Rousseau
He shared a number of ideas regarding the relationship of the individual to the state with Voltaire and John Locke. He believed that every human is born with certain inalienable rights. For Rousseau society was based on a social contract among all citizens. Rousseau saw it as an agreement between the citizens themselves. This civil society was to be ruled by General Will. He General Will was the embodiment of the wishes of people. The concept of 20th democracy by the system of majority voting, originates from this idea of General Will. Rousseau’s works continued to inspire the revolutionaries throughout the Revolution. His words would echo in the speeches of revolutionaries of all parties.
Social Changes
A growing middle class envisages an End to Privileges
The 18th century witnessed the emergence of a new social group called the middle class or the bourgeoisie who earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods such as woolen and silk textiles that were either exported or bought by the richer merchants of the society. In addition to merchants and manufacturers, the Third Estate included professionals such as lawyers, doctors, administrative officials. All of these members were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth. Rather a person’s social position must depend on his merit. Since this new social group was the product of a different type of economy, the social structure of Old Regime was no longer compatible with changes in the economy and society.
Aspirations of bourgeoisie
These ideas envisaging a society based on freedom, equal laws and opportunities for all were articulated by the 18th century philosophers. In the Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. This model of government was put into force in the USA, after the 13 colonies declared independence from Britain. The American constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important example for political thinkers in France.
Diffusion of ideas: emergence of public space; salons
The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffee-houses and spread among people through books and newspapers. These were frequently read aloud in groups for benefit of those who could not read and write. Salons played a significant role in creating public opinion in France. Jürgen Habermas’ argues in, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, that the salons were of great historical importance. Theatres of conversation and exchange – such as the salons, and the coffee-houses in England – played a critical role in the emergence of what Habermas termed the ‘public sphere’, which emerged in ‘cultural-political contrast’ to court society.
Urban workers
Most workers were employed as laborers in workshops and owner fixed their wages. But wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened. Things became worst whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest. This led to a subsistence crisis, something that occurred frequently in France during the Old Regime.
Economic Condition
It was the financial crisis that triggered off the French Revolution, but ironically the French economy in the 18th century was growing, dynamic and prosperous. The economy was almost as big as that of Britain. The internal trade expanded while the overseas trade in wine and luxury goods flourished with colonial and European trading links. However this wealth was not translated into the income of the government for various structural reasons, foremost was the taxation system and lack of advanced financial institution like bank, insurance, etc. This problem was compounded by the government decisions and policies such as participation in the American Revolutionary War.
Debt Crisis: Extravagance of foreign wars
During the 18th century, France fought a number of financially ruinous wars. The wars of the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian Succession had occupied the first half of the century, while the Seven Years War against Great Britain in the colonies had proved expansive and disastrous. Nevertheless, the French went on to participate in the War of American Independence opting to support the American colonists against Britain. It plunged France into an acute financial crisis.
Parlement
Calonne’s successor Brienne did nothing more than produce a slightly amended version of Calonne’s plan which was no more successful in winning support. The assembly was consequently dissolved in May. Brienne then took out new loan at very high rate of interest and attempted to force his proposals through by presenting them directly to the parlements. The Paris Parlement which spoke for the provincial parlements, remained hostile to the land tax reform. It decreed that it lacked the authority to sanction his change and refused to register necessary edicts. As one last attempt to force the parlements accept the proposal: he sent Paris parlement into exile in August, 1787. The royal action merely brought renewed demonstrations of support for the parlement and the king was force to allow the members to return to the city.
As news spread of parlement’s stand against unfettered absolutism, supportive crowds gathered in the capital. Its legitimacy slipping away, the crown resorted to using force against the demonstrators leading to more tension. As the tension escalated, so too did calls for the Estate General. The parlementary rebellion spread to parlements through our country. In May 1788, Paris parlements made it clear that Estate General ws the only legal body to sanction any permanent taxation. By summer of 1788, the treasury was almost empty, and the king had no option but to convene the Estate General.
The Estate General was a political body to which the three estates sent their representatives. On 5th May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estate General in the great hall at the king’s Palace of Versailles. There were 561 deputies for the first two estates and 578 deputies for the third estate. The third estate was represented by its more prosperous and educated members like lawyers, bankers and merchants, industrialists. Peasants, artisans and women were denied entry to the assembly. However, their grievances and demands were listed in some 40,000 letters which the representatives had brought with them.
Voting in the Estate General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote. The voting procedure reflected the relative privileges of the order. This time too Louis XVI was determined to continue the same practice. But the members of the third state now demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote. They also demanded to increase the representation of delegates of third estate. This was one of the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau in his book the Social Contract. This demand which reflected the aspirations of bourgeoisie was a very radical in the context of structure of the ancien regime. The acceptance of this demand would have meant the end of privileges. The stage of confrontation between the forces of ancien regime and the new social ghroup with different political and economic interests was set. The confrontation was now inevitable.
