Why the American Revolution Occurred Before the French Revolution: Factors that Led to a Radical Revolt

The American and French Revolutions marked significant changes in power in the 18th century. However, America’s revolution occurred much earlier on in the country’s history, while it took France centuries to overthrow its monarchy. To begin with, America was first settled in the early 1600’s while France’s history extends back for many years. Since the colonies were relatively new, people understood that they had the power to set precedents for that area for years. The colonists were open to new ideas, unlike the French who were stuck in the old cycle of monarchy. Crucial historic, geographical, social, and economic factors influenced the colonies’ view of England’s dominance until the revolution finally commenced. America’s revolution happened before France’s revolution, because there was a geographical divide between the people and monarchy, unified colonists, economic equality within the colonies, and accessible, revolutionary ideas.

The geographical divide between the colonies and England let the colonists experience a quasi- independence. England could not censor the people as easily and effectively as they would have liked. For example, the Navigation Acts required all imports to go first through London and then to America. However, England’s salutary neglect exhibited their inability to control people so faraway. Plus, without the chief rulers on the same continent with the common people there was a substantial disconnection between rulers, such as King George III, George Grenville, Lord Chatham, Lord North, and Charles Townshend, and the people. In addition, the rulers were not able to truly experience the colonists’ energy or hear their desires first- hand. They relied on letters such as "The Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, in 1765" in order to receive feedback. The weak bond between England and the colonies is apparent when King George III stated in his Letter to Shelburne in 1782:
"I cannot conclude without mentioning how sensibly I feel the dismemberment of America from this empire, and that I should be miserable indeed if I did not feel that no blame on that account can be laid at my door, and I did not also know that knavery seems to be so much the striking feature of its inhabitants that it may not in the end be an evil that they will become aliens to this kingdom."
King George III explicitly states the fact that the colonies will, in all likelihood, become isolated from England during the war. Overall, the physical disconnection between the people and monarchy led to hostility and lack of unity as well as a false sense of independence.

Though people were detached from England, the people’s discontentment with England actually united the people under a common goal. Originally, the diverse colonies were segregated, but they gradually began to form one, strong body. For example, Samuel Adams in 1772 proposed a “committee of correspondence” which would publicize condemnations of England in Massachusetts. Other colonies did the same, and political organizations began to sprout up that eventually connected the people. On the contrary, the French Revolution widened the gap between the poor commoners with the wealthy leaders. Social unity is imperative in a revolution against the state, and in America this was certainly not lacking.

In America, the majority of people were socially and economically equal. The gap between the rich and the poor was not that large. As Gordon S. Wood, a professor at Brown University, states in his essay called “Radical Possibilities of the American Revolution”:
"…growing prosperity contributed to the… sense that people here and now were capable of ordering their own reality…Therefore any possibility of oppression, any threat to the colonists’ heard- earned prosperity, any hint of reducing them to the poverty of other nations, was especially frightening… Indeed, it was the pervasive equality of American society that was causing the problem."
He discusses the fact that people were finally experiencing the unprecedented idea that the people could control their fate. Therefore, when England’s control took away much of the people’s freedom, especially in Massachusetts once the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts were passed, people were very displeased. England also passed numerous tax laws, restrictions on commerce and manufacturing, the Currency Act, the Navigation Acts, and the Mutiny Act which all threatened the people’s freedom. Unlike in France where the rich and poor lived completely separate lives, the equality in the colonies caused the people to become obsessed with independent living which eventually led to the American Revolution.

Finally, the American Revolution happened before the French Revolution and was ultimately more successful, because ideas were accessible to all people. Everyone in the colonies was included in the revolt, whereas in France the elite people could only access the philosophical ideas from the Enlightenment that formed the basis of the French Revolution. While some elite women did have a say in France’s Enlightenment, in America, women’s opinions were much more valued. Middle- class women formed the Daughters of Liberty, the equivalent of the Sons of Liberty. In addition, ideas were spread through mass-market newspapers, books, and pamphlets while in France most books were imported illegally. Plus, France exalted the elitist salonnières, which excluded the poor. In America, taverns became centers of political debate that even the uneducated and illiterate could participate in. Amid drunken cries, speakers such as Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, and John Adams could be heard. In the words of Patrick Henry in 1775:
"The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
Patrick Henry cried for freedom, equality, and independence from England. In all, the colonists promoted revolutionary ideas that were accessible to everyone.

Over all, the American Revolution successfully overthrew its government and reinforced people’s inalienable rights such as liberty, legal equality, and independence. It took France much longer in its extensive history to finally defeat its tyrannical monarchy. America was more victorious than France, because of the geographical divide between the sovereign and the colonies, united colonists, socially and economically equal people, and accessible, revolutionary ideas. As The Constitution of the United States of America states in the Preamble:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The people during the revolution dreamed of a world of equality, and it was achieved.

For more information about the American Revolution, click here.