier was 30 years old with 10 years
service
• Muskets, bayonets, light field guns
• Two or three ranks of infantry supported by light field
guns
• Powerful Navy (30 warships, 400 transports)
• More experienced, better led, more thoroughly
disciplined and trained
• General William Howe knew generals from their
Seven Years’ War record
The Difference
• What gave the colonists hope was
the opportunity to be gained by
courage, cause, the home court
advantage, and patriotism
• Unlike earlier European dynastic
squabbles, the American
Revolution was an ideological war
that affected the population
• “Remember, officers and soldiers,
that you are freemen, fighting for
the blessings of liberty; that slavery
will be your portion and that of your
posterity if you do not acquit
yourselves like men.”
– George Washington
Trenton
• The British defeated the colonists at Long
Island in Aug 1776 and followed up their
success with a series of landings on
Manhattan Island
– Compelled Washington to retreat, escaping
finally over the Delaware River into
Pennsylvania with about 3,000 men.
– Howe then went into winter quarters.
Trenton
• In December 1776, Washington
determined to make a surprise attack
on the British garrison in Trenton, a
1,400-man Hessian force
– Took advantage of British being in winter
quarters and in poorly defended,
dispersed locations
– Bad weather and limited visibility
– Christmas had reduced British security
• Hoped that a striking victory would lift
the badly flagging American morale.
• Reinforcements had raised
Washington’s army to about 7,000
Continental Soldier
by Don Troiani
Trenton
• On Christmas night (December 25-26) Washington ferried about 2,400
men of across the ice-choked Delaware River at McConkey’s Ferry
above Trenton and then proceeded by two columns on different routes,
converging at opposite ends of the main street in Trenton
Trenton
• At 8:00 a.m. the colonists
converged on Trenton in two
columns, achieving complete
surprise. After only an hour and
a half of fighting, the Hessians
surrendered.
– Some 400 of the garrison
escaped southward to
Bordentown, N. J., when
two other American
columns failed to get across
the Delaware in time to
intercept them.
– About 30 were killed and
918 captured. American
losses were only 4 dead
and about the same number
wounded.
Cowpens
• Nathanael Greene was
commander in the
Carolinas and Georgia
– Only a little over 1,000
Continentals and
bands of ill-disciplined
militia against
Cornwallis’ 10,000 men
• Had to create
circumstances to achieve
success
Cowpens
• Greene divided his army into
two divisions which he posted
to the northwest and northeast
of Cornwallis’ camp at
Winnsboro
– Allowed him to better feed his
own men, sustain the militia, and
harass the British
– Tempted Cornwallis to divide his
main body, making it more
vulnerable
• Cornwallis did this in Jan 1781,
sending 1,100 men (commanded
by Tarleton) to attack Greene’s
western division (commanded by
Daniel Morgan)
Cowpens
• Americans suffered 6.2%
losses (12 killed and 60
wounded)
• British suffered 90%
losses
• Cornwallis became
obsessed with Morgan
and turned to pursue him
– Morgan retreated into
Virginia
– In a month Cornwallis had
marched 225 miles without
achieving decisive battle
Daniel Morgan
Yorktown
• From Aug 21 to Sept 26,
1781 Washington and
Rochambeau (French)
marched their armies
from New York to Virginia
• Simultaneously, De
Grasse (French) sealed
off the Chesapeake with
the Navy
• Objective was to trap and
defeat Cornwallis’ army
on the York Peninsula
Yorktown
• Battle would begin with
two parallel siege lines
followed by an assault
• Allies had an
overwhelming
advantage in numbers
(16,000 to fewer than
8,000)
• On Oct 19, the British
surrendered and in Sept
1783 they formally
recognized American
independence
The United States
• In 1787, Americans drafted the Constitution of the United
States which created a federal government based on
popular sovereignty
• The Bill of Rights in particular stressed individual liberties
such as freedom of speech, the press, and religion
• However, not everyone was granted full political and
legal equality, only white men of property
• Equality for all Americans would be an on-going struggle
for many years, but still the early understanding of
freedom, equality, and popular sovereignty in America
would have broad implications throughout the world
– Remember Emerson’s “shot heard round the world”
French Revolution: Ancien Regime
• The Americans sought independence from
British imperial rule, but they kept British
law and much of the British social and
cultural heritage
• On the other hand, French revolutionaries
sought to replace the ancien regime (“the
old order”) with new political, social, and
cultural structures
French Revolution: Estates
General
• In May 1789, in an
effort to raise taxes,
King Louis XVI
convened the Estates
General, an assembly
representing the
entire French
population through
three groups known
as estates
King Louis XVI
French Revolution: Estates
General
• The first estate was about
100,000 Roman Catholic
clergy
• The second estate was
about 400,000 nobles
• The third estate was
about 24 million others
(serfs, free peasants,
laborers)
– In spite of these
numerical
discrepancies, each
estate had one vote
ancien regime
French Revolution: Estates
General
• The third estate
demanded sweeping
political and social
reform, but the other
two estates resisted
• On June 20, 1789,
the third estate
seceded from the
Estates General and
declared itself the
National Assembly
Marie Antoinette
French Revolution: National
Assembly
• The National Assembly
vowed not to disband until
France had a written
constitution
• This assertion of popular
sovereignty spread to Paris
and on July 14 a crowd
stormed the Bastille to seize
weapons and ammunition
• The garrison surrendered in
the wake of great bloodshed
– The attackers severed the
commander’s head and
paraded it through the streets
on a pike
• Insurrections spread
throughout France
Storming of the Bastille
French Revolution: Declaration
• In Aug 1789, the National Assembly issued
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen
– Obviously influenced by the American Revolution
and the Declaration of Independence
• Proclaimed the equality of all men, declared
that sovereignty resided in the people, and
