The French and American Revolutions Compared
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to destroy the entire social fabric of France, including all traces of the
Christian religion. Following the execution of King Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette in 1793, they turned on the aristocracy and the clergy. Those
who escaped capture fled the country. The rest were marched to the
guillotine, a new and efficient decapitating device first conceived by a
French doctor to reduce extended suffering and speed up mass executions. Eventually all classes, including the peasants, fell victim to the
Revolution. During the Reign of Terror in 1793, when Maximillian Robespierre was in charge of the Committee of Public Safety, it is estimated that
4,554 persons were put to death by revolutionary courts. In 1794, Robespierre himself felt the executioner’s blade. In this bloody revolution, it
has been said, France was at war not only with itself but with Western
civilization. ‘‘With regard to the lawfulness of the origin, character of the
conduct, quality of the object, and compass of resistance,’’ Gentz concluded, ‘‘every parallel’’ drawn between the French and American revolutions ‘‘will serve much more to display the contrast than the resemblance between them.’’
What is the significance of these distinctions in understanding the origin and nature of the American Constitution? Above all, they help us
put in proper perspective the political values and aspirations of American revolutionary leaders. This is important to know, because the men
who led the ‘‘revolution’’ also wrote the Constitution, with George Washington at the helm not only as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army but also as President of the Constitutional Convention. The
American Constitution was, in effect, the culmination of the American
Revolution, and it is through the Constitution that the goals of the revolution were finally achieved.
The American Revolution, viewed in historical perspective, was a constitutional revolt in the English tradition. From virtually every standpoint, the American republic founded in 1787 was really more like the
constitutional monarchy of Great Britain than any of the early republics
of France. And the French have attempted five since 1789, as well as virtually every other form of government—the Fifth Republic, founded by
Charles De Gaulle in 1958 being the first to establish stable government
and show real promise, and that because it incorporates some key fea-