Revolutions have many characteristics in common to reform their government or way of life. The French and American Revolutions demonstrate some of these traits, They need proper representation, they responded to the monarchs opposition to change and the development of political control and influence. .
The French Revolution and The American Revolution displayed some of the common causes for a revolution lack of proper representation. The American colonists were benignly neglected by Great Britain because of Britain's quest for trade with India and The Seven Years war with France which led to what were called the Navigation Acts; taxes on goods shipped to the Americas. Colonists were outraged as they did not have much say in British politics but were being taxed nonetheless; hence " No taxation without representation". Parliament ended up revoking many of these taxes but instated the Stamp Act in their place. The Stamp Act placed a direct tax on legal documents, glass,, tea, and other items. Although these were small taxes, the colonists still did not want to pay them. Parliament again revoked some of the taxes but left the tax on tea which led to such events as the Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party, which were the beginnings of a war. The French were also having government troubles. In the 1700s, French society was split into three estates. The first estate consisted of clergy and comprised one percent of the population. The second estate was composed of noblemen and royalty and accounted for only two percent of the population . The third estate included the bourgeoisie (middle class) and the sans-culottes (working class) and created a staggering ninety-seven percent of the population. Despite their inequality in size when the three estates met at the Estates General, each estate received only one vote. The third estate found this unfair because the first and second estates teamed up and voted together when passing laws.