Both the American Revolution and the French Revolution shared some causes:
-Years of unwanted taxes
<u>French Revolution</u>: the financial bankruptcy caused by the vices of the fiscal system, the bad perception and the inequality of the taxes and the expenses of the contribution in the War of Independence of the United States were a huge problem for the French people, as they had to support these financial problems paying higher taxes. The fiscal problems of the monarchy, together with the example of democracy of the new emancipated State, precipitated the events of the Revolution.
<u>American Revolution</u>: the American Revolutionary era began in 1763, when the French military threat over the British colonies in North America (French and Indian War) came to an end. The increase in the maintenance costs of the Empire led the British government to adopt a highly unpopular policy: the colonies had to pay a substantial part of it, for which they raised or created taxes (Sugar Act and Currency Act of 1764, Stamp Act 1765).
-Enlightenment ideals
-The 18th century was, in general, a time of progress of rational knowledge and improvement of the techniques of science. It was a period of enrichment that empowered the new bourgeoisie, although the traditional rights of the privileged orders within the absolutist monarchical system were maintained. However, the history of the 18th century consists of two distinct stages: the first assumes a continuity of the Old Regime (until the 1770s), and the second, of profound changes, culminates with the American Revolution, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution In England.
The intellectual leaders of the encyclopedic movement considered themselves the elite of society, whose main purpose was to lead the world towards progress, taking it out of the long period of traditions, superstition, irrationality, tyranny and despotism (period that they believed began during the called Dark Age). This movement brought with it the intellectual framework in which the War of Independence of the United States and the French Revolution would take place, as well as the rise of capitalism and the birth of socialism.
