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| How were the ideals of the French Revolution, Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite a reflection of the political, social, and economic breakdown of the Ancien Regime? |
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| One opinion pervaded the whole company, that they are on the eve of
some great revolution in the government: that every thing points to it: the confusion in
the finances great; with a deficit impossible to provide for without the states-general of
the kingdom...but bankruptcy is a topic: the curious question on which is, would a
bankruptcy occasion a civil war, and a total overthrow of the government?... Travels in
France: Signs of Revolution |
| To Combourg: The country has a savage aspect; husbandry not much
further advanced, at least in skill, than among the Hurons (American Indians) . . . The
people almost as wild as their country, and their town of Combourg one of the most brutal,
filthy places that can be seen; mud houses, no windows, and a pavement so broken as to
impede all passengers . . . To Montauban: The poor people seem poor indeed; the children terribly ragged, if possible, worse clad than if with no clothes at all; as to shoes and stockings, they are luxuries . . . They did not beg, and when I gave them anything seemed more surprised than obliged. One third of what I have seen of this province seems uncultivated, and nearly all of it in misery . . . Arthur Young- Travels in France |
| The abuses attending the levy of taxes were heavy and universal. . .
. The rolls of the taille, capitation, vingtiemes, and other taxes were distributed among
districts. . . A cruel aggravation of their misery, to see those who could best afford to
pay, exempted because able! The corvees {taxes paid in labor, often road building}, or
police of the roads, were annually the ruin of many hundreds of farmers; more than 300
were reduced to beggary in filling up one vale in Lorraine: all these oppressions fell on
the tiers etat {Third Estate} only; the nobility and clergy having been equally exempted
from tailles, militia and corvees. Plight of the French peasants |
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1. That his subjects of the third estate, equal by such
status to all other citizens, present themselves before the common father without other
distinction which might degrade them. 7. That venality {sale} of offices be suppressed. . . . 13. That military ordinances establishing a degrading distinction between officers born into the order of nobility and those born in to that of the third estate be revoked, as thoroughly injurious to an order of citizens and destructive of the competition so necessary to the glory and prosperity of the State. 15. That every personal tax be abolished; that thus the capitation and the taille and its accessories be merged with the vingtiemes in a tax on land and real or nominal property. 16. That such tax be borne equally, without distinction, by all classes of citizens and by all kinds of property, even feudal and contingent rights. . . . JUSTICE. Cahiers de doleances-lists of grievances |
| Who is bold enough to maintain that the Third Estate does not
contain within itself everything needful to constitute a complete nation? It is like a
strong and robust man with one arm still in chains. If the privileged order were removed,
the nation would not be something less but something more. What then is the Third Estate?
All; but an "all" that is fettered and oppressed. What would it be without the
privileged order? It would be all; but free and flourishing. Nothing will go well without
the Third Estate; everything would go considerably better without the two others. . . .
What is a nation? A body of associated living under common laws and represented by the
same legislative assembly, etc. . . . Because of these special rights, the nobility does
not belong to the common order. . . Thus its private rights make it a people apart in the
great nation. What is the Third Estate? |
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| I.
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on
common utility. II. The aim of all political association is to preserve the natural and unalienable rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, and security and resistance to oppression. III. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation. No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate from the nation expressly... VI. Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens being equal in its eyes are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices, and employment's, according to their capacity, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents. X. No one may be disturbed for his opinions, even in religion... XI...Every citizen may therefore speak, write, and print freely... XIII...common taxation is necessary. It should be apportioned equally among all citizens according to their capacity to pay. XVII. Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one may be deprived of it except for an obvious requirement of public necessity, certified by law, and then on condition of a just compensation in advance. Declarations
of the Rights of Man and Citizen |
Article I: The National Assembly completely abolishes the
feudal regime. It decrees that among the rights and dues that are feudal, as well as
rental, those which derive from...personal servitude...shall be abolished without
compensation... |
| His
majesty...appeared...before the States General which for the first time he called the
National Assembly. He confirmed the dismissal of the army camped around Paris, approved
the establishment of the bourgeois militia, handed a letter for the recall of Necker to
the president of the Assembly, authorized eighty deputies to be sent to Paris... The capital...barricaded its streets and was covered with armed men who seemed to have sprung from the earth.... The national cockade was hoisted everywhere; it was white, blue, and red. These colors decorated everything, sanctioned everything, justified everything.... Versailles will never forget that day and that departure: the king's former servants could not, without shedding tears, watch the French monarch...proceed...toward a capital... Journal politique national, No.8; |
Tithe I Article I. Each department shall form a single
diocese, and each diocese shall have the same have the same extent and the same limits as
the department. Tithe II XXI. Before the ceremony of consecration begins, the bishop elect shall take a solemn oath, in the presence of the municipal officers, of the people, and of the clergy, to guard with care the faithful of his diocese who are confided to him, to be loyal to the nation, the law, and the king, and to support with all his power the constitution decreed by the National Assembly and accepted by the king. Tithe III VII. The salaries in money of the ministers
of religion shall be paid every three months, in advance, by the treasurer of the
district. The
Civil Constitution of the Clergy |
| The National
Convention...faithful to the principles of the sovereignty of the people,...decrees: ...2. The French nation declares that it will treat as enemies the people who, refusing liberty and equality,...it promises...not to lay down its arms until after the establishment of the sovereignty and independence of the people whose territory the troops of the Republic have entered upon and who shall have adopted the principles of equality, and established a free and popular government. Decree
for Proclaiming the Liberty |
| Citizens, the tyrant is no more.... The National
Convention and the French people are now to have only one mind, only one sentiment, that
of liberty and civic fraternity....Never did circumstances more urgently require of all
citizens the sacrifice of their passions and their personal opinions concerning the act of
national justice which has just been effected. Today the French people can have no other
passion than that for liberty....Let us, through our patriotism, avert those horrible
shocks, those anarchical and disorderly movements which would soon overwhelm, France with
disturbances and grief, if our outside enemies, who are fomenting them, could profit
therefrom... Proclamation of the Convention |
