Strayer, Part 5, pp 504 - 508: The French Revolution

The French Revolution can be thought of as a consequence of the American Revolution; if the American Revolution hadn’t occurred, maybe the French Revolution wouldn’t have transpired the way it had. Jefferson was sort of passive about the affair. He didn’t goad the French masses to overthrow the monarchy. He stayed out of history’s way. Ironically, if the French monarchy had known the American Revolution would inspire a revolution at home, one wonders if they’d have been as keen to support the American cause? The Third Estate met as a last hurrah to stave off the revolution, but they didn’t have the consent of the majority because the first two estates, the clergy & nobility left the peasantry out of the political process in writing a new political future for France.  Although, they still managed to come up with the Declaration of The Rights of Man, which was loosely based on American revolutionary codices. The French Revolution was a much more violent and bloody affair because unlike the American Revolution, the nobility were attacked closer to home rather than the peasantry attacking an incoming force they saw as invaders. The peasants, aside from being aggrieved by the lack of political representation were also angry about strict controls upon their movement that resembled Russian serfdom, and that they had to pay crushing taxes to the church and state. At first there was an attempt to keep the monarchy under constitutional authority, but once the king and queen were caught fleeing to Austria to get military help, they were seen as traitorous to the French people. So, that idea was pretty much taken off the table. Thus, much of the legal prohibitions and heavy taxation that permitted the serfdom to exist were swept away by measures undertaken by the national assembly. Perhaps one of the most profound changes from the old feudal order was the implementation of male suffrage (although women didn’t get the right to vote in France until 1945). There was also several regions or “departments” established to give areas more regional autonomy within the country, to weaken the absolute strength of the state. Streets and monuments were renamed and noble titles practically vanished overnight. A lot of citizens joined political clubs. And for a time the state replaced the church as the ultimate authority for registering births, marriages, and deaths. It was almost like a state-mandated Atheism; for example, the Cathedral of Notre Dame was for a time renamed “The Temple of Reason,” for example.” Although, the Catholic Church wasn’t completally cast out of society. It just became more subservient to the revolutionary ideals of the French Enlightenment. Napoleon didn’t start out trying to be an emperor, but rather he came into the foray of French politics by attempting to quell riots and social unrest. He was responsible for introducing things such as the Napoleonic Code, which was secular in nature, but he also suppressed some democratic elements of the French Revolution. He was instrumental in eliminating feudalism, and called for religious tolerance amongst many of the measures he implemented.