The Americans talked a lot about checks and balances; the French talked a lot about liberty and brotherhood.
Different political situations. Even before the revolution, the American colonies had pretty much functional governments at what we’d now call the state level; the political problem that needed to be solved after the revolution related mainly to how those colonies could be integrated into a national government. Most of the famous documentation relating to the process (and most of our present-day impression of an emphasis on checks and balances) comes from the second attempt at doing so; the first lasted only a few years.
The French Revolution, on the other hand, was attempting to build a new system from the ground up, and was concerned with ensuring that that system would emphasize individual rights rather than the ancien régime’s hierarchy—a concern that reflects itself in the rhetoric of the time.
Different political situations. Even before the revolution, the American colonies had pretty much functional governments at what we’d now call the state level; the political problem that needed to be solved after the revolution related mainly to how those colonies could be integrated into a national government. Most of the famous documentation relating to the process (and most of our present-day impression of an emphasis on checks and balances) comes from the second attempt at doing so; the first lasted only a few years.
The French Revolution, on the other hand, was attempting to build a new system from the ground up, and was concerned with ensuring that that system would emphasize individual rights rather than the ancien régime’s hierarchy—a concern that reflects itself in the rhetoric of the time.