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Enlightenment Ideals And Values: The French Revolution

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The eighteenth century brought many new ideas that challenged the traditional status quo. Enlightenment thinkers denounced common thoughts about government, religion, authority, and human nature. When the French Revolution broke out during the late eighteenth century- many people joined based on ideas entrenched from Enlightenment thought. “The French Revolution first grabbed the attention of the entire world because it seemed to promise universal human rights, constitutional government, and broad-based political participation.” However many were left to question how closely the actions taken were related to the Enlightenment ideals and values. The Enlightenment was an outburst of thought in the beginning of the 18th century. From London …show more content…

During the 1780’s, taxes were considerably raised to help pay for the debt. Additionally, the top two estates were exempt from these taxes; the Clergy and the Nobility were both exempt. That meant 95% of the population - non-clergy and non-nobility - were left to pay the taxes. To help him keep control King Louis XVI organized estates meetings and invited representatives from all estates to participate. During these meetings, the voting would take place in order of social class. Because of this, the National Assembly was created so that the third estate was able to have their own say. The National Assembly did away with many old ways and wrote many new laws. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen granted many new freedoms to France as well as national sovereignty. On July 14th in 1789 common people fought against army soldiers in a blood bath in Bastille. This marked the beginning of the French Revolution, as common people saw what happened and starting fighting back in any way possible. A national Guard of the people was established to take out local governments and set up their own stable governments. The French Royal family tried to flee the country to get support but ended up getting arrested which inspired hatred for many people towards the royal family. The king and queen were put on trial for treason and called for the execution of them. Tensions escalated as a series of wars broke out in Europe. The Terror was created and conceived as a radicalism killing group as they brutally killed many innocent people. Around this time, France tried to take steps toward a functioning republic. A temporary 5 year Directory Government was set in place with 5 people ruling all as

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“[In March 1793] the revolutionary Tribunal (a court of justice) was established to try all crimes against the state. Tribunal members would not be elected by the people, but appointed by the National Convention (the revolutionary government) and their power would be absolute” (Doc E). The people of France could not choose who would be monitoring their opinions and behavior toward the government which deeply upset them. “A careless word of criticism spoken against the government could put one in prison or worse” (Doc E). Citizens of France had no freedom of speech and could never openly express their opinions on the government which led to revolting and angry mobs.

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Birthed from a multitude of causes including the execution of the king, the momentum and arbitrariness of the Revolution, and fear of counter-revolution, Terror itself, became synonymous with the Revolution. Questioning of the Terror thus was equivalent to questioning the Revolution- a crime which carried life sanctions. The Reign of Terror’s pervasive and tyrannic movement infiltrated the nation and claimed over 50,000 lives of conceived counter-revolutionaries, inclusive of Source B’s orator, Antoine Barnavare. Jean Paul-Marat’s emotive speech reinstates the New Order “crush us in the name of justice, they load us with irons in the name of liberty”, perpetuating the development of the Revolution from moral to tyrannical. With the guidance of both Source A and Source B, the first having addressed feudal and monarchical injustices’ committed against the people, and the second- the people's retaliation, to growing extremes, the development of the French Revolution can be traced efficaciously.

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The French Revolution is an uprising in France against the monarchy from 1789 to 1799 which resulted in the establishment of France as a republic. An example of the French Revolution is the storming of the Bastille by the French citizens. It caused havoc in France for many years. The government separated the classes by money and state of living. According to Travels in France by Arthur Young, the peasants were mistreated badly.

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France was an absolute monarchy, ruled, by a king, and the people had no say in anything. People were separated into three different estates. The first estate was full of clergy, and the second estate was full of nobles and people in high positions in the government. These two estates were 2% of the whole population. The third estate consists of everyone else.

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Our modern society has been sculpted by many revolts throughout history. Many governments and ideas have risen to power do to these revolutions. The French revolution began on July 14, 1789 due to the neglect of the people by the french government along with the mistreatment of the lower class. A important phase in the revolution was the Reign of Terror, A period where the government had been taken over by a revolutionary government called the National Convention. This new government rule france with force, executing all who opposed them and outlawing all counter revolutionary ideas and practices.

