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French Revolution
The French Revolution introduced the struggles that would define modern Europe
Two Revolutions wrapped into one w/ a third one waiting in the wings
1st – 1789 – 91
2nd
– 1791 - 94
Essential Questions:
To what extent is the French Revolution an attempt to create a government based on
Enlightenment ideals?
What are the major long and short-term causes of the French Revolution?
The Importance of the French Revolution
Brought to light Enlightenment Ideas
Classical Liberalism
Situation in France – Anatomy of Revolution; compare to fever/flu, etc.
For Example – examining the American Revolution
Symptoms: Colonial Ideology for self-government; The Stamp Act
Crisis – The Boston Massacre
Delirium – Writing of the Declaration of Independence; Actual fighting between the Colonist
and England
Relapse: Peace Agreement
Delirium
Crisis
Symptoms
Relapse
Essential Question: Why do revolution’s occur?
Revolutions occur when pressure groups organized for reform
Allegiance of the intellectuals switches
Class antagonisms increase
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Governments are short of money
Government is inefficient and the governed are impatient
Know and Understand The Following
The Estates
1st EstateClergy
3% of PopulationOwn 10% of Land
2nd EstateNobility
2% of PopulationOwn 20-25% of Land
3rd EstateBourgeoisie and Everyone else
95% of the PopulationOwned 40% of the land
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The Three Estates Clergy, Aristocracy, and the People (everyone else)
The Third Estate (Bourgeoisie) – bankers, merchants, and manufacturers; wage earners and
urban poor; Rural masses and peasantry, which made up the bulk of the people; the poorest
members were city workers
Period of Discontent
The third estate resents the privileges enjoyed by the 1st and 2
nd Estates
Upward mobility extremely limited, limited to the nobles
Heavy Taxes
Low wages + high cost of living (bread, food,etc) = misery and discontent
Why was the 3rd
Estate so important?
More than 95% of the people of France belonged to the Third Estate Population at the
time was more than 24 million people. This group included serfs who were still bound to
the soil, members of the middle class, and peasants. The average person of the Third
Estate was a poor peasant. Servants, skilled and unskilled workers, doctors, lawyers,
teachers, storekeepers, and laborers were also included in the Third Estate.
Long-Term Causes of the French Revolution
Enlightenment Thinking; Noble Privilege vs. Enlightenment ideas
Absolutism: powerful King creates a powerful state
World of Privilege
Privilege tax exemptions
Nation is King and Nobles
Intellectual ideas; fueled by the American Revolution about liberty and equality
influenced the upper classes
Social – society is still organized based on feudal concepts; no longer matching reality;
causes resentments
Political – Bourgeoisie (3rd
Estate) demands a say in government, nobles and clergy,
(obviously) want to retain or increase power
Economic – Government unable to pay debt; a lot debt accrued from the American
Revolution; 1780‘s a series of bad harvests; rising food prices (particularly bread); rising
unemployment; increase in poverty; Seven Years War; Noble Tax Exemptions
Activism – development of the public sphere of political debate; people gathering in
Parisian coffee houses debating the issues of the time
Essential Question
Can we compare the circulation of Enlightenment ideas to the writings of Thomas Paine?
4
The Beginnings of a Revolution
Know and Understand The Following
Enlightenment Thinkers: The Cause for Discontent
The 18th-century Enlightenment may be represented as a new way of thinking about
mankind and the environment. The main proponents of this intellectual movement, the
philosophes, were primarily men of letters - men like Voltaire, Locke, Diderot,
Montesquieu and Rousseau - but their views stemmed from the scientific revolution of
the previous century. The discoveries of Galileo, Kepler and Newton in physics and
cosmology revealed a universe that was infinite, yet governed by universal laws that
could be discovered by the human intelligence.
The philosophes were convinced that all creation was similarity rational, so that it was
possible for man to uncover laws which regulated society, politics, the economy, and
even morality. Once understood these laws would teach mankind not only what we are,
but what we ought to be and do.
For the philosophes, much of Western Christian civilization was incompatible with such
a rational order. The absolute monarchy, the aristocratic society which dated from the
Middle Ages, the established church, all came under their scrutiny. 'Despotism,
feudalism, clericalism' became the objects of their criticism and satire.
Though some of their more daring ideas never passed the censor, the philosophes
conveyed their message to the public through the printed word. Their greatest monument
was the Encyclopédie - entitled 'A Rational Dictionary of the Arts and the Sciences' and
edited by Denis Diderot. The first volume appeared in 1752, the last of 35 in 1780, and it
expressed the author's pride in the European achievement since the Renaissance.
From the evils of 'despotism, feudalism, clericalism' the main people of the Revolution
adapted the watchword of 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity', drawing on notions from the
Philosophes and the Enlightenment. Many important documents of the Revolution (The
Declaration of the Rights of Man, The Constitution of 1791) owe debt to Montesquieu,
Voltaire, and Rousseau.
John Locke's central ideas were that of:
The human mind is blank at birth, as such everyone is good.
Society shapes their mind and corrupts.
God established divine laws in which the universe conforms around and there is no
changing these laws, only acting within the constraints of them.
This guy is very important
de Montesquieu's central ideas were that of:
Separation of powers within the government; The government should be formed based on
the area in which they operate. An example would be that in a large, hot area the
government should be dispersed within communities. Like that of Alderman and Wards.