asserted individual rights to liberty, prosperity,
and security
Reforms of the National Assembly
• Reconfigured French society
– Ended the fees and labor services
the peasants owed their landlords
– Seized church lands
– Abolished the first estate and
defined clergy as civilians
– Required clergy to take an oath of
loyalty to the state
– Made the king the chief executive
but deprived him of legislative
authority (a constitutional
monarchy)
The motto of the National
Assembly was “Liberty,
– Men of property could vote for
equality, fraternity”
legislators
The Convention
• Alarmed by the disintegration of monarchial
authority, the rulers of Austria and Prussia
invaded France to support the king and restore
the ancien regime
• The revolutionaries responded by establishing
the Convention, a new legislative body elected
by universal male suffrage
• The Convention abolished the monarchy and
proclaimed France a republic
The Convention
• Drafted people and
resources for use in
the war through the
levee en masse
(universal
conscription)
– A move toward
total war
• Used the guillotine
to execute enemies
to include King
Louis XVI and
Queen Marie
Antoinette in 1793
for treason
Maximilian Robespierre (17581794)
• Led the radical Jacobin
party which believed
France needed
complete restructuring
and used a campaign of
terror to promote their
agenda
• Dominated the
Convention from 17931794
Robespierre and the Jacobins
• Sought to eliminate the
influence of Christianity
– Closed churches
– Forced priests to take wives
– Promoted a new “cult of
reason” as a secular alternative
– Devised a new calendar which
recognized no day of religious
observance
• Between the summers of
1793 and 1794, the Jacobins
executed 40,000 people and
imprisoned 300,000
"It is dreadful but necessary" ("Cest
affreux mais nécessaire"), from the
Journal d'Autre Monde, 1794.
The Directory
• Many of the victims of the reign of terror were fellow
radicals who had fallen out of favor with Robespierre and
the Jacobins
• In July 1794, the Convention arrested Robespierre and
his allies, convicted them of treason, and executed them
• A group of conservative men of property seized power
and ruled from 1795 to 1799 under a new institution
called the Directory
• The Directory sought a middle way between the ancien
regime and radical revolution but had little success
• In Nov 1799,Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d’etat
and seized power
Napoleon (1769-1821)
• Was an officer under
King Louis XVI and
had become a
general at age 24
• In a campaign of
1796-1797, he drove
the Austrians from
northern Italy and
established French
rule there
Napoleon (1769-1821)
• In 1799, he returned to France
and joined the Directory, but
when Austria, Russia, and
Britain formed a coalition to
attack France and end the
Revolution, Napoleon staged
a coup
• He overthrew the Directory,
imposed a new constitution,
and named himself first consul
• In 1802, he became consul for
life and in 1804 crowned
himself emperor
Napoleon: The Concordat
• Brought stability to France
• Made peace with the Catholic Church
– Concluded the Concordat with the pope in 1801
– France would retain the church lands seized during
the Revolution, but France agreed to pay priests’
salaries, recognize Roman Catholic Christianity as
the preferred faith of France, and extend freedom of
religion to Protestants and Jews
– Was a popular measure with people who supported
the political and social goals of the revolution but
didn’t want to replace Christianity with the cult of
reason
Napoleon: Civil Code
• In 1804,Napoleon established the Civil Code
which further stabilized France
– Affirmed the political and legal equality of all adult
men
– Established a merit-based society in which individuals
qualified for education and employment because of
talent rather than birth or social standing
– Protected private property, even allowing aristocratic
opponents of the Revolution to return to France and
reclaim their property
– Confirmed many of the moderate revolutionary
policies of the National Assembly but removed many
measures passed by the more radical Convention
Napoleon as Authoritarian
• Limited free speech, routinely
censoring newspapers
• Established a secret police
force and detained thousands
of political opponents
• Manipulated public opinion
through systematic propaganda
• Ignored elective bodies
• Surrounded himself with loyal
military officers
• Set his family above and apart
from the French people
Joseph Fouche, head of
Napoleon’s secret police
End of Napoleon’s Empire
• In 1812, Napoleon decided to invade
Russia, believing that the Russians were
conspiring with the British
• Napoleon and his “Grand Army” of
600,000 soldiers captured Moscow, but
the Russians refused to surrender
– Instead, Russian patriots burned the city,
leaving Napoleon without supplies or shelter
End of Napoleon’s Empire
• Napoleon was
forced to retreat
– Defeated by “General
Winter”
– Only 30,000 soldiers
made it back to
France
• The defeat in Russia
emboldened a
coalition of British,
Austrian, Prussian,
and Russian armies
to converge on
France
– Forced Napoleon to
abdicate his throne in
April 1814
An episode from the retreat from
Russia, by Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet
End of Napoleon’s Empire
• The coalition restored the French monarchy and
exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba, near
Corsica
• In March 1815, Napoleon escaped, returned to
France, and reconstituted his army
• This time the British defeated him at Waterloo
and banished Napoleon to the remote island of
St. Helena in the south Atlantic
• He died in 1821
Other Impacts
• The Enlightenment ideals and the
American and French Revolutions also
influenced:
– The Saint Domingue slave revolt (Lesson 5)
– Simon Bolivar in South America (Lesson 5)
– The abolition movement (Lesson 5)
– The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and
the Female Citizen
– Elizabeth Cady Stanton and women’s rights
movements
Compare and Contrast
Objective Type of
Warfare
Am Rev
Fr Rev
Religion
PhiloInternasophical tional
Rationale Reaction
and
Declarations
Immediate and
Longterm
Results
Next
• Part 1:
Russian
Revolution
and
Communism
• Part 2:
Fascism and
National
Socialism
Street demonstration in Petrograd, July 4, 1917