ipl-logo

How Did Jean Jacques Rousseau Influence The French Revolution

813 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The french revolutions

This lecture was on the Fall of the Bastille, which was presented by Lynne Taylor. On July 14, 1789, a Parisian mob broke down the gates of the ancient fortress known as the Bastille, marking a flashpoint at the beginning of the French Revolution. For years, the anger between the three major social classes, called Estates, had grown to a fever pitch. The First Estate was the clergy. The Second Estate was the nobility. The Third Estate was everyone else-the poor, the shopkeepers, and the middle classes. It was by far the largest group of people, and several them were well-educated clerks, lawyers, and teachers. The philosophical ideas of Cicero and Rousseau fueled the Revolutionary fire. In old Rome, Cicero had promoted the restoration of original Republican values to a state whose nobility seemed cheerfully mired in decadence and corruption. Lynne Taylor talked about Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who died a short time before the French Revolution, argued for a civil society that would be voluntarily formed by its citizens and wholly governed by reference to their general will. Citizens governed in this way, he believed, would unanimously accept their governing authority. Rousseau proposed that man in his natural state, without the interference of defective laws, …show more content…

I was really interested and thinking a lot about how she talked about the three different estates. The three different estates, first, second, and third, really have big margin gaps for the people in these estates. I believe if these margin gaps were closer and even not having these different “classes” of people, the revolution, I believe, would probably not happen. I like how Jean-Jacques Rousseau really tried to make a society that all 3 estates would learn to love and would have a civil society with everyone acting as equal to someone

Show More
Related
571 Words | 3 Pages

Rousseau’s beliefs coincided with the beliefs of other Enlightenment thinkers. This is shown when he writes, “Duty and interest thus equally require the two contracting parties [the people and the government] to aid each other mutually” (Document 3). In that period of history, it was typical for people to be ruled by a monarch and they had very little say, if any, in the laws and policies that impacted their day to day life. Rousseau felt that the system was outdated and it made citizens feel as if they were living in someone else’s home rather than their own, so he theorized that by fabricating a system in which the government and the people are forced to work together, it creates a sense of unity and equality. This works because “ … an offense against one of its members is an offense against the body politic.

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

The French Revolution was one of the most significant wars that changed France’s history. The Revolution started in 1789 and ended in 1799 and was mainly initiated by the conditions affecting the Third Estate. Louis XVI was predominately the king during this time period but little did he know that an uprising among the peasants was happening. The French Revolution was caused by the Enlightenment ideas because of the American Revolution, the knowledge of rights, and the questioning of France’s government. The American Revolution was basically the “fire” that ignited the change the Third Estate wanted to see in their country.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

Rousseau’s beliefs coincided with the beliefs of other Enlightenment thinkers. This is shown when he writes, “Duty and interest thus equally require the two contracting parties [the people and the government] to aid each other mutually” (Document 3). In that period of history, it was typical for people to be ruled by a monarch and they had very little say, if any, in the laws and policies that impacted their day to day life. Rousseau felt that the system was outdated and it made citizens feel as if they were living in someone else’s home rather than their own, so he theorized that by fabricating a system in which the government and the people are forced to work together, it creates a sense of unity and equality. This works because “ … an offense against one of its members is an offense against the body politic.

Read More
1059 Words | 5 Pages

How revolutionary was the French Revolution? Did the Revolution simply replace the old ruling elite with a new bourgeois one? What were the major effects on different groups of people, including nobles, priests, peasants, urban workers, slaves, and women? This essay will address the French Revolution and the degree to which it can be aptly described as “revolutionary.” How revolutionary was the French Revolution? Was the storming of the Bastille, the destruction of feudalism, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of a fundamental and radical and revolutionary nature, or, alternatively, simply a series of historical events that results in the supplanting of one authoritarian regime for another and at great cost in

Read More
1162 Words | 5 Pages

He based his beliefs off of the ideas that all men are created good-natured, but society corrupts them. Unlike some other French Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau believed that the Social contract was not a willing agreement. He also said that no man should be forced to give up their natural rights to a ruler. He came up with the solution that people should “give up” their natural rights to the community for the public’s good. He believed in a democratic government.