Deity; The Church should still influence people's lives and they way that they are
schooled and raised.
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Voltaire, worked to incorporate philosophy as it was practiced by the English, into French
intellectual life. He would attack aristocracy, as such was imprisoned in the Bastille. He persisted
on persuading for religious tolerance within society. He believed that all religions and practices
were equal as they were all drawn from the same source, the need for something to believe in.
Many of his books that we still read today have as their theme religious tolerance.
Jean Jacques Rousseau merely recycled older Enlightenment ideas, but was able to spark the
public with his ability to imply the obvious. The central idea he dealt with most is summed up in
the first sentence of his most famous work, The Social Contract: "Man is born free but
everywhere is in chains." This contract of his plays on the feudal system, but places it more into
a governmental role. Once rulers cease to protect the ruled, the social contract is broken and the
governed are free to choose another set of governors or magistrates. This became the primary
force behind the Declaration of Independence.
Notes:
Prelude to Revolution
Pre-Revolution Politics and Economic Conditions of France
Wasteful government spending and an abuse of power began the chain of events that led to the
upheaval of 1789. For several years, the government had covered its deficits with loans. In 1783,
the Parliament of Paris began to remonstrate against such loans, saying that the deficit could be
eliminated by curtailing expenditure. Public opinion, fueled by publicity given to lavish court
spending, seemed to share this view.
Failure of Reform: The Gathering of the Estates General
In 1787, The Assembly of Notables was convened by Louis 16th
; Louis wanted to raise
taxes to stem the resulting economic problem, however, the Notables refused to approve Louis
request. More specifically, These proposals met with furious resistance both from a special
Assembly of Notables and from the King's own law courts, particularly the Parliament of Paris.
In times past, the French people had consented to royal decrees through a representative body
known as the Estates-General. It is important to note that the last time that the Estates General
was last convened by the King was 1614, thus, illustrating the severity of the economic situation.
Consequently, the only method that would work to get taxes raised was an approval of the
Estates General. By 1789, the Estates General was summoned to help solve France economic
problem. Here, Louis asks the Estates to list their grievances.
What Happens? What do they (Estates) want?
Both the Nobility and the Bourgeoisie want Liberal changes
A constitution
Individual Liberties
Limited Powers of the King
A representative body
What was the problem with executing the grievances?
Voting; The 3rd
Estate wants voting to go by number of individuals instead on Estates.
6
Traditionally, the Estates-General consisted of three estates with equal numbers of
deputies—the clergy, the nobility, and the commons—each of which had a single vote.
Under this arrangement, the nobility always dominated, since the clerical deputies
included a majority of nobles. While leading nobles wished to retain this tradition of
"voting by order," which would have ensured their continued dominance, many
commoners reacted angrily…..Equal Representation
Notes:
Enlightenment thinking regarding the 3rd
Estate –
Abbe Sieyes – “What is the Third Estate? Jan. 1789
Sieyes turned his usual discussion about voting procedure in the forthcoming Estates General
into a searing critique of French Political and social inequalities and in particular the privileges
of the nobility. At issue were not the rights of small minorities or enslaved peoples far away in
colonies, but rather the most fundamental features of the French social order at home. Sieyes
dropped the polite and even apologetic tone and forcefully pronounced the right of the Third
Estate to be everything.
What is the 3rd
Estate? Everything
What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing
What it demand? To become something
Reaction to Enlightenment thinking -
Sieyes comments certainly stir the pot within all the Estates, particularly, the 3rd
Estate
Louis closes the hall where the Estates General were meeting after the comments of Abby
Sieyes. Moreover, Louis is fearful of what the 3rd
Estate is likely to do.
The Tennis Court Oath – in reaction to being shut out the 3rd
Estate gathers and –
Declares an Oath; Tennis Court Oath, June 20,1789; 1st and 3
rd Estates
―We are the National Assembly‖
―We will not dissolve this body until we have a new constitution‖
―We represent France‖
Know and Understand The Following
The Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a result of the growing discontent of the Third Estate in
France in the face of King Louis XVI's desire to hold onto the country's history of absolute
government. The deputies of the Third Estate were coming together for a meeting to discuss the
reforms proposed by Necker, the Prime Minister. These reforms called for the meeting of all the
Estates together, and to hold a vote by head instead of by estate. This would have given the Third
Estate, at least nominally, a stronger voice in the Estates General. The men of the Third Estate
were ardent supporters of the reforms, and they were anxious to discuss these measures. When
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the members of the Third Estate arrived at their assigned meeting hall, Menus Plaisirs, they
found it locked against them. The deputies believed that this was a blatant attempt by Louis XVI
to end their demands for reform and they were further incensed at the King's duplicity. Refusing
to be held down by their King any longer, the deputies did not break up. Instead they moved their
meeting to a nearby indoor tennis court.
A debate quickly ensued as to how the Third Estate could protect themselves from those
in positions of authority; those who wanted to destroy them. Some deputies believed that they
should retreat to Paris where the people would be more likely to protect them from the King's
army. Mounier warned that such a step would be blatantly revolutionary and politically
dangerous. Therefore, Mounier proposed that the Third Estate adopt an oath of allegiance. The
proposed oath was to read that they would remain assembled until a constitution had been
written, meeting wherever it was required and resisting pressures form the outside to disband.
