How revolutionary was the French revolution?

How revolutionary was the French revolution?

Did the Revolution simply replace the old ruling élite with a new, bourgeois one? What were the major effects on different groups of people, including nobles, priests, peasants, urban workers, slaves and women?

 

France: State of the Nation 1789 - 1799.

 

In analyzing the French Revolution, we must ask three basic question; Why was there a revolution in the first place? What enabled the revolution to continue after 1789? And, What if anything was its significance? The French Revolution was a unique episode in history, one with deep social concerns that sought a new political order, distinct from that of the absolute monarchy of the time. The study of the Revolution, its origins, processes and events is complicated by the complexity of France as a nation in itself, certainly also its role in imperial global affairs, and internally the hopes and desires of the leaders of the Revolution to create a new order. 

 

France in 1789 was the largest geographical territory in Western Europe, with vastly differing topography, languages, customs and cultural identities. 85% of the population existed in a rural, agricultural setting. Much of the land was dominated by a feudal system under the control of wealthy nobility, or owned by the Catholic Church.  Disparate differences in wealth were indicative of the Kingdom as a whole. An important factor to be considered in the origin of the Revolution was the tax system in vogue, under which the nobility and ruling elect of the Church were exempt. Taxes were mostly collected from the lower, common classes.

 

The expenses created through Frances involvement in defending her North American colonial territories in the Seven Years War (1756- 1763), and the decision to involve herself in the American War of Independence (1776-1783) against Great Britain, created enormous debts ultimately to be revealed as a financial crisis. The struggle to recover the debt through taxation proved a turning point toward revolution.

The General Estates

 

French society was composed of three social orders: the church, nobility and commons. Diversity and inequality existed not only between the highest, most privileged members and the poorest in the Kingdom, but also within these social classes. Combined with vastly differing income was the disparities based on location, the capacity to improve or advance one’s position in terms of work, and privileged exemptions from taxation defined these roles. An early slogan of the Revolution, coined by Robespierre in December 1790, based upon the wording of the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’ (August, 1789) was ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’ – exemplifying the desire to create a nation unified by equal rights.

 

The Church and the Clerical Order.

 

Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion in France at this time, 98% adherence, with the country divided into 40,000 Parishes. The clergy that administered these numerous Parishes were commoners – sharply contrasted with higher clergy of canons, abbots and bishops who claimed noble status. Overall the First Estate, as a self-governing corporation claimed exemption from taxes and royal laws. Whilst the lower clergy, at the village level may have been nominally acceptable in the earliest phase of the Revolution the Church hierarchy and structure was, for at least a decade earlier the subject of licentious, vulgar criticism and satire in the form of illegal literature. Certainly there was an ‘anti-authoritarian religion’ vehemence in the writings of the ‘Philosophes’ of the Enlightenment. The turning point for the Church came in late 1789 with the abolition of tithes, and church property nationalized (and converted in ‘assignats’ or paper bonds). Then in July, 1790 with the ‘Civil Constitution of the Clergy’ – a law that confiscated all Church land, and subordinated the Church to the French Government. Thereafter, all clergy were required to pledge allegiance to the State in January, 1791 – many refused and ultimately, collectively these actions destroyed whatever power the Church had previously held in France. As the Revolution progressed the role of religion assumed a Deistic form in the ‘Cult of the Supreme Being’ inaugurated on 8^th June 1794.

 

Nobility.

 

The nobility represented the powerful elite in 18^th century France, forming the political administration and ministry of King Louis XVI, as well as most of the military officer corps, the judiciary and the higher church elect. The nobility possessed about 30% of the land and resources in France, seigneural rights, privileged to levies of produce and monopolies on community productions. They were also exempt from paying direct taxes. Yet again, there were also divisions in the nobility itself, principally between the hereditary and elected nobles, between the grand and the ‘lower’ landed aristocracy. The major turning point in their protected status came in February 1787 when the Finance minister, in order to recover war debts suggested a universal land tax. This was met with stiff resistance from the nobility in general, although the tension between them and the ‘God-given rights’ of the King were brought into stark focus, with the aristocracy seemingly attempting to influence and manipulate governmental affairs in their own favor, and preserve their fiscal privileges. In an attempt to curtail this, the King convened a meeting of the Estates General in May 1789 – with the intention of coercing the nobility into relinquishing their rights with the aid of the Third Estate. The ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man; in August, 1789 placed the sovereignty of the nation not in the King, nor a nobility but with its common citizens. Thereafter, the August Decrees of 1789 abolished the practice of feudalism, together with many aristocratic rights. The complete abolition of hereditary nobility titles was complete on 19^th June 1790. Consequently, many members of the nobility left France as ‘emigres’ (some to organize a military invasion) whilst others supported the changes. As the National Assembly working toward a draft of a new constitution in June 1791, in which King Louis XVI would lose his absolute power – and thereafter remain only insofar as a honorific state. On June 20th-22^nd the king and his family attempted to escape, was arrested at Varennes but lost all credibility. It may be said that the execution of the King in January 1793 was the absolute end of the nobility as it was defined by the Ancien Regime. 

