Prompt: Political revolutions occurred in the Atlantic world between 1750 and 1850. Develop an argument that compares/contrasts at least TWO of these revolutions.
From the era between 1750 and 1850, although the American Revolution is often seen as a significant revolution that promoted the Independence of the United States of America and provided a model of an independence revolution, its revolutionary impact was mostly political rather than social because it largely preserved the existing social hierarchy and slavery-based structures in North America. The French Revolution, in contrast, was a truly revolutionary process that not only achieved regime change but also attempted to reconstruct France’s entire political and social hierarchy by trying to abolish aristocratic privilege and the foundations of the Old Regime.
During the period between 1750 and 1850, the whole of Europe experienced a huge chaos that largely damaged its economic and political power. Under this pressure, governments tried to have more imperial control and raise revenue through imposing new and high taxes, which created major conflicts over the legitimacy of authority. At the same time, Enlightenment ideas about natural rights and popular sovereignty spread across the Atlantic world, giving colonial elites a chance to challenge old regimes and organize revolutions.
The most significant evidence that suggests that the American Revolution was primarily revolutionary on the political level is the Declaration of Independence. This document emphasized the natural rights to abolish the legitimacy of the British monarchy’s rule regulated inside the colonies. This hugely accomplished and only accomplished a transformation of political sovereignty and legitimacy. Another key reason in the North American Revolution is that its revolutionary impact was mostly political rather than social, as slavery and the existing racial hierarchy were not changed after independence. Even when the new government was created, all contracts and rights respecting property remained unchanged by the Revolution. Therefore, while the American Revolution changed sovereignty and government legitimacy, it did not fundamentally reconstruct North American society.
In the French Revolution, the revolution became truly radical because it directly attacked the political legitimacy of the previous political power and the king himself. The Execution of Louis XVI was not just a change of government but a public declaration to the citizens that sovereignty belonged to the nation and all the citizens, rather than to the monarch. This reflects how the French Revolution tried to reconstruct France’s entire political hierarchy at a significant point, instead of only separating from the nation like the American Revolution. Another strong evidence is that the political inequality built inside France, where society was divided into three groups: the Clergy, Nobles, and Third Estate. Previously, all voting processes were completed in which each group got one vote, which meant the First and Second Estates could combine to outvote the Third Estate, even though the Third Estate represented over 99% of the population. This system shows how those privileges were constructed to protect nobles, and why reform became so difficult. This suggests that after the revolution, the voting system, which is an essential part of the political hierarchy, was changed and proved that it was significant enough to be categorized as revolutionary.