The proposal was a success. It was promptly written and signed by 577 members of the Third
Estate. Later, the document was named the Tennis Court Oath.
The Tennis Court Oath was an assertion that the sovereignty of the people did not reside
with King, but in the people themselves, and their representatives. It was the first assertion of
revolutionary authority by the Third Estate and it united virtually all its members to common
action. Its success can be seen by the fact that a scant one week later, Louis XVI called for a
meeting of the Estates General for the purpose of writing a constitution.
Essential Question:
What event in American History compares to the Tennis Court Oath?
Louis responds to the demands –
Sends an Army to Versailles
Takes sides with the Nobility
Mob (3rd
Estate reacts) –
Mob is irate that Louis sides with the nobility
They have weapons but no gunpowder
Gunpowder locate at the Bastille
July 14, 1789 – Storming of the Bastille
Bastille – an old armory also used as a prison (not many though)
The attack is a symbolic attack on the King‘s authority
The revolution spreads to the countryside
―The Great Fear‖ – peasant rebellion against their landlords
August 4, National Assembly ends feudal rights
Popular pressure radicalizes the liberal revolution
Louis answer (final answer) to the rebellion –
Louis forces the 1st and 2
nd Estate to join the National Assembly, which officially marks
the beginning of the revolution
Notes:
8
Results of a Liberal Revolution
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Individual Freedom
Equality under the law
Representative Government
Property Requirements; Exclusion of Women
Constitutional Monarchy (this is important….the people were not, at the time, in a
hurry to kick Louis into the streets…this is going to change)
Know and Understand The Following
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
On August 26, 1789, the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" were passed by
the National Assembly. This presented to the world a summary of the ideals and principles of the
Revolution, and justified the destruction of a government based upon absolutism and privilege,
and the establishment of a new regime based upon the inalienable rights of individuals, liberty,
and political equality. The Declaration became the preamble to the Constitution of 1791. It has
been referred to in almost every single revolutionary movement since 1789, and has been
translated into nearly all major languages. It is the basis of the constitutional foundations of
many countries, including France's Fifth Republic.
Many ideas for the Declaration were from the Enlightenment, with the most important
influence being John Locke's Second Treatise of Government (first published in England in 1690
at the time of the 'Glorious Revolution').
By 1791, the Declaration had been transformed from a legislative document into a kind of
political manifesto. No one assisted this process more than Tom Paine, whose Rights of Man
became one of the best-selling books in English history, and the bible of working-class radicals.
Paine reproduced the document, word for word, treating it as a sacred text that ushered in a new
epoch of world history.
The King was never in favour of the Declaration and he refused to endorse it because he
thought its clauses were too ambiguous. He only sanctioned it under popular pressure on October
fifth and sixth, 1791. Since then, it has been adopted by all kinds of political groups, and has
been used both to justify revolution and also to supress it.
Essential Questions:
What and why was the National Assembly inspired to write the Rights of Man?
What‘s next?
A Time for Reform: A Time for Change
Role of the Church
A new role for the Catholic Church – in order to pay off the huge debt, the National
Assembly decided to sell of much of the Church‘s land.
Church now under state control, thus, loss of immense power – remember, the clergy
were the 1st Estate
9
New Constitution ended Papal authority
The assembly passed a decree saying that an oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution
must be taken by all bishops, parish priests, and their assistants. Those who refused to
take it were forced to leave their posts. On the 26 of December, King Louis signed that
decree.
More on the Church
The National Assembly made the clergy elective; moreover, those elected were
required to swear an oath of allegiance to the new, revolutionary government of
which they became de facto salaried employees. This measure nullified royal and
papal powers of clerical appointment and struck a blow at the religious hierarchy.
Moreover, the roughly 15 percent of French land that the church owned became
"national property," which the assembly began to sell off to pay its debts. To
many Catholics, including the King, these changes embodied in the Civil
Constitution unnecessarily politicized their religion and demonstrated that the
Revolution's changes were not necessarily all going to be for the better.
A new Constitution: The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly
Completed in 1791
Constitutional Monarchy in place of the Absolute Monarchy, thus, royal power was
carefully restricted. Louis became the first 'functionary' of the state.
A new Legislative assembly had the power to make laws, collect taxes, and decide on
issues of war and peace.
Lawmakers would be elected by tax-paying male citizens – only about 50K in a country
of 27M could qualify to run for the assembly
Forbade labor unions
Continued economic hardship
Bread was still a scarcity
The Sans-Culottes – more radical and demanded a republic
The constitution, after so much debate and trouble, lasted only eleven months.
During the fall of 1792, elections were held for a new Constitutional Convention (a
legislature that would not have to share power with an executive authority) that would
rule France as an interim government while preparing a new, republican constitution.
Enter the Jacobins and the Girondins
Sans-Culottes and Jacobin alliance
Image: Assembly Hall – Conservatives – those who believed that the revolution has
achieved its goals or even to push things back to the way they were in 1788 sat on the
right; center were the moderates; and the left – the radicals – pushing for more ….this
seating arrangement lead to what we know as left, right, and center. Picture our own
situation when the President addresses the nation.
