The French Revolution
Before, During, and After
Enlightenment Ideals
• Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen
– aimed to topple the institutions
–
–
–
–
–
surrounding hereditary monarchy and
establish new ones based on the
principles of the Enlightenment
Its purpose was to educate and
enhance love of liberty
Rights to life, liberty, property
First step from absolutist monarchy to
constitutional monarchy
Innocent until proven guilty
Freedom of opinion concerning
religion
First draft was discussed with Jefferson
• Social Contract
Rousseau
– Man is born free
– Controls by a freely formed government are good
– Consent to a form of governments means that the individual gives up
self-interest in favor of the common good
– When government is by the consent of the governed, the people can
retain their rights
• General Will
– Majority should always work for the common good
– Spoke out against political, economic repression
– Support revolt
• Champion of Democracy
• Napoleon: “If there had been no Rousseau, there would have
been no Revolution, and without the Revolution, I should have
been impossible.
Voltaire
• Defends freedom of speech
• Spoke out against corrupt government officials
and aristocrats, injustice of slavery, and
religious prejudice
• HOWEVER, he was not in favor of democracy
and would have certainly opposed the FR
Locke
• Basic unalienable rights
• Two Treaties of Government
– Government is formed to protect people’s rights
– Government should have limited power
– The type of gov. should be accepted by all citizens
– Government has an obligation to those it governs
– People have the right to overthrow the
government if it fails these obligations
Montesquieu
• The Spirit of the Laws
– Described checks and
balances on
government by
dividing the functions
of power between
different branches of
government to
protect personal
liberty
American Revolution
• Successful…the Enlightenment was a good idea?
• Decartes, Locke in Declaration of Independence
• Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau in Constitution
– Social contract
– Natural rights
Causes of the French Revolution
• Massive population, huge amount of land…
• Essentially bankrupt because of Versailles, Seven Year’s War,
and expenses of supporting the American Revolution
• Taxes are HIGH (except for the first two Estates, the nobles
and the clergy, who didn’t have to pay taxes)
• Widespread famine and starvation
Causes con’t
• Estates-General meets,
evolves into the National
Assembly (Third Estate and
liberals from the First and
Second)
• Storming of the Bastille
– Louis XVI fired Necker, his
economic minister
– Rioting in the streets,
eventually attack the
Bastille, looking for guns and
gunpowder
Leads to widespread
violence in rural areas
•
Revolution
• Constitution is written and “approved” by the king,
then he is removed from power and a new constitution
was drafted for the new republic
• France declares war on Austria
• Revolutionary Tribunal set up for acts of treason,
suspends all of the legal rights guaranteed in the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and there
could be no appeals– sentence was usually death by
guillotine. Later becomes The Committee of Public
Safety
• National Assembly replaced with National Convention
Reign of Terror
• Louis is executed, followed by Marie Antoinette
• France declares war on Great Britain and Holland, which leads
to more food shortages
• “Moderates” in the National Convention were removed and
charged with treason; shortly after, the NC passed a law that
denied accused people of both counsel and the calling of
witnesses
• Conscription begins, ration cards are handed out, price ceilings
are set, and the massive army begins to overwhelm its enemies
• People are calling for blood everywhere, and the Reign of Terror
was reaching its peak as Robespierre takes power (he originally
was in favor of abolishing the death penalty, and was opposed
to France entering this war, and was obsessed with Rousseau)
The “End” of the Revolution
• Eventually Robespierre starts to scare people, so after
he’s sentenced a few thousand people to death, he is
arrested and executed with some of his followers
• Begin to reform the laws that let everyone go crazy, and
release those that were in prison as a result of them
• Repealed price ceilings, which destroyed the value of
money
• A new constitution was drafted, and the NC was
dissolved as the new republican government took
power, while Napoleon Bonaparte crushed an uprising
in the army
William Wordsworth
• The English Rousseau, of sorts
• Staunch supporter of the
revolution to begin with
• He lived in France at the
beginning of the revolution
then fell in love with a French
woman, with whom he had a
daughter
• Begins to believe that the
Revolution is both a political
breakdown and one of human
decency
Wordsworth, con’t
“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be
young was very heaven!”
“Domestic carnage, now filled the whole year
With feast days, old men from the chimneynook,
The maiden from the bosom of her love,
The mother from the cradle of her babe,
The warrior from the field- all perished, allFriends, enemies, of all parties, ages, ranks,
Head after head, and never heads enough
For those that bade them fall.”
Jacques-Louis David
• In sympathy with
the Revolution from
the beginning
• Voted in favor of the
execution of Louis XVI,
and signed 300 other
execution orders as a
Deputy from Paris
The Oath of Horatii, 1784
• Designed
propaganda for
Jacobin club, later
became their
president
Death of Marat, 1793
American vs. French
• Why did one succeed while the other failed?
• Was the Enlightenment a success?
• Did Romanticism actually get it right?
Sites Used
• French Revolution: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
•
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. Center for History and New Media, American
Social History Project, National Endowment for the Humanities. 24 Feb 2009
<http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/>.
• Wordsworth/FR:
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/french.html
•
Geib, Rich. "The French Revolution." 25 Feb 2009 <http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/french.html>.
• Wordsworth: http://www.bartleby.com/221/0504.html
•
Erskine, Sherman, Trent, Ward, Waller, Van Doren, "William Wordsworth: The French
Revolution." Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes; Volume XI:
The Period of the French Revolution. 1907-21. Putnam's Sons. 4 Mar 2009
<http://www.bartleby.com/221/0504.html>.
• David/Marat:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/neocl_
dav_marat.html
•
"Jacques-Louis David: The Death of Marat." Art in European History. Boston College. 26 Feb
2009 <http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/neocl_dav_marat.html>.
Further Info
• Rousseau’s General Will:
http://www.quebecoislibre.org/05/050715-16.htm
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen:
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111decr.html
• Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/montesquieuspirit.html
• Enlightenment, American Revolution, French Revolution:
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenmen
t/section7.rhtml
• Rousseau’s Social Contract:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Rousseau-soccon.html
Test Questions
• What, essentially, does Rousseau’s General
Will stipulate? (use the further readings to
gain a fuller understanding of the topic)
• What were William Wordsworth’s beliefs
regarding the Revolution at its onset? How
and why did these convictions evolve?