Obamateurism of the Day

Right. The American War of Independence (I say this in jest because it wasn’t really a “revolution” and we should stop teaching it that way) and the French Revolution were so similar. I’d say the only similarity was the American experience providing inspiration for the French. Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France was such an endorsement wasn’t it? No. It wasn’t.

AuH20 on April 15, 2009 at 8:57 AM

Americans should NOT play up any similarities between the French and American revolutions, because their goals were radically different–the only similarity was rejection of royalty.

Many Americans forget that French King Louis XVI actually funded the American colonists, not so much because he agreed with them, but to divert British forces away from their attacks on French colonies in what are now the Canadian maritime provinces. This eventually caused financial problems in France, and many Frenchmen resented having their taxes funding foreign wars, while they were impoverished, and there was also a running feud between the noblemen and merchant class.

The American colonists revolted against the British crown mostly over “taxation without representation”, but there was no revolt against religion, and the freed Americans were quick to guarantee freedom of worship in the Constitution. Besides, most American colonists were Christian Protestants of many denominations, and they needed to stay united against the British crown, not squabble among themselves over minor religious differences.

In France, Louis XVI had tried to set up a semi-representative group “les Etats Generaux”, but was getting conflicting advice from his aides, some wanting to share powe to defuse the situation, others (including his wife) wanting to cling to absolute power at all costs, and the King vacillated too long.

The leaders of the French Revolution fomented resentment of the rich noblemen by the poor peasants, but also against the Catholic Church, because the French kings were all at least nominally Catholic. Thousands of priests and nuns were beaten, tortured, or killed by angry mobs led by atheist philosophers who worshiped “the goddess of Reason”, but many more devout Catholics (particularly in western France) fought back, not so much for the King, but to defend their priests, whom they regarded as spiritual leaders. This led to a three-way split in France: Catholic rich nobility vs. poor atheist peasants vs. poor Catholic peasants loyal to the Church but not to the King, and the religious divide prolonged the French Revolution, as the Revolutionaries fought among themselves, creating the “Terror of 1794″ and chaos for many years thereafter, only settled by Emporor, dictator, and warlord Napoleon Bonaparte, who had the wisdom to allow freedom of worship under his Empire.

There was NOT much “liberty, equality, and brotherhood” under the French Revolution, but terror and chaos and religious persecution. After the fall of Napoleon, there were many other insurrections in France in the 19th century, including an attempt to restore the monarchy, and the current French constitution, written by Charles de Gaulle in 1958, is called the Fifth Republic.

My in-laws are French, and I’m fond of telling my French friends that America still lives under its First Republic.
Why is Obama trying to compare America’s Revolution, which led to a stable government except for 1861-1865, to the French Revolution, which led to chaos, dictatorship, insurrections, and five different Republics in 160 years?

Steve Z on April 15, 2009 at 10:23 AM