Note 1: This Class Will Use Plus/Minus Grading

Nancy Fitch Spring 2012 Section #1 Schedule #: 19235 T 7:00-9:45 H 323 Office: H820M Office Phone: 657-278-2964 Office Hours: TTh 1:15-2:15, Tuesday 6-7, and by appointment Email: [email protected]

HISTORY 430A ENLIGHTENMENT AND REVOLUTION **[NOTE 1: THIS CLASS WILL USE PLUS/MINUS GRADING]

Few historical events have changed the world as dramatically as the French Revolution. It swept away the traditional order in one of the oldest and most powerful monarchies of Europe and changed the terms of social and political life in many other countries and empires, especially in Europe and Latin America. The French Revolution, thus, marks one of the major turning points in modern history, a moment when the rights of ordinary people of all ilk began to assert themselves against the prerogatives of monarchs, emperors, and other hereditary heads of state. Human and civil rights that we may take for granted were not particularly self-evident in the “Old Regime,” the period the Revolution itself created as “that before the Revolution.” To obtain basic human and civil rights—even the right to worship the God one believed in--resulted in war, violence, and vengeance. In the year 2012, it is painfully apparent that such rights represent extremely distant ideals in many parts of the world, perhaps among some in the United States. [For example, there is a scene in the Italian Roberto Rossellini’s 1966 film “The Taking of Power by Louis XIV,” where peasants complain that they have no health care, while Cardinal Mazarin has all of the doctors in France trying to save him.] We still can’t agree on whether or not basic health care ought to be a “right.” While many have celebrated the French Revolution as a source of popular sovereignty, civil and human rights, and democracy, others have decried the violence used to obtain these rights and privileges. There are more than a handful of historians who see the Revolution not as a precursor to democracy, but rather as a preview of the totalitarianism that emerged in the Twentieth Century with the rise of Stalin and Hitler. In other words, we have a revolution that means many things to many different groups of people and cultures. I have tried to capture the complexity and contradictory nature of the Revolution as a representation—of democracy, of totalitarianism, of violence, of human rights that would negate such violence—in this course. I also believe the French Revolution was about economic issues and who has what rights to support themselves. There was still no word for “capitalism” yet, but men and women struggled to define what it might mean and who would benefit from it. Much of the language used to support and critique seigneurialism or what revolutionaries called feudalism sound a lot like arguments in the air today. For example, many nobles justified their exclusive right of exemption from taxation on the ground that they were job creators, an argument peasants vehemently opposed. The Revolution certainly transformed France and the Americas, but its significance also lies in the way in which it has been used in the two hundred years that followed it.

R E Q U I R E D C O U R S E M A T E R I A L (Reading List)  This is your core reading list of books, and they are available at the "Little Professor Book Center", 725 N. Placentia Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92632; Phone: (714) 996- 3133; Fax: (714) 528-1888; E-mail: [email protected]

--Rafe Blaufarb, Napoleon: A Symbol for an Age: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St Martins, 2007) --Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804 (Bedford/St Martins, 2006) --Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, The French Revolution: A Document Collection (Cengage, 1999) --Peter McPhee, The French Revolution, 1789-1799 (Oxford University Press, 2002) --Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight (Harvard University Press, 2004)

For Graduate Students Only: [I have not ordered these books] --David Bell, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It (Mariner Books, 2008) OR --Rafe Blaufarb, The French Army: Careers, Talent, Merit (Manchester University Press, 2002) OR --Dominique Godineau and Katherine Streip (translator), The Women of Paris and Their Revolution (University of California Press, 1998) OR --John Markoff, The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords, and Legislators in the French Revolution (Penn State University Press, 1991) OR --Ruth Scurr, Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution (Holt Paperbacks, 2007) OR --Alyssa Sepinwall, The Abbé Grégoire and the French Revolution: The Making of Modern Universalism (University of California Press, 2005)

Additional reading will be posted under “Course Documents” in the Blackboard site for this course or available on-line.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Assignments Your Grade Will be Based on the Following

All students will write three take home essay exams. Each mid-term and the final will be approximately 5-7 pages (1250-1750 words) in length. Essays must be typed, double- spaced, with 12-point font and one-inch margins. The exams will require you to draw from lectures, films, and assigned readings. Because these exams are take-home, they should be polished writing. Use the Writing Center, if necessary, to go over your papers with you.

