Images courtesy of Independence National Historical Park.
 

Governments in the rest of the world did not trust the people enough to let them choose their leaders. In the age of monarchs, families ruled whole nations. Many of these families claimed a "Divine Right" to rule.

In Europe, and much of the rest of the world, the right of kings to rule was rarely challenged. The normal procedure required "hereditary power". This means that if your parent was King and you were the first-born child, then you would be the next King. Being the oldest child didn't mean you became a good ruler. Often Kings and Queens were corrupt and cared little about their subjects. They couldn't be voted out of office, and they were there until they died.

The man and woman you see in the portraits were the King and Queen of France, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. In 1789, France began its own revolution largely because the people were starving and the King's government did little to solve the problem. The people blamed the King and Queen and eventually both their heads were cut off. The French Revolution, unlike our Revolution, did not lead to the people governing themselves. Instead it led to several violent governments and then to a government under a military ruler. After the American Revolution was over, George Washington gave his power back to the Congress and went home. That did not happen in France. The French Revolution produced many social changes, but the American Revolution changed the whole government.