In 1775 the British troops and American Militia exchanged first shots of the Revolution. On July 4th, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, written mostly by Thomas Jefferson. Due to a decisive American victory at Saratoga, the French agreed to aid the Americans, mainly because of a longstanding hatred between the French and British. Simultaneously, the Dutch and Spanish declared war on Great Britain, making it harder for the British to keep on fighting. The British found that they could no longer afford to keep fighting to remain control of the American colonies; the British surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. .
American independency was finally recognized in 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was drawn up as a result of two years of negotiations. The American colonies had been so deprived of their natural rights from the British government that the only viable solution was to have a revolution. However, the American revolutionaries were able to maintain a conservative approach to the revolution due to non-violent tactics used by the American colonists. .
In 1787, a few years after the British recognized American independency, the Revolution in France was beginning to unravel. France was desperately in need of financial assistance; it lacked a National Bank and National Treasury system. France had supported the American colonists in the American Revolution, and also gave financial support in the War of Austrian Succession, and the Seven Years War. A combination of the financial support given in these wars, maintaining their military, and the fact that France spent more then it collected in taxes each year, resulted in a substantial debt crisis for France. .
The French Revolution was also a result of the discontentment of the social structure in France. King Louis and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were very unpopular among the French because they did not care about their subjects.