Democracy, briefly defined as a government by the people where the governed have shared power and incorporates new ideas such as the people’s rights and equality, was an important element to the American and French Revolutions, where both periods included the people fighting for their equality and liberty. However the evaluation of the successfulness of establishing a democratic government differs for the two countries; America resulted in the drafting of a Constitution putting democracy to practice, whereas France’s attempt to reform its government to a democratic one failed. When you look at the outcomes of both revolutions, the American Revolution was more successful in terms of establishing a democracy; the Americans had drafted a first ever constitution, which included Enlightenment ideas of liberty and rights. The French was less successful in terms of how democratic they have become, as they later turned to a dictatorship and the Congress of Vienna restored the monarchy (HRW, Human Legacy); the revolutionary idea of “the people of the state” was crushed.
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HelloWell this is for my History Class. Archives
May 2015
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