Chapter 16 (through end)

 The differences in the revolutions were how they were started, the quite different social and political-tensions, and they varied considerably in their outcomes. The American Revolution was a struggle for independence form oppressive British rule. It began with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, resulted in a military victory by 1781,, and generated a federal constitution  in 1787. The main change of this revolution was in politics, looked at as a conservative movement because it originated in an effort to preserve the existing liberties of the colonies rather than create new ones. Overall, The american revolution grew fro a sudden and unexpected effort by the British government to tighten its control over the colonies and to extract more revenue from them.
The French came next in the dram of the Atlantic revolutions. The cause for tension was how the privileged, prestigious, and wealthy members of the nobility resisted the monarchy's attempt to subject them to new taxes. Educated middle class men were growing in numbers and were offended bu the remaining privileges of the aristocracy, from which they were excluded. Initial efforts to establish a constitutional monarchy and promote harmony gave way to radical measures. Urban Crowds organized insurrections, and some peasants attacked the residences of their lords. After the Guillotine of King Louis XVI and Maximilien Robespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1799. He was intent on spreading the benefits of the revolution far and wide. He imposed such revolutionary practices as ending feudalism, proclaiming equality of rights, insisting on religious tolerance, codifying the laws, and rationalizing government administration. Russia and Britain eventually brought down Napoleon and his empire in 1815 and marked an end to the French Revolution, but not the potency of the ideas.

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