In 1776, American colonists declared independence from Great Britain. Under twenty years later, the French deposed their king and guillotined him and his wife. The American and French Revolutions were close chronologically but radically different in nature. While the American Revolution culminated in the formation of a stable republic and the establishment of a constitution for a free and prosperous society, the French Revolution resulted in terror, anarchy and led to the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte and eventually, the restoration of monarchy in France. What made these revolutions and their results so different? I believe it was the aim of these revolutions and their roots.
The roots of the American Revolution were laid in the belief that government had been ordained by God to protect the citizens of society and when that government abused its power and became a perpetrator of tyranny rather than a protector, that it was not only good, but necessary, for the citizens of the society to set up another government. The Declaration of Independence opens with the words, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” The Declaration does enumerate these reasons but ultimately, the American patriots did not fight the English crown because of taxation, miscarriages of justice, administrative abuses or religious persecution. The American colonists rebelled against England because all of these reasons, in the minds of the Patriots, constituted a violation of the proper role, responsibility and freedom of government. The famous words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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.” are included in the Declaration and this is indeed, the heart of the issue. It was not taxation, administrative abuses, obstruction of justice, etc., that sparked the American Revolution. It was the convictions of Americans which maintained the God-ordained rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that culminated in American Independence. The aim of this revolution was to create a free republic, governed by law, and by God, (that is key), to protect these “inalienable rights”.
While the American Revolution was based on the Christian doctrines of liberty and life, the French Revolution was rooted in secular philosophy. While the American Revolution had been preceded by the First Great Awakening, one of the greatest Christian revival in American history, the French Revolution was preceded by the Enlightenment, a great watershed in the history of Western Civilization. The Enlightenment ushered in the Age of Reason, which balked at Christian tradition and tossed it aside as “medieval rationalism”. Empirical thought dominated Post-Enlightenment Europe and it showed in the French Revolution. The French revolutionaries attempted to make a society without God and they failed. Anarchy ensued and out of anarchy came the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte. The great mantras of the French Revolution; liberty, equality and fraternity, faded as quickly as they had been declared. Liberty was lacking in the violent streets of Revolutionary France, with guillotining and executions happening left and right and the Reign of Terror causing chaos and rampant disorder. Equality eroded when, out of the mess, arose a great dictator who seized control of the country, subjugating all other factions to his control. Fraternity fizzled with the constant feuding and intrigue of strongly divided factions.
A God-fearing society grew into a stable, prosperous nation. A society which attempted to be “godless”, devolved into chaos, war and ultimately more monarchy and more revolution. The moral of the tale of the two revolutions is clear and we can’t afford to miss it. What made the difference between the success of the American Revolution and the failure of the French Revolution? The aim and roots of the revolutions were the deciding factors. A revolution grounded in the Christian doctrine and the desire to see society prosper under God’s law and freedom succeeded. A revolution grounded in secular philosophy and the desire to craft a godless society under the law of man failed. That is what makes the tale of two revolutions so vital in our studies of history.