Read More
877 Words | 4 Pages

Rousseau, one of the most leading philosophers during the Enlightenment, had indeed left many of legendries behind. Not only his writings had caused many of the reactions at that time, but also influenced many writers’ aspects of the French Revolution and the overall understanding of inequality and the General Will. As one of the chief political theorists during the French Revolution who was also influenced by Rousseau’s ideas, Abbe Sieyes, published the pamphlet, “What is the Third Estate?” in 1789. This pamphlet was one of the documents that changed the world and lit the flame toward the French Revolution, as characterized by Joe Janes, a University of Washington professor (Janes).

Read More
1324 Words | 6 Pages

This paper examines both Jean-Jacques Rousseau and James Madison remark concerning ‘ factions ’ as the potential destructive social force to the society. To layout and examine, this paper will first outline and discuss on Rousseau’s understanding of factions in The Social Contract,and Madison’s discussion on factionalism in the Federalist Papers 10.But there are many component surrounded with their view’s on ‘factions’,so it is important to consider together. Firstly,I will consider the definition and the element surrounded with their view on factions. With regard to Jean-Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contract,he believes that the society can only function to the extent that people have interest in common.

Read More
517 Words | 3 Pages

In France, the people wanted revenge against the oppressive leadership and luxurious lifestyles of the rich in society. Upon finding out that the aristocrats have lost their property, they decide to take action by invading one of France’s most tightly guarded prisons, the Bastille.

Read More
1522 Words | 7 Pages

The French Revolution was a time of chaos and bloodshed. “All over France, from Paris to the smallest hamlet, the summer and spring of 1789 was the occasion of a total and unprecedented collapse of centuries of royal state-making” (McPhee 56). Peter McPhee sees the year of 1789 as the point of the French Revolution where the collapse of the royals finally takes place. The terror that had taken over France during the revolution caused the people to cry for peace. “Almost as frightening for the citizens was the uncertainty: as the laws changed, so there were more crimes” (Hunt 63).

Read More
797 Words | 4 Pages

In 1789, France was precariously balanced on the edge of chaos. King Louis XVI was ruling monarch of France. King Louis’ youth depicted him as reckless, thoughtless, and unwise. A series of bad financial and political decisions, lead to his unpopularity among the people of France. King Louis was young, distracted and misguided.

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

One of the most famous Enlightenment thinkers was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of The Social Contract. The point of The Social Contract is to establish whether or not a legitimate political authority can exist. Rousseau based his book on the idea that things were worse of now that people were under a governmental authority than before—whenever they were in a state of nature. Rousseau’s work was influential around the world, giving rise to political reforms and

Read More
1322 Words | 6 Pages

In the French Revolution the storming of the Bastille was one of the key events that revolved around political issues. On 14 July 1789, furious revolutionaries had stormed the Bastille. In fact, it was not only a source to make a statement in opposition to the Monarchy, but also the mob gained weapons that were stored in the prison. The mob, including a few of the King 's soldiers, stormed the Bastille. After a while, prisoners were set free.

Read More
1238 Words | 5 Pages

In the 18th century, Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau influenced the French Revolution through his ideas and principals. In his book, The Social Contract, Rousseau said that every man is born good until corrupted by society. Rousseau was correct in saying that people were born good, people were naturally born with a pure heart because God made us that way. However, one could argue that man is born evil based off of the perspective of society’s moral laws, which Rousseau may not have considered. Man is born evil because every human being is born with a desire for possession and a hunger for power.

Read More
810 Words | 4 Pages

During the Estates General, Louis XIV believes he can rid the Third Estate’s demands by locking them out. The Third Estate moves next door to a tennis court and takes an oath to remain there until there is a constitutional monarchy, a form of government promulgated by Montesquieu in his “Spirit of Laws”. “Montesquieu claimed that a liberal constitutional monarchy was the best system of government for a people who prized freedom, on the grounds that by dividing the sovereignty of the nation between several centres of power, it provided a permanent check on any one of them becoming despotic.” Montesquieu is clearly vital in the French Revolution as he sets the structure of government which the National Assembly demands and provides the governmental goal of

Read More
1071 Words | 5 Pages

In Rousseau’s political thoughts general will is at the heart of social contract. General will is the most fundamental principle in Rousseau’s social contract. Social contract gets its legitimacy through only the application of general will. But what this “general will” actually is? To Rousseau general will is not simply the sum total of all individual wills, rather it is the collective will of the people of a community.

Read More

More about How Did Jean Jacques Rousseau Influence The French Revolution

Related Topics

Open Document