Notes:
10
How did the moderates interpret the changes?
Believed the constitution completed the revolution; reflecting enlightenment ideals
It ended Church interference
Ensured equality before the law for all citizens
Out the power in the hands of men with the means and leisure to serve in gov‘t
Essential Question:
Are there comparisons between the French Constitution to another document? i.e. the
U.S. Constitution and/or the Virginia Plan?
If only tax-payers could be elected doesn‘t that negate the premise behind the Rights of
Man?
Conservative vs. Liberal: Causation for declaration of war
With the left in control and wanting to rid the world on monarchial type gov‘t soon
declared war on Austria, Prussia, and G.B.
Introduce Metternich
Second Revolution (1791-1794): Here we go again!
Radical Revolution
Violence
The Guillotine
Beheading of nobility
Beheading of the king and queen
As the Girondins stalled for time, a more radical faction of Jacobin deputies, the
Jacobins, sought to accelerate the proceedings, arguing that as long as Louis lived, he
called into question the legitimacy of the Revolution
Causes of Radicalization of Revolution (2nd
Revolution)
Political Clubs
Jacobins
Sans-Culottes - It was one of the first working class groups that incorporated both a
political stance and a social condition – The Working Class; they believed that they were
the ‗true people of France‖
Royalists
The emerging leaders of the new legislature, known as "Girondins" for the region in the
southwest from which many had come, found it intolerable to have a threatening army of
émigrés sitting just across the border
Louis 16th
captured
War with Austria and Prussia – the ultimate spark that caused the radical revolution
Counter-Revolution
Fear of external and internal threats
Influence of Marat
11
the Girondins rapidly led France into war in the spring of 1792, but this strategy
backfired when French forces performed badly for most of that year and as a
consequence France was invaded by Prussian and Austrian troops.
Beginning in 1792, the Mountain had begun to ally with sans-culottes in the sectional
assemblies, and together they overthrew the monarchy and the Girondin-led Legislative
Assembly. Sans-culotte fears of the plots of invisible, domestic enemies of the
Revolution were further aroused by heated rhetoric during the trial of Louis in January
1793, at which the Mountain depicted the Girondins as moderate defenders of the
monarchy and thus de facto protectors of "tyranny." The alliance between artisanal
activists in the sections and the Mountain's deputies in the Convention was forged around
the idea of mutual commitment to dramatic action in defense of the Republic from its
enemies, including the Girondin deputies who had been purged by 2 June 1793. The
Mountain then assumed control of the National Convention.
Jacobins (left) wanted more liberal change such as rights for all male citizens
Loyalists (right) wanted to restore the monarchy
Anatomy and Highlights of the Second Revolution (1791-1794)
Citizen Army; radical change, which pushed Europe into the modern period, based on
merit not privilege
Monarchy deposed; executed Louis, Jacobins promoted and accrued enough votes to
execute Louis (very radical); the end of the constitutional monarchy
National Convention – dominated by the Jacobins and Robesperrire
Republican Government
Planned Economy
Secular National Religion – outlawing Catholicism; worship heroes of the revolution..not
God
The Terror – 11K – 18K died and 300K imprisoned – because the Jacobins feared
internal and external threats, thus, eliminate the enemy of the state
Abolition of Slavery – Radical and Egalitarian vision
De-Christianization campaign
Know and Understand The Following
The Terror, Committee of Public Safety, and Robespierre
faced with war, internal unrest, and other problems, the Jacobins (Mountain) argued that
the government must become "revolutionary" (meaning extraconstitutional) if it was to
run effectively and also systematically and swiftly confront its hidden, internal enemies.
In early September, pushed by the sans-culottes, the Committee of Public Safety led the
Convention into what became known as "The Terror."
From Sept. 1793-1794, he Terror as a form of government meant the organized use of
state coercive power to ensure compliance with the demands of the government. Those
who did not comply faced a revolutionary tribunal, which tried "suspects" for treason and
sentenced those it convicted to the guillotine. These suspects included foreign and
domestic enemies. The Terror was also used to enforce wage and price "maximums" that
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guaranteed affordable provisions as well as more nebulous aims, such as ensuring the
"virtue" of all citizens, which allowed the CPS to repress all dissent from its own decrees
Another major divisive force in contemporary politics was the Convention's wide-ranging
attempt not merely to restrain the citizenry but to transform it into a more rational and
secular society. In a far-reaching break with tradition and with Christianity, the
revolutionaries inaugurated a new calendar of twelve months, each divided into three ten-
day weeks. This calendar eliminated Sunday, the traditional day of markets, of
socializing, and of Church attendance in favor of a republican holiday every ten days.
Showing some restraint in its desire to remake time and space, the Convention rejected a
proposed revolutionary clock that would have divided each day into 20 hours of 100
minutes each, but commissioned a study that created the metric system for redefining
weights and measures.
Perhaps the Revolution's most radical and divisive initiative was the move to "de-
Christianize" France and institute a civil religion based entirely on "reason." Inspired by
Enlightenment criticisms of the Catholic Church and in many ways embodying the
Revolution's desire to transform French society at the most fundamental level, the Cult of
Reason proved highly controversial in practice. Robespierre himself thought the
seemingly atheistic Cult of Reason excessive and counter to the objective of establishing
a republic of virtue. Seeking to preserve a religion based on the notion of a higher power
that would replace Christianity, Robespierre organized the Festival of the Supreme Being
held in June 1794, casting himself in the title role.
