Friedrich Gentz was a German political writer who lived at the turn of the 18^th century. Gentz wrote about the differences between the American and French Revolutions. According to Gentz, the American Revolution was a revolution to hang on to old traditions while the French Revolution was intended to install a new way of life for the common man. He penned that the Americans had a logical stopping point to their revolution with the securing of their old rights, while the French Revolution did not. Wanting something completely new, the French did not really know when to stop. The governing bodies in the American Colonies encouraged, and even sanctioned, the American Revolution. Contrastingly, the French king and state government attempted to quell the revolutionaries. The French also experienced the Reign of Terror, to which there was no American counterpart. Friedrich Gentz compared and contrasted the two revolutions of the late 18^th century and concluded that the Americans wanted to keep their old rights while the French wanted something entirely new.