2 Graduates students will write an additional paper on one recent book that will be 10-15 pages. The paper should place the book in the appropriate historiography, i.e. what does it contribute to what we know about the military history of the French Revolution, the abolition of feudalism, women’s history, the view of minorities in the revolution, etc. Each review/historiography will be due at the time of the exam. You may pick another topic in consultation with me.

Your grades on the take-home exams and the graduate student paper will be based on three major, closely related criteria:

1. Use of relevant class material, including readings, lectures, discussions, and films. (evidence) 2. Expression of ideas in a clear, concise, and engaging prose (style) 3. Development of an argument or point of view that is pertinent to the issue at hand and that has breadth, coherence, and insight (interpretation)

These criteria will translate into grades as follows:

A: excellent in all three areas. Offers an insightful argument based on ample, sound evidence. B: good. Strong in all three areas or notable strengths in one balanced by weaknesses in another. C: average. Adequate performance in one or more areas offset by serious weakness in others that leaves presentation fragmented, unclear, or narrow. D: poor. Notable problems in all three areas. Remedial work needed to improve substantive understanding or basic communication. F: unacceptable. Serious flaws in all three areas. No evident engagement in the assignment.

EVALUATION FOR FINAL GRADE:

For Undergraduate Students:

--Discussion 10% --First Midterm 25% --Second Midterm 25% --Final 40%

For Graduate Students::

--Discussion 10% --First Mid-term 20% --Second Mid-term 20% --Book Analysis 15% --Final 35%

3 You are responsible for all material covered in class and in the reading. If you miss two or more classes without justified excuses, your grade will be lowered by one full grade.

4 Grades will be based on the plus/minus grading system as follows:

100% A+ 93-99% A 90-92% A- 88-89% B+ 83-87% B 80-82% B- 78-79% C+ 73-77% C 70-72% C- 68-69% D+ 63-67% D 60-62% D- 59% and below F

If you do not understand the basis of the grade you received or if you disagree with the assessment, please speak with the professor. Wait at least 24 hours after receiving the grade to re-read professor comments and reflect on the evaluation. Please act within a couple of weeks of the return of the exam.

5 COURSE CALENDAR

Tuesday, January 24 Week 1: Introduction: The French Revolution: Why Does It Matter? Screening “The French Revolution”

Tuesday, January 31 Week 2: Louis XIV and the Absolutist Monarchy

Required Reading --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 1 and 2 --Extracts from Bossuet’s “Works on Kingship” (http://history.hanover.edu/early/bossuet.htm) --Jean Domat, “On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy” (http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1687domat.asp) --Duc de Saint-Simon, “The Court of Louis XIV” (http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/17stsimon.asp) --Jean-Baptiste Colbert, “Memorandum on Trade” (http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1664colbert.asp)

Tuesday, February 7 Week 3: Aristocrats and Peasants: Was Old Regime France Feudal/Capitalist?

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 1 --Dubois and Garrigus, Text, Ch. 1; Documents: “The French Caribbean in the Eighteenth Century”

Tuesday, February 14 Week 4: Enlightenment Ideas and Reform Movements in 18th Century France

Required Reading --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 4-8 --“Enlightenment Documents” (Blackboard)

Tuesday, February 21 Week 5: The Origins of the Revolution: Inevitable Revolution or Resolvable Crisis? **First Mid-Term Due**

Required Reading --McPhee, Chs. 2, 3 --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 3, 9-15