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During the 18th Century, the Enlightenment was introduced in Europe. This new movement brought about modernization of thinking about government and individualism, and reevaluated previous beliefs. The Enlightenment had many new Philosophers who helped spread their views on government. Philosophers were similar in ideas about the rights of citizens and people’s choice of which government they want, however they differed on the reason government existed and governmental power. Overall, the ideas were a substantial departure from previous ideas about human equality, absolute rulers, and the court system.

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The French Revolution is often described as the Revolution of France and developed over several decades in the mid to late 1700?s. The leadership of mid 18th century France has been described as a Monarchal King reigning by the grace God with absolute power over the people, economy, and politics of the Empire.[footnoteRef:1] The decades following the Seven Years War and King Louis? XVI quest to restore the glory of the French Empire through wars ultimately devastated the French economy. Many historians state the attempts of the King to further tax the people and subjugate the church were significant influences in the Revolution of the French. Thomas Carlyle believed that revolution and anarchy are the products of the Social Contract.[footnoteRef:2]

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In Travels in France, Arthur Young stated that the nobles were taxed very little while the poor were taxed heavily (Document 1). This signified that these fees hurt the third estate the most because they were forced to pay the most amount of money, yet they made the least amount. The peasants had it worse than anybody else because they still owed debts dating back to feudal times. In addition, cartoons during the French Revolution satirically showed the public how the 1st and 2nd estate were not deeply impacted by the political system while the 3rd estate was crushed by the taxes they had to pay (Document 7). The third estate earned terrible wages and faced starvation everyday and on top of that, they suffered the most because they had the highest taxes.

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On the other hand, in France, members of the Third Estate led a revolt against the monarchy in hopes that by overthrowing the monarchy, they would be granted a constitution and a new assembly would be created with delegates of the Third Estate. Although the radicals were successful and a National Assembly was created, there were still problems. The worsening economic issues had not been solved and many citizens did not gain any rights. When the Revolution took a radical turn in 1792, the French Republic was formed. Finally, in 1799, after the end of the Reign of Terror in which the monarchy and its allies were executed, the French Revolution came to an end, with Napoleon gaining power over France.

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The French Revolution was a pivotal moment in French history and in the history of Europe. Before the Revolution, France was one of the largest and most influential European nations and its political and social structure, as well as its unifying religion, played a major role in its power. In 1789 this traditional structure was turned on its head when the people did away with the absolute power of the monarchy. This must have shocked many people in Europe who had taken the consistency of France for granted. People were also disturbed by the reports of violence that took place in Paris and the countryside.

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The national Assembly was enthusiastic about the recent breakdown of royal power. Then, rumors of an impending military coup began to circulate. Chaos arose on July 14 when rioters seized the Bastille fortress in an attempt to secure gunpowder and weapons. This was the start of the French Revolution.

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In 1792, the National assembly of France faced a dilemma. The moderate bourgeoisie elements of the Assembly wanted an end to the revolution, their aim of instituting a constitutional monarchy and limiting the powers of nobles have already been achieved. But growing unrest of the frustrated poor, who felt they had gained little, frightened the Assembly. And intense opposition and hostility from the elites who lost their privileges threatened to push the country into counter-revolution. These forces pulled on the government from above and below.

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France suffered from many political problems, causing chaos in France. One major problem in France was the government itself. At that time, many governments

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During the time of the French Revolution there was an over-abundance of government tension between the aristocratic upper class and the people who made up the rest of France’s population. The political unease of the middle and lower class brought about the reconstruction of the French government. The transition to their new government set up, and the reasons behind it, are easily visible by looking at the history of the general estate, the national assembly, and the declaration of the right of man and citizen. From the time it was summoned in 1789 the estates general groups fought among themselves. The fact that two out of the three estates were made up of clergy, the first estate, and nobility, the second estate, meant the general population did not really have a say and could always be outnumbered two to three.

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The people of France tried to resolve issues peacefully but the king cared only about his power and acted at the expense of the citizens. According to the French Revolution portion of the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the bourgeoisie wanted to have political power and the peasants did not want the feudal system to continue (French Revolution 2). A large meeting was held to discuss and solve issues, but, “rumors of an ‘aristocratic conspiracy’ by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate led to the Great Fear of July 1789.” (French Revolution 2). With the king of France being unwilling to actually resolve any conflicts, the only choice that was left was to overthrow the government as a whole and rebuild it into being a more fair and just system.

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