World History (American Revolution & French Revolution) by Shivlal Gupta

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss the factors that led to the American Revolution.  How did the American Revolution transform both Europe and America?

Approach:

• Briefly introduce with American revolution (30 words)
• Discuss the causes and how American Revolution transform both Europe and America (190 words)
• Conclusion (30 words)

Hints:

The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in colonial North America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), gaining independence from the British Crown and establishing the United States of America, the first modern constitutional liberal democracy. 

Factors that led to the American Revolution

• The road leading up to the American Revolution did not happen overnight. It took several years and many events to push the colonists to a point where they wanted to fight for their independence.
• Britain and France engaged in the French and Indian War, battling over land in North America. After the British won the war, they gained possession of France’s North American territories east of the Mississippi River. Up until this point the British had left the American colonies mostly on their own, but under the rule of King George III, Great Britain began to exert more control over the colonies.
• The French and Indian War put the British crown in debt. In order to increase revenues for the costs of defending the expanding British Empire, Britain taxed the colonies. It imposed the Sugar Act in 1764, and, one year later, it added the Stamp Act. Colonists protested the added taxes. The Stamp Act was repealed.
• In another effort to raise money and exert its authority over the colonies, Britain established the Townshend Acts in 1767. This series of acts placed taxes on tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass imported to the colonies. The acts were resisted through violence, deliberate refusal to pay, and hostility toward British agents.
• Colonial opposition to the British grew, and the British sent troops to Boston, Massachusetts. As punishment for the colonists’ resistance, the British Parliament enacted four measures known as the Intolerable Acts. Meant to divide the colonies, the act united the colonies and provided justification for organizing the First Continental Congress in 1774.
• After representatives for the colonists called on Britain to cancel the Intolerable Acts, Britain responded by sending more troops. Fighting ensued, and the colonies officially declared independence on July 4, 1776.

Transformation of America:

• Immediate consequence:

1. The creation of state constitutions in 1776 and 1777.
2. The Revolution also unleashed powerful political, social, and economic forces that would transform the post-Revolution politics and society, including increased participation in politics and governance, the legal institutionalization of religious toleration, and the growth and diffusion of the population.
3. The Revolution also had significant short-term effects on the lives of women in the new United States of America.

• The long-term consequence:

1. The Revolution would also have significant effects on the lives of slaves and free blacks as well as the institution of slavery itself.
2. It also affected Native Americans by opening up western settlement and creating governments hostile to their territorial claims.
3. The Revolution ended the mercantilist economy, opening new opportunities in trade and manufacturing. Americans began to create their own manufacturers, no longer content to reply on those in Britain.

• Limitations:

1. The Revolution did not result in civic equality for women. During the immediate post-war period, women became incorporated into the polity to some degree as “republican mothers.” These new republican societies required virtuous citizens and it became mothers’ responsibility to raise and educate future citizens. This opened opportunity for women regarding education, but they still remained largely on the peripheries of the new American polity.
2. The Revolution also did not result in civic equality for Slaves.
3. The Americans’ victory and Native Americans’ support for the British created a pretense for justifying the rapid, and often brutal expansion into the western territories. 

American victory (and British defeat) affected Europe in two major ways:

• First, many European liberal movements gained momentum from the American Declaration of Independence and the subsequent American victory.  Liberal revolutionaries held many of the same ideals as the American founding fathers, and consequently associated themselves with the American cause.  The most infamous “result” of the American Revolution was the French Revolution that started nearly a decade later. France also lost their most prized colonial possession – Haiti –due to their uprising inspired by both the American and French Revolutions.
• Secondly, American independence signified the creation of a new nation-state and a new player on the world political/economic scene.  With its history of European ties, an independent America was sure to become a key political and economic player in European affairs.  As the United States grew in the following centuries, its importance to Europe also grew.  Today, the United States is one of Europe’s greatest economic and political allies.