About 15,000 people perished officially and over 100,000 people were detained as
suspects.
Know and Understand The Following
Highlights of The Terror
Robespierre: Virtue through Violence
Louis XVI Executed (I told u this would change)
Jacobin vs. Girondin Rivalry
Committee of Public Safety
11000-18000 Dead and 300K imprisoned
Revolution kills republicans
The Thermidor (1794-1799): Reaction to the Terror
Attempt to stabilize the revolution
Fear of Jacobin Violence; particularly, people with money
Death of Robespierre and the White Terror
The Directory – small, elite group of people chosen to run the government
People of Property – this was the era which marked the return of the middle class
Search for Stability – create stability, however, doomed by internal strife (Left vs. Right)
or Jacobins vs. Royalists
Problems – Rich and Poor; Jacobins and Royalists – no more planned economy, a gap b/t
the rich and the poor; pushing people back to the Jacobins
13
The Directory: The Rise of Napoleon
By 1795, the government had passed into the hands of the five-man Directory. The new
legislature sat in two chambers: the Council of 500 and the Ancients (or Senate). The
Directory tried to preserve the Revolution of 1789 – they opposed the restoration of the
ancien regime as well as popular democracy. They refused to leave the door open for
either the excessive radicalism of the Jacobins or the spontaneity of the sans-culottes. The
Directory muddled on until 1799. By this time the French Revolution was over and the
French tried to get back to business as usual. Radicalism had been effectively thwarted as
well. But France was still at war with the rest of Europe. And because of the war,
leadership began to pass into the hands of generals. One of these generals would seize
control of the government in November 1799. And on December 2, 1804, this general,
Napoleon Bonaparte, would declare himself Emperor of the French
Sieyes recognized that the power and faith in The Directory had faded, thus, he made his
move to install Napoleon
Notes:
Women in the Revolution
A debate, although not as popular during the unfolding of the revolution was the role of
women. Many believed that the 12M women should enjoy equal political rights as men.
Unfortunately, none of the national assemblies ever considered legislation granting
women equal political rights.
Women wanted a change in morals and customs that would in turn foster a more
egalitarian atmosphere for women such as liberal divorce law and reforms in inheritance
laws as well
The most agitating plea for change came from Olyme de Gouges, who wrote the
Declaration of the Rights of Woman.
She closely followed the structure and language of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
in order to show how women had been excluded
Compare/Contrast - Her Article 1 and Article 6
Ultimately, de Gouges went to the guillotine, denounced as a ―shameless‖ women who
abandoned the cares of her household to involve herself in the republic.
Slavery
Most feared the effects of slavery or loss of commerce that would result from the
abolition of slavery or the elimination of the slave trade.
Fabulous wealth depended on slavery, shipbuilding, sugar fefining, coffee consumption,
and a host of other industries rested on the slave trade.
Events in France did not go unnoticed in the colonies
In October 1790, 350 mulattos rebelled in Saint Domingue. The rebellion was put down,
the rebels were arrested and the leaders, including James Ogé, were executed. On May
15th, the National Assembly succumbed to pressure and granted political rights to all free
blacks and mulattos who were born of free mothers and fathers. It only affected a few
hundred people but the planters were infuriated and refused to follow the law.
Just a few months later, on 22 August 1791, the slaves of Saint Domingue again rose up
in rebellion, in what was eventually to become the first successful slave revolt in history.
14
The National Assembly reacted by rescinding the rights of free blacks and mulattos on
September 24th. Once again the slaves reacted with violence. They burned down
plantations, murdered their white masters, and attacked the towns. The fighting went on
even as the new Legislative Assembly (it replaced the National Assembly in October
1791) met at the end of March 1792. On March 28th, the assembly voted to reinstate the
political rights of free blacks and mulattos. Nothing was decided about slavery.
The slave rebellion continued. In the fall of 1792, as the Revolution in mainland France
began to radicalize, the French government sent two agents to Saint Domingue to gain
control of the slave revolt. The rebel slaves then made agreements with the British and
Spanish in the area. The British and Spanish had promised freedom to those slaves who
would join their armies. It was not a matter of principle - they did not intend to end
slavery in their own colonies. But they saw an opportunity to weaken France.
The rebellion and invasions took their toll on Saint Dominique. The economy had nearly
collapsed and drastic measures were needed. The National Convention (the more radical
assembly of the Jacobins that replace the Legislative Assembly in France) finally voted to
end slavery in all the French colonies on February 4, 1794. Thousands of whites fled the
island, and even the Mulattoes were not pleased. Many owned slaves themselves and
were opposed to the move.
The decree from faraway Paris did not solve the problems in the colonies. Some local
officials disregarded the decree, others converted slavery into a forced labor system, and
others took no action at all. The decree was never fully implemented.
A leader of the slaves had emerged in the conflicts. Toussaint L'Ouverture, a slave who
had learned to read and write, embraced the enlightenment philosophy of equality and
liberty. He was a brilliant general, and large areas of Saint Dominique came under his
control.
