Analyzing the American Revolution and the French Revolution Essay

Analyzing the American Revolution and the French Revolution - Essay Example At face value, it might not appear as if the American Revolution in the French Revolution shares much in common. However, as a function of analyzing the commonalities and dissimilarities that these two historical occurrences share, the focus of this brief analysis will be to highlight the core commonalities that prompted both the American and French populations to actively resist the level of control that it been placed upon them by the authorities at that time; the British Empire and the French monarchy respectively. Through such an understanding and interpretation,  it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed level of appreciation for the causal factors that ultimately precipitated the rise of modern democracy within the Western world. Firstly, it must be understood that both the American Revolution and the French Revolution were partially predicated upon the economic hardships that both of these stakeholders were experiencing. In the case of the American colonies, the seven years war/French Indian war had created an economic hardship that the British Empire sought to escape from (Sherman, 2001). The most logical means through which the British Empire could pay off the massive amount of debt that it had accrued during this conflict was to raise taxes upon the colonies that it administered (Brunkhorst, nd). Naturally, unaccustomed to additional duties, tariffs, and taxes, the American population became frustrated with the hardship that living a frontier life, in addition to being expected to pay for the King’s most recent war, was too much; lending these individuals to rise up against the British overlords in the hopes that the economic situation and the overall quality/liberty that an individual could have w ithin the 13 colonies could be maximized.