 

Commoners.

 

The Third Estate of France was composed of common people, some 99% of the population, from the agricultural peasants to the urban middle class or ‘bourgeois’ represented by lawyers, civil servants and officials. The largest group within the Third Estate were the ‘menu peuple’ – laborers, tradespeople, and shopkeepers, with a minority of destitute such as prostitutes and beggars. Collectively, these provided France with most of the revenue from taxes yet also lived in a state of abject poverty. With the financial crises apparent in 1789, and the necessity of a reform through a convocation of the Estates-General planned in May of that year, the King petitioned the subjects of the realm to submit their grievances (cahiers de doléances) which subsequently emboldened their voice and desire for radical change. The subsequent meeting of the Estates-General quickly disintegrated and polarized into two camps; that of the nobility and the Commoners. The latter were forced by exclusion to continue their debate separately from May 28^th. The first revolutionary statement and action of the Third Estate was the claim of the title ‘National Assembly’ which was issued on June 13^th. The second major action involving the common ‘menu peuple’ of Paris involved the storming of the Bastille prison on the 14^th of July, an event which historically marks the commencement of the Revolution itself. In August of 1789, the National Assembly drafted and instituted the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’ which made an earnest statement of equality for all citizens, together with the Decrees that abolished feudalism sovereignty was awarded to all. It becomes clear that that much of the administrative and political change within the Revolution was through the direct involvement of the ‘bourgeois’ class of the Third Estate, these professional urban workers fueled by Enlightenment ideas, and inspired by the ideals of the American Revolution sought to initiate and create administrative, social and political reform.  

 

The Colonies and Slavery

 

After the loss of its North American territories in the Seven Years War (1756-1763) the remaining colonies were concentrated in the Carribbean islands of Guadeloupe, St. Domingue and Martinique. All had extensive plantations which produced sugar and coffee through the combined effort of 27,500 freed slaves and 465,000 African slaves. Despite the claim in Article I of the 1789 Declaration of Rights, freedom was only granted to the children of freed slaves. Most of the French white planters circumscribed this, with the result that a slave rebellion erupted in St. Domingue in August 1791. Led by Toussaint Louveture, a freed slave they managed to burn valuable crops, wreck machinery and mount a guerilla warfare campaign against colonial troops, resulting, by October in the death of over 10,000 slaves and 2000 white colonists. However, true to its ideals the Revolutionary Convention did in fact abolish slavery just prior to Robespierre’s great speech on 4^th February 1794. 

 

Women.

 

For the most part, prior to and up to the Revolution most women played a secondary role in social life, and were completely absent from governmental or political roles. There are some examples of women becoming involved in business affairs. Amongst the Third Estate women worked alongside and with their male counterparts in agriculture, raised children, and tended to domestic housekeeping duties. Amongst the statements of grievances (cahiers de doléances) collected in 1789 are complaints from women willing to challenge the system which made of them domestic slaves, that they could or should play a fruitful role in governance, and the hope is expressed that at some point an ‘equality of the sexes’ might be reached in the future reorganization of the state. In 1789, when Louis refused to recognize the August Decrees and the Declaration, 7000 Parisian women led by Stanislas Maillard and Anne-Josephe Terwagne marched on Versailles on the 5^th October and invaded the Assembly in protest. Their brave action forced Louis into recognizing the Decrees, and per their request returned to Paris the next day. On the 20^th September 1792 the Legislative Assembly created a divorce law aimed specifically for women in unhappy marriages, many working class women took advantage of this almost immediately. Unsurprisingly women did not fare well in the Revolution, however their pleas for equality were embraced by individual activists such as Olympe de Gouges who drafted a social contract  for marriage and a Declaration of the Rights of Women. The expectation was that women would get the vote, although this was not fully realized until 1944. 

 

Napoleon, the Eclipse of the Revolution and the Future

 

To all intents and purposed the Revolution came to an end when Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor on the 9^thNovember 1799. The radical changes that had taken place over the previous decade had been traumatic for many, some believed the Revolution had been a failure, and for others, like Bonaparte and many of the bourgeoisie an opportunity for personal exploitation and gain. However, the movement away from an absolute monarchy toward a republic and a democratic constitution, although not achieved immediately were the fruits of the Revolution. 

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