Legacies of the Revolution

William Wordsworth French Revolution As It Appears to Enthusiasts (1804)

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive/ But to be young was very heaven!"

Edmund BurkeReflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

“gradual change and a kind of organic continuity in society stretching across the generations were preferable to violent, rapid upheavals in the structure of government”

Thomas PaineRights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution (1791 and 1792)

“good government depended on establishing a constitution that guaranteed the natural rights of all men”

Mary WollstonecraftA Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)

“women should be educated like men in order to become virtuous citizens”

Ideology:a defined doctrine about the best form of social

and political organization

Nationalism

Negative legacy

• secularism

• irrationality, savagery, and

violence of the mob

• universal principles of human rights

• social equality

French Revolution had not gone far enough:socialism & communism

Repercussions throughout the world

Has the importance of the French Revolution now faded?