Eventually the Jacobin government in France fell like those governments before it. When
Napoleon took control in France, he attempted to put Saint Dominique on a sound
footing. By 1800 the plantations were producing for France only one fifth of what they
had in 1789. He reinstituted slavery in the colonies, and denied rights to free blacks. He
send an expeditionary force to retake Saint Dominique. Through deception the French
captured Toussaint and took back to France. Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be
imprisoned in the Alps and murdered by lack of food and warmth. However, the fight
went on and the slaves were finally successful in driving out the French. In 1804 Saint
Dominique became the independent republic of Haiti. The first successful slave revolt in
history was over.
Notes:
15
The Napoleon Era: The Rise and Fall of Napoleon (1799-1815)
Highlights of the Rise:
Defeat of Royalist (1795)
Victories in Northern Italy (1797)
Eighteenth Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799): Coup, Abbe Sieyes, Napoleon
Preserve Revolution?
Stability through Authoritarian Rule?
Child of the Enlightenment: Merit over Privilege; Middle-Class; Property; Religion
Contradictory Equality
Representative of Moderate Liberals
Not Democratic; Not an advocate for the poor
Censorship
Obsession with war
Napoleon Changes France
Service to State over hereditary blood
Secular citizens
Napoleonic Code
New Elite: Middle Class; Titles; Legion of Honor
Slavery in Colonies; End to Colonial Empire
Napoleon’s Government:
Consulat; First Consul
Plediscite: ―Authority from above, confidence from below‖
Suppression of Jacobins and Press
Consul for Life; Execution of Bourbon Duke; Emperor
Napoleon created a new form of government in France, reshaped the boundaries of
Europe, and influenced revolutionaries and nationalists the world over.
By the end of 1802, the Republic had essentially ceased to exist and a new authoritarian state
was taking shape.
Napoleonic Code
December 2, 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor with the pope watching. A new civil
code consolidated revolutionary legislation by confirming all the sales of property undertaken
since 1789 and guaranteeing equality under the law
The Code represented a comprehensive reformation and codification of the French civil laws
Under the ancient regime more than 400 codes of laws were in place in various parts of France,
with common law predominating in the north and Roman law in the south. The Revolution
overturned many of these laws.
The Civil Code represents a typically Napoleonic mix of liberalism and conservatism, although
most of the basic revolutionary gains - equality before the law, freedom of religion and the
abolition of feudalism - were consolidated within its laws.
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His laws declared all men equal before the law without regard to their rand and wealth
His laws extended to all the right to follow the occupation , and embrace the religion, of their
choosing. It gave France the single coherent system of law which the philosophes had demanded
and which the revolutionary governments had been too busy to formulate.
His laws incorporated from the old Roman law some practices that strengthened the absolutism
of the Empire. It favored the interests of the state over the rights of the individual, and it
permitted some use of torture in trial procedure. Judges were no longer elected, but appointed by
the Emperor. Permitted divorce by mutual consent, however, it cancelled other revolutionary
laws protecting wives, minors, and illegitimate children. The man of the family regained his old
legal superiority.
The Napoleonic Code also installed a more paternalistic legal system than that envisioned by the
revolutionaries: husbands and fathers gained nearly complete control over their wives and
children, and employers wielded great authority over their workers. Even while confirming some
of the legal gains of the revolutionary decade, Napoleon labored assiduously to cultivate the
loyalties of those who had suffered during the Revolution such as the old regime nobility. In
some large measure, he succeeded.
Property was of first importance, it was freed of feudal burdens and the owner enjoyed exclusive
rights to it. Property ownership was absolute, exclusive and perpetual.
The Civil Code has had a widespread influence in the world of law. Napoleon tried, and was
relatively successful, in exporting the Civil Code to France's satellite nations. The Code,
conservative and moderate in France, was often revolutionary in the lands that received it. It
spread the ideals of the French Revolution to the annexed and satellite territories. The Civil
Code was introduced into Italy in 1806. To his brother Louis, King of Holland, he wrote, "I don't
see why you need so much time or what changes must be made….A nation of eighteen hundred
thousand cannot have a separate Code. The Romans gave their laws to their allies—why should
not France have hers adopted in Holland?" In Germany, the Rhineland had been under French
rule for twenty years and the Civil Code and French reforms had had time to take root. In 1900
it was found that 17 percent of Germans were still ruled by French law. In much of the
Rhineland the Code Napoléon was still administered in its native tongue.
When Napoleon established the Duchy of Warsaw, some Poles wished to reform Polish law,
while others petitioned Napoleon for French laws. "Poland, having finally lost all its own
statutes and laws," one such petition read, "is capable of accepting at this moment the French
form of government, statutes and laws, which are close enough in their bases to the Polish
Constitution." The Code was introduced on 1 May 1808, despite opposition from the Polish
nobility. A translation into Polish of the Code was completed in 1808 (though Davout called the
translation "inintelligible"), but it was the French version which was in force.
In 1808, the Civil Code was adopted, with some modifications by its drafters Kentucky lawyer
James Brown and French-trained Louis Moreau Lislet, in Louisiana. When the governor had
attempted to promulgate common law in the new territory, the legislature protested, complaining
about "frightful chaos of the common law." When the territory became a state, civil law was
retained. The French Civil Code also became the basis for the laws of Quebec. The Code was
widely imitated outside the Francophone world. The codes of Egypt, Greece and many Latin
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American countries were based on Napoleon's Code. Even Britain, which has actively resisted
codification, promulgated a civil code in India and a number of former British colonies have
adopted civil codes.