Both the monarchy and the parlement were opposed to the demand of the Third Estate. Ironically parlement which were in the forefront of resistance against the absolute monarchy and supported by the Third Estate, now found itself in the path of confrontation against the members of the Third Estate as it did not want to see the control passing from the Second Estate to the bourgeois leaders of the Third Estate. Parlement essentially represented upper class and was very wary of the power of the Third Estate. It therefore chose to support the traditional one vote per estate. Consequently, although the monarch agreed to increase the size of the Third Estate representation, be rejected demand of voting by head. The members of the Third Estate walked out of the assembly in protest. This marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The representatives of the Third Estate viewed themselves as the spokesmen for the whole French nation. (Not the subject of a monarch any more). They declared themselves as National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for the French that would limit the power of the monarch. This is known as the Tennis Court Oath, 20th June, 1789. They declared that all taxes were invalidated unless approved by the National Assembly. In essence the National Assembly declared itself the legitimate government of France.
They were led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes in their revolt against the monarchy and nobility. Mirabeau was born in a noble family but was convinced of the need to do away with a society of feudal privileges. He brought out a journal and delivered powerful speeches to the crowds assembled at Versailles. Abbe Sieyes, originally a priest, wrote an influential pamphlet called ‘What is the Third Estate?’
King under a great deal of pressure from his wife, Marie Antoinette, and his brother to stand firm, declared that any resolutions made by the Third Estate were void and that Estates General should continue to meet in three separate assemblies. He then ordered the deputies to disperse to their different meeting places. The National Assembly refused to go. The next day Third Estate was joined by 151clergy and 47 nobles. Meanwhile popular demonstrations broke out in Paris and elsewhere in support of National Assembly. There were rumors of plots to withhold grain, destroy the National Assembly and starve Paris into submission. In the face of growing disorder, the king backed down. The nobles and clergy joined the Third Estate and vote by hand. By this stage, few Third Estate deputies trusted the king. There were already a large number of troops stationed in and around Paris. He then suddenly called extra troops triggering rumor again that king was planning to disperse the assembly by force.
By July 1789, the atmosphere in Paris was highly charged. The continuing rise in the price of bread which reached its highest price since 1715, on 14th July 1789, the lack of employment, and the presence of the army, in addition to the political events of May-June, ensured that workers of the capital were ready to take to the streets at the least provocation. There was ready band of men and women keen to listen to and act on the words of the revolutionary speakers. The members of the crowd were known as the Sans Culottes since they wore long trousers. They consisted of a mixture of craftsmen, shopkeepers, small traders, clerks, wage earners, journeymen and laborers along with some middle class factory owners, wine merchants and professionals. However, whatever their status, they shared the same militant outlook and determined to rid the country of privilege and force change on a king whom they increasingly distrusted.
The spark which led to the first explosion of popular militancy was they announcement of Necker’s dismissal. Neckers was very popular with the crowd. The news his dismissal, and the appearance of German cavalry troops to control the disorder in the streets of Paris, led to panic and a conviction that Louis XVI was about to dissolve the assembly. Encouraged by the popular orators such as Camille Desmoulins, on 12-13th July the poorer citizens of Paris began raiding gun shops and swords smiths in an attempt to provide themselves with weapons. Order broke down as some of the French guards began to listen to the revolutionary speakers and other royal troops were forced from the street. The troops stood by and took no action in face of mounting disorder. There was an attack on the customs posts around the city where the hated duties were collected on foods stuffs and other goods entering Paris.
From this point onwards the revolution turned violent as militancy of Sans Culottes could not be controlled. They became the dynamic force behind the revolution while the leadership came from the intelligentsia and professionals. The growing militancy of the Sans Culottes alarmed the wealthier citizens, mainly property owners who voted to set up a committee known as the commune, to run the city, as well as their ‘National Guard’ to defend it. Lafayette was appointed as the first commander of the ‘National Guard’.
On 14th July, the Parisian crowd seized muskets and cannons from a weapon store, but could not find enough gunpowder or cartridges to use them. Rumor quickly spread that there might be stores of gunpowder in the old fortress of Bastille. The crowd accompanied by some of the newly formed National Guard gathered at Bastille in search of ammunition. After a tense standoff, a full scale assault took place in which the governor of Bastille Launay was captured, decapitated and his head paraded on a pole around the streets of Paris. Fall of Bastille was a significant mile stone of the revolution. It was stormed for the ammunition and from this came the destruction of a symbol of arbitrary power of the king. What is more, the royal troops had merely stood by some defecting to the crowds. There was now no denying that the king had lost control.
Until early 1789, the peasants had played little part in the events leading to the revolution. However, the catastrophic harvest of 1788, the escalating bread prices, and the lay-offs in the textile industry affected them. Food riots were not new and would probably have died out but for the events in Paris. The news of the storming of the Bastille encouraged the peasants rioting against taxes and feudal dues. In this situation of unrest and uncertainty, rumors spread from village to village that the lords of the manors had hired bands of brigands who were on their way to destroy the ripe crops. Caught in a frenzy of fear, peasants in several districts seized hoes and peach forks and attacked the chateaux. They looted the hoarded grains and burnt down documents containing records of manorial dues. Thus the peasant uprisings grew into what came to be known as the Great Fear, which spread through most of France between 20th July and 6th August.
