Tale of Two Nations
World History: Compare American Revolution and French Revolution
Dinner Topics for Independence Day
The Americans went on to create a Constitution that is a model of liberty for the rest of the world. This Constitution provides maximum freedom, limited power in the national government, and the majority of the power to the states and people. The success of the nation has been in proportion to the degree of fiscal responsibility and law-abiding character manifest by the elected government officials.
Charles
Dickens’ powerful novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is set during the French Revolution,
involving characters in the cities of London and Paris. This moving tale gives
one pause to consider a tale of two nations—the differences between the French
Revolution and the American Revolution.
Only a
few years before the French Revolution, colonial America had rebelled, not
against poverty, but against the increasingly tyrannical rule of the British.
In America, it was men of property and education, not the poor, who rebelled.
For liberty, they invested their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Ironically, it was the French nobility who stepped in with naval support and
saved the American Revolution from the brink of failure.
The
purpose of the American Revolution was to change the ruling laws, not to kill
the king. Many colonists, including Benjamin Franklin, had close ties with
England. Franklin was the leader in trying all possible avenues of diplomacy;
revolution was the last resort. George Washington scrupulously avoided abusing
military power by consistently deferring to the directives of the civilian
government, and he always put the needs of his men before his own. He refused
to be king. Noble of character he was; greedy and power-hungry he was not.
American leaders did all they could to avoid anarchy. They sought the help of
God in their endeavor, and received miraculous help when it was needed.
The
French Revolution, on the other hand, appears to have been driven by vengeance
and hatred. Without a doubt, terrible injustices existed, as vividly depicted
by Dickens and in Victor Hugo’s magnificent novel, Les Miserables. The French
peasants were at a great disadvantage, because their poverty seemed
insurmountable, and they lacked education and money; therefore they had no
power to exercise influence on their oppressors. It is unfortunate that they
resorted to terror. The mass murder of innocents resembled the ethnic cleansing
of evil regimes in the twentieth century. The mindless killing thoroughly
disqualified them from any divine assistance. By killing the upper class, and
their families, and their servants, and anyone remotely related, they also
purged the society of education, law, culture, and other refinements necessary
to civilized society. Only anarchy
resulted from their efforts. The old oppressors were merely replaced by a new
tyrannical regime, more brutal than ever. It was bad enough that some even
looked to figures like Napoleon to save them, but that really didn’t work well,
either.
The
Americans went on to create a Constitution that is a model of liberty for the
rest of the world. This Constitution provides maximum freedom, limited power in
the national government, and the majority of the power to the states and
people. The success of the nation has been in proportion to the degree of
fiscal responsibility and law-abiding character manifest by the elected
government officials. Because America was free, she became prosperous. Like
many other European countries, France learned the best governing principles
from the United States Constitution, only after long years of struggle.
Copyright 2011 © by Christine Davidson
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