Conclusion:

The American Revolution produced a new outlook among its people that would have ramifications long into the future. The Revolution also unleashed powerful political, social, and economic forces that would transform the post-Revolution politics and society, including increased participation in politics and governance, the legal institutionalization of religious toleration, and the growth and diffusion of the population.

Question #2. The French Revolution was a watershed event in modern European history. Discuss its causes and significance in the history of the world with the special emphasis on Europe.

Approach:

• Briefly introduce the French Revolution,1789.(40 words)
• Discuss the causes of the French Revolution,1789.(70 words)
• Discuss significance of the French Revolution, 1789 in the history of the world with the special emphasis on the Europe.(100 words)
• Conclusion ( 40 words)

Hints:

French Revolution, also called Revolution of 1789, revolutionary movement that shook France between 1787 and 1799 and reached its first climax there in 1789—hence the conventional term “Revolution of 1789,” denoting the end of the ancienrégime in France and serving also to distinguish that event from the later French revolutions of 1830 and 1848.

The causes of the French Revolution:

• The bourgeoisie resented its exclusion from political power and positions of honour;
• The peasants were acutely aware of their situation and were less and less willing to support the anachronistic and burdensome feudal system; 
• The philosophes had been read more widely in France than anywhere else; 
• French participation in the American Revolution had driven the government to the brink of bankruptcy; 
• France was the most populous country in Europe, and crop failures in much of the country in 1788, coming on top of a long period of economic difficulties, compounded existing restlessness; and 
• The French monarchy, no longer seen as divinely ordained, was unable to adapt to the political and societal pressures that were being exerted on it. 

Significance of the French Revolution

• Social

• The revolution was followed by Declaration of Rights of Man; though they were not very democratic in nature, they fuelled the middle class aspirations everywhere in Europe. The declaration contained rights which were typically the demands of the middle class like equality before law, freedom from arbitrary arrest or punishment, meritocracy, right to property, freedom of speech and press and equal distribution of tax burdens. This lead to similar demands by people in other countries and started an era of political reforms which started after Napoleonic wars. 
• The church which earlier enjoyed powers equivalent to monarchy was reduced to a bureau under the government.

• The Revolution  and concept of Citizenship

• The reforms changed the relation between state and citizen and the people started taking great pride in their country, language, heritage, and history and thus the rise of Nationalism can be attributed to French revolution.
• The notion that in times of emergency ordinary public could be called upon to render service and sacrifice property emerged and gained ground. Thus it eventually turned wars from being battles between armies to being conflicts between whole nations.
• It led to the notion of the duties of the state towards its citizens because if the citizens could be called upon to sacrifice, the state should take care of their welfare. Overall it made the relationship between citizens and state more intricate and intimate.

• Political 

• The Declaration was a challenge to entire Europe as the Rights of Man were universally applicable to all men living anywhere in the world who wanted to be free. This universalism posed a direct challenge the existing order in rest of Europe.
• The doctrine of sovereignty of the nation which means people and the doctrine that 'law is the expression of general will' conflicted with the existing autocratic, absolute monarchist systems in Europe where law was the whims and wishes of the ruler. It particularly installed the fear among nobles and royalty elsewhere as French revolution was a mob-led reign of terror, which executed the king and queen. 
• The revolution established negative tradition against monarchy as per other European countries and they started preparations for war to defeat the new republic and re-establish the monarchical system in France under a puppet ruler.
• The French Assembly declared that any territories occupied by France would be freed from feudal obligations and the church and aristocratic property would be confiscated. Most of the Europe was deeply catholic in those days and this act was disliked. Thus Europe witnessed a war, which continued until the demise of Napoleon. The wars also lead to the rise of nationalism and modern nation states in Europe.

Conclusion:

The French Revolution completely changed the social and political structure of France. It put an end to the French monarchy, feudalism, and took political power from the Catholic Church. It brought new ideas to Europe including liberty and freedom for the commoner as well as the abolishment of slavery and the rights of women. Although the revolution ended with the rise of Napoleon, the ideas and reforms did not die. These new ideas continued to influence Europe and helped to shape many of Europe's modern-day governments.