Traditionally, the American Revolution (1776-1783) and the French Revolution (beginning in 1789) have been regarded as the “founding” events of political modernity because they laid the foundation for the Modern world.
Impact of the American Revolution:
- It established that people are born with rights and that the people elect the government. Its constitution is the first document that tells the government what it cannot do. Rather than telling the people what they can do.
- They revived the concept of republicanism and put the ideas of the Enlightenment into practice.
- Fighting for democracy has become the rallying cry of the world’s remaining colonies. Newly independent countries have adopted the American revolutionaries’ ideology of “no representation without taxation.”
- Its popularity sparked anti-monarchical, democratic, and independence movements. Not only in France, but also in the Netherlands, Belgium, Geneva, Ireland, and the French sugar island of Saint Domingue (modern Haiti).
- The British Empire imposed a variety of restrictions on colonial economies, including restrictions on trade, settlement, and manufacturing. The Revolution created new markets and business relationships.
- If the Americans won the Revolutionary War, Britain would invest in colonization.
- The massive investment in colonization had consequences. It resulted in more explorations in Australia and Britain gaining attention in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.
- After Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, the struggle for American independence served as an inspiration for nations in Latin America.
- After the revolution, political and social life underwent significant change. Society became less aristocratic and more meritocratic, less subservient and more egalitarian.
- The demise of mercantilism was the most significant long-term economic impact of the Revolution.
Impact of the French Revolution:
- The French revolution generated ideologies of liberty, equality, and fraternity, which promised all citizens individual liberties, equality in position, and brotherhood.
- The French Revolution sparked anti-colonial movements in colonies all over the world, while movements for democracy and self-rule arose across Europe.
- The conflicts with France weakened European colonial powers such as Spain and Portugal, and their colonies in South and Central America sought independence.
- The abolition of slavery during the French Revolution was the first move against this restrictive institution, and Britain followed suit in 1833, followed by the United States in 1865.
- It resulted in the abolition of feudalism in France by repealing all of the previous feudal laws and confiscating and redistributing the estates of the nobility and church.
- The first really democratic constitution was the Jacobian one, even if it was never put into action. It granted everyone the ability to vote as well as the Right to Insurrection, which denotes the freedom to rebel against the government.
- The revolution created a constitutional system and put an end to the arbitrary royal rule.
Thus, the American and French revolutions established many contemporary ideas that modern democracies take for granted today. The ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity are also interwoven into the preamble of the Indian Constitution.
