Wrong and right: the two great “revolutions” of the 1700s

Today, 14th of July, is of course Bastille Day. Over the years, TPOL has commented on it as much as any other significant event.

The French Revolution of 1789-1799 actually began on 22 February 1787, just a few months before the Philadelphia Convention signed and published the US Constitution on 17 September 1787, and not long after the American War of Independence was won (the surrender of British troops at Yorktown in October, 1781). The so-called American Revolutionary War lasted 8-1/2 years, from 19 April 1775 to 3 September 1783 when the peace treaty was signed.

The French Revolution actually began with the “Assembly of Notables,” a kind of Congress, refused to obey the King and dissolved itself on 25 May 1787. However, it is usually dated as starting on 14 July 1789 with the storming of the Bastille, a prison in Paris. And its official end on the 9th of November in 1799 (by Napoleon Bonaparte’s successful coup over the Directorate) was just a pause in a mess that did not really end until 1815. Whether we count this as 28 years or just 10, it was a terrible time and resulted in almost no change: they started with a king and tyranny, and after the reigns of terror, rule by an emperor, and millions and millions dead, ended up with the emperor replaced by another king and continued tyranny.

In other words, the French people (and government) are today celebrating a single event in a failed “revolution.” (Of course, we at TPOL argue that the call the 1775-1783 conflict the “American Revolutionary War is just as bad: a war of secession, a War of Independence? Yes.

The French Revolution of “1787” failed. As, ultimately, the series of “Revolutions” and “Rebellions” and “Uprisings” which have followed in the last two-plus centuries. It is, literally, a terroristic, brutal, blood-soaked record.

We suggest our readers go to The Daily Economy and read the article on contrasts between the two “Revolutions.” Why did Americans choose liberty and the French choose terror? And have the two polities switched? The esteemed Lawrence Reed does an excellent job of answering this question. The consequences for the world and for the States today are obvious. His final word: “In the end, it was the former that delivered it. The latter produced far more blood and chaos than liberty, equality, or fraternity.”

The Islamic and other bloody incidents of the last decade are echoes of more than two centuries of living with (or dying because of) the French Revolution. Even so, the French celebrate Bastille Day – and tacitly recognize that liberation of a few minor prisoners and destruction of public property supposedly justified everything from the September Massacres of 1792 and the Reign of Terror to the wars in Indochina and Algeria, and reaped a grisly harvest (and still does) in Haiti.

There are many, many points of contrast beyond this basic fact: one “Revolution” established (and helped to retain) more liberty than 99% of humans have enjoyed since God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden. The other “Revolution” just provided many, many opportunities to force tyranny down the throats of the common people and reap vast quantities of wealth and human death. Americans are fond of pointing out just how many wars and years of war the FedGov has endured since 1775. But we often overlook the French record. One source claims 100 years of war over the almost 2-1/2 centuries: we think that is a vast undercount.

France has been, for centuries, considered to be Europe’s elite, and when we look at the multiple tragedies that have damaged, even destroyed, much of Europe time and time again, we fear that is true. Those people who have become Americans after fleeing from Europe (and elsewhere) have generally been seeking to escape those “elite consequences,” or at least the financial and social and personal damage caused by that.

The American War of Independence, usually called the American Revolution, was far from perfect in fulfilling the purposes stated in the Declaration of Independence, or all the other writings of the era. And the hopes and efforts of Americans. But compared to the French Revolution? A miraculous contrast.

Let us count our blessings. And work hard, very hard, to restore them.

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