The Code Civil was flexible enough, in the words of one modern legal scholar, that it "left open
many avenues for growth and change, as new pressures and new ethical standards emerged in
French society." Portalis pointed out in the Preliminary Discourse of the Code that "Those
changing and petty details with which the legislator ought not be preoccupied and all those
matters that it would be futile and even dangerous to attempt to foresee and to define in advance,
we leave to the courts. It is for them to fill in the gaps that we may leave. The codes of nations
shape up with the passage of time; properly speaking, they are not drawn up by the legislature."
Nevertheless, many articles of the Code were written so clearly that they have never been the
subject of any litigation.
The writer Stendhal wrote that he read the Code everyday to capture its qualities of clarity and
simplicity. Historian Albert Sorel, reflecting a national pride in Napoleon's achievement, has
said, "The Code Civil has remained, for the peoples [of the world], the French Revolution—
organized. When one speaks of the benefits of this revolution and of the liberating role of
France, one thinks of the Code Civil, one thinks of this application of the idea of justice to the
realities of life." Georges Lefebvre wrote, "the failure to depict the Code in all of its freshness
would play false the history of the Napoleonic years…" Ultimately the Civil Code, as Napoleon
predicted, has to be considered the greatest achievement of the Napoleonic years.
Example of Napoleon’s Civil Code
Of the Causes of Divorce
The husband may demand a divorce on the ground of his wife's adultery.
The wife may demand divorce on the ground of adultery in her husband, when he shall
have brought his concubine into their common residence.
The married parties may reciprocally demand divorce for outrageous conduct, ill-usage,
or grievous injuries, exercised by one of them towards the other.
Napoleon’s Foreign Policy
State of constant war
Master of New Warfare
Early Victories: Austria and Prussia
Continental System
Attempt to take Spain
Failed Russian Invasion: 600K – 40K
Napoleon won great prestige by coming to terms first with Austria in 1801, which had resumed
the struggle in 1799, and then making peace with Britain, Spain, and the Dutch Republic in 1802,
ending a decade of nearly nonstop war
Peace gave him the breathing room to send an army to Saint Domingue to reestablish slavery in
the colonies and capture Toussaint L'Ouverture; even though the army captured Toussaint and
sent him to die in a French prison, Napoleon's army succumbed to yellow fever and to the
tenacity of the former slaves, who established the Republic of Haiti and severed all connections
with France. Although the peace in Europe proved short-lived too, it gave Napoleon time to have
himself declared Consul for Life in a referendum in 1802.
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Napoleon’s Downfall
Incessant Warfare; Retreat in Russia
Spread of German and Italian Nationalism
War weariness at home
Coalition Victory in 1814
Bourbon Restoration
100 days
Essential Question:
So, who was Napoleon and how did he come to power? How did a middle-class man from
Corsica, whose native language wasn‘t even French, become the leader of one of the powerful
countries in the world?
The French people viewed him as a hero to France after defeating the Austrians in Italy in
1796
Leading members of The Directory secretly sought a constitutional overhaul and they
needed a general to make their plot work. Napoleon appeared at just the right moment.
He forced his way into a meeting of the deputies, who threatened to outlaw him as a
would-be dictator. He and his brother Lucien, rallying some troops waiting outside,
broke up the session by armed force. Napoleon was then named First Consul. The
plotters in the legislature expected to control the young general (he was not old enough to
hold office under the Constitution of 1795), but they soon found themselves
outmaneuvered.
Napoleon steadily gained support for the new regime by promising a regime of law and
order and by making peace with the Catholic Church and its head, the pope.
Napoleon reaffirmed the principle of religious toleration for Protestants, who were
organized in a number of consistories under state control. After 1804 the state paid the
salaries of Protestant pastors, just as it paid those of Catholic priests. In 1806 Napoleon
organized French Jews into a system of government-supervised consistories like those
that regulated Protestant worship. He did everything possible to encourage Jewish
assimilation to French ways. As was typical of Napoleon, he hoped to guarantee law and
order by organizing all the groups in society under state control.
Know and Understand The Following
Recapping the French Revolution
Immediate Cause – financial
Inefficient gov‘t
Fact- before the revolution, France was never ruled by an enlightened leader
Fact – The entire legal and judicial system required reform; The laws needed to be
codified to eliminate obsolete medieval survivals and to end the overlapping of the two
legal systems – Roman and feudal, which prevailed in France at the time.
Unequal voting power amongst the three estates
A bad harvest wasn‘t ‗the‘ reason, but certainly a contributing factor.
