By F. Andrew Wolf, Jr. ——Bio and Archives--July 5, 2024

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It's the middle of the summer, and once more Americans turn their thoughts to that special place in their consciousness reserved for July 4. We will again celebrate what we have and how we got it. We may even argue over how to keep it, but left or right, rich or otherwise, people of every ilk will come together to rejoice that we are in America – that we are Americans.

But there is another date also in July that stands recognition by Americans – that of July 14 – the French Revolution. And as history tells us, the French were there with America in our fight against the British, certainly for their own reasons, but there nonetheless.

What is interesting is that most citizens today – American or French – do not realize how unique circumstances (in each country) played a role in determining why the two revolutions had such disparate trajectories and outcomes. In fact the entire context in which each country waged their campaigns for liberty gave rise to many of the cultural distinctions which still exist today between France and America.

The American patriots held an advantage in their fight for independence which the French did not enjoy. As a result, the setbacks in their war and its aftermath had little to do with the French people and more with the circumstances over which the French had little control and with which the partisans had to contend.

Pragmatic Americans, influenced early by Puritan settlers in New England, looked towards history – keen to employ........

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