French Revolution
In 1789, while America was busy establishing a new nation, the French began engaging in a revolution—the French Revolution. The war was caused by the structural changes in the French government brought on by the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an eighteenth-century movement in European and American philosophy, also referred to as the “Age of Reason.” The basis of the movement centered on “reason as the basis of authority.” With this movement came political changes, an increase in civil liberties, and a decline in the influence of authoritarian institutions, such as the church, the noble, or the wealthy. As a result, France saw the executions of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette by the revolutionary government.
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