Violence erupts because the commoners believed the king and the privileged orders
might attempt a counter-revolution
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The essence of the Rights of Men: liberty, property, security, and resistance to
oppression
The Declaration mirrored the economic and political attitudes of the middle class
Despite revolutionary changes, the poor and landless made little or no progress because
of high unemployment, cost of living, low wages, ets…
Louis – From the King of France to the King of the French because the constitution of
1791 severely limited his powers
After the Constitution of 1791, citizens were basically divided into two classes: active
and passive and limited the right to vote to active citizens
The Constitution of 1791 was destined to fail. It was to radical to suit the King and most
of the aristocracy, and not radical enough for the many bourgeois who were veering
toward republicanism
Jacobins were no true friends of the constitution. They accepted it as a stopgap until they
might end the monarchy and set up a republic
Much like modern-day Washington lobbyists, Jacobins did the same to exert pressure and
gain support such as using the press
Girondins gain control and seek war. Declare war on Austria. In theie mind, war was a
defensive measure
The First Republic and the September Massacres of 1792 – sealed the fate of the
monarchy; with most of the deputies of the Right and the Plain (center) absent, the
Assembly voted to suspend and imprison the King, thus, the First French Republic was at
hand
Both active and passive citizens were invited to the polls – true political democracy
According to Robespierre, democracy is/will be secured when they first finish the war of
liberty against tyranny
Committee of Public Safety (Mountain); Robespierre and others exercised a large
measure of independent authority and acted as kind of war cabinet; scrapped much of
local self-gov‘t inaugurated under the Constitution of 1791
The good of the Terror: leveled wages, capped inflation, rationed bread and meat and in
early 1794, distribution of seized land to the landless Frenchmen
The Terror abolished slavery
Robespierre believed that the republic demanded a Republic of Virtue; and if virtue is the
mainstay of a democratic gov‘t in time of peace, then in time of revolution a democratic
gov‘t must rely on virtue and terror
Revolutionary France utilized the metric system
De-Christianization – campaign to make Catholics into philophes and their churches into
―temples of Reason‖
The Thermidorean Reaction – the downfall of Robesperrire; Disbanded the
Revolutionary Tribunal. Denied the Committees of Public Safety and General Security of
their independent authority, closed the Jacobin clubs, Girondin returned, restored
Catholicism, the press recovered their freedom
In the south and west, ―White Terror‖ or counter-revolution exacted revenge on Jacobins
and those who took noble lands
The Thermidorean reaction concluded with the Constitution of 1795 – it was the third
great effort of the Revolution to provide France with an enduring gov‘t.
18 Brumaire - With the help of Sieyes and because of the comeback mounted by the
Jacobins, Napoleon engaged in a plot to overthrow the Directory
Sieyes plan – ―Confidence from below, authority from above‖
The executive position – ―The Consulate‖
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Three Consuls made up the Consulate -Napoleon was first consul; the other two had little
authority
1802, Napoleon was named First Consul for life, with the power to amend the
constitution at will…France was now a monarchy in all but name
1804, Napoleon was crowned emperor
Changed laws at will, appointed the officials, didn‘t care who help the positions as long
as they had abilities and followed his dictates
100 Days –Napoleon re-entered after exile; promising a truly liberal regime; 100 days
later, the British delivered the final blow at Waterloo
Died in 1821
The Revolutionary Calendar
Each month had 30 days, divided into three ten-day weeks, every tenth day was for rest
Fall: Vendemiaire (Grape Harvest), Brumarire (misty), Frimaire (Frosty)
Winter : Nivose (Snowy), Pluviose (Rainy), Ventose (windy)
Spring: Germinal (Sprouting), Floreal (Flowering), Prairial (meadow)
Notes:
Essential Questions:
Was Napoleon the heir or undertaker of the French Revolution?
Consider first the symbolic significance of the Bastille for 18th
century Parisians. Why
might this underused prison have been a natural target for those hostile to the monarchy?
How did the availability of print shops agitate political activism?
Why did Robespierre‘s position regarding executions quickly and dramatically change?
Compare and Contrast the French Revolution to the wars of Rome and Ancient China?
Why would neighboring countries have a vested interest in the outcome of the French
Revolution?
How did Napoleon‘s actions throughout Europe help cultivate classical liberalism?
Can we consider Napoleon an Enlightened leader?
How did the economic doctrine of laissez-faire hinder the commoners, specifically, the
poor and landless peasants?
How was it that the advocates of democracy now imposed a dictatorship (the Reign of
Terror) on France?
Can we consider the social acts of the Jacobins a form of Socialism?
To what extent is the French Revolution an attempt to create a government based on
Enlightenment ideals?
What are the major long and short-term causes of the French Revolution?
Why does a revolution occur?
To what extent is the French Revolution an attempt to create a government based on
Enlightenment ideals?
What are the major long and short-term causes of the French Revolution
Revolutions occur when pressure groups organized for reform
Allegiance of the intellectuals switches
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Class antagonisms increase
Governments are short of money
Government is inefficient and the governed are impatient
Can we compare the circulation of Enlightenment ideas to the writings of Thomas Paine?
What and why was the National Assembly inspired to write the Rights of Man? What‘s
next?
So, who was Napoleon and how did he come to power? How did a middle-class man
from Corsica, whose native language wasn‘t even French, become the leader of one of
the powerful countries in the world?
What and why was the National Assembly inspired to write the Rights of Man?
Are there comparisons between the French Constitution to another document? i.e. the
U.S. Constitution and/or the Virginia Plan?
If only tax-payers could be elected doesn‘t that negate the premise behind the Rights of
Man?
Notes:
Images:
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The Terror
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