Declaration of Independence happening in 1776. America had become a democratic republic after a war sparked off by unfair taxation (in a similar way to how the French third estate was overtaxed). During the Seven Years War (1756-63), in which France helped Britain fight against America, many ideas key to the US Constitution were brought home by French soldiers fighting in the war. The French were inspired when they saw the American ideals working so well. The US Constitution had also, in turn, been influenced greatly by various philosophers in France who were critical of the Ancien Rgime, and included their ideas. These philosophers included Voltaire (1694-1778), who was critical of existing institutions in France, especially the Church (``If God did not exist, you would have to invent him''), and attacked religious persecution, unfair taxes, and torture (all things forbidden by the US Constitution, and the later French ``declaration of the rights of man and the citizen''). Montesquieu (1689-1755) suggested that the English constitution was suitable for France, and advocated checks and balances in government (with separate legislature, judiciary and executive; an idea again implemented in the US Constitution). Rousseau's (1712-1778) ``Social Contract'' put forward the case for direct democracy (as opposed to representational democracy), and, although this idea was never realised in France or America as it was more radical than Montesquieu's ideas, the spirit of democracy inspired the French revolutionary leaders. Lastly, a group called the Encyclopdists (a key figure of which was Diderot) attacked the Church and State, and aimed to compile an encycloppedia critical of the government. The French philosophers not only inspired the middle class revolutionaries at the time of the French Revolution, but they established the ideas behind the US Constitution, which the French middle classes saw worked so well. Another long term cause was the g...
