The American Revolution and the French Revolution:

             The American Revolution was important in more than one way, and it served as inspiration for the rest of the world. The most important thing that happened as a result of the American Revolution is that a brand new country was created, and secondly, the rest of the world found that they could also achieve what they set out to do, because of the American Revolution. It was on the Fourth of July that the Declaration of Independence was signed, and this was the day that America became a free independent democracy. The American Revolution was, in fact, inspired by the very same ideals of equality, democracy, brotherhood, liberty, and freedom, that served to deliver inspiration to the French Revolution too, and what both Revolutions had in common was that they both served to inspire the people of their country that there was indeed a better world out there waiting for them. However, the different classes of people within the same country shared different ideals and dreams, like for example, whereas artisans and farmers and the like believed in the fact that an infinitely better life would begin for them, the other class of people, like the merchants and traders and the like came to the conclusion that they would rule themselves by forming their own government comprising their own class of people, by overthrowing an oppressive power that had been ruling them for a great many years. (Gowland, 2003, p. 6).

             The result was that, in both the American as well as in the French revolutions the gains for the working class comprised of artisans and other craftsmen were kept to a bare minimum, while the merchant classes worked at getting more power for themselves. In other words, when the Declaration of Independence was signed in America, the 'rights of man' did not include all the rights of all the men; it meant the rights of a select few people. The French revolution in fact took its inspiration form this very document, and the result was that their Declaration was also modeled along the same lines as the former.

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