6 Tuesday, February 28 Week 6: Making a New France: The Declaration of the Rights and the Abolition of Feudalism

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 4 --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 16, 17, 21, 22-27, 29-31 --Dubois and Garrigus, Text and Documents: “The Revolution Begins”

Tuesday, March 6 Week 7: The King’s Flight, Black Revolt, and the Radicalization of the Revolution

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 5 --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 32-35 --Tackett, Chs 1-5 --Dubois and Garrigus, Text and Documents: “From Slave Revolution to Emancipation”

Tuesday, March 13 Week 8: Republicanism and Social Reform

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 6 --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 36-42 --Tackett, 6

Tuesday, March 20 Week 9: Regeneration and Terror

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 7 --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 43-65 --Tackett, 7

**MARCH 26 – APRIL 1 (SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS)**

Tuesday, April 3 Week 10: Things Fall Apart: Thermidor and the Directory: The Revolution Abroad

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 7 --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 66-79 --Dubois and Garrigus, Text and Documents: “Defining Emancipation, 1794- 1798”

7 Tuesday, April 10 Week 11: Revolution in the Colonies and the Rise of Napoleon **Second Mid-Term Due”

Required Reading --Blaufarb, Text and Documents: “The Rise of Napoleon” and “Napoleon Comes to Power” --Dubois and Garrigus, Text and Documents: “War and Independence”

Tuesday, April 17 Week 12: Napoleon: Heir to the Revolution? How Should We Interpret the Napoleonic State?

Required Reading --Mason and Rizzo, Numbers 84-87 --Blaufarb, Text and Documents: “The Foundation of Napoleon’s Regime”

Tuesday, April 24 Week 13: Napoleon’s Empire

Required Reading --Blaufarb, Text and Documents: “From Republic to Empire,” “Napoleon and War,” “Napoleon and Euroope,” and “Decline and Fall”

Tuesday, May 1 Week 14: Revolutionary Violence: Assessing Popular Violence and State Violence

Required Reading --Tackett, Ch. 8 and Conclusion --Paul Hanson, selection from Contesting the Revolution (available on Blackboard)

Tuesday, May 8 Week 15: The Significance of the Revolution

Required Reading --McPhee, Ch. 9 --Blaufarb, “Legacy” --Alyssa Sepinwall, Final Chapter (available on Blackboard)

Tuesday, May 15 **FINAL PAPER DUE** **GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER DUE**

8 COURSE POLICIES  Academic dishonesty: "Following procedures of due process established pursuant to Section 41304 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, any student of a campus may be expelled, suspended, placed on probation or given a lesser sanction for one or more of the following causes which must be campus related: a. Cheating or plagiarism in connection with an academic program at a campus; (...) "Academic dishonesty includes such things as cheating, inventing false information or citations, plagiarism and helping someone else commit an act of academic dishonesty . . . . Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking the work of another and offering it as one's own without giving credit to that source. When sources are used in a paper, acknowledgment of the original author or source must be made through appropriate reference and, if directly quoted, quotation marks or indentations must be used." (http://owaportal.fullerton.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp? URL=http://www.fullerton.edu/handbook/policy/discipline.htm; accessed 3 February 2004).  Behavior: The following is not acceptable: arriving late for class, leaving class early, eating in class, bringing beepers and phones that "go off" audibly during class meetings. Such "not acceptable" behavior will affect your in-class participation grade.  Blackboard: Blackboard is a course management system which will be available for this class. Course documents will be placed in respective Blackboard folders.  E-mail: You are encouraged to e-mail the instructor your questions and comments. If your campus email is not your primary account you should make sure that your campus email “points” to your main account—e.g. hotmail, yahoo, etc. If you do not do this you will miss important messages.  Exams: Under most circumstances, there will be no make-up examinations.  Special needs: If you have a special need that you would like for the instructor to accommodate it is your obligation to contact Disabled Student Services as soon as possible (UH-101; Phone: (714) 278-3117; E-mail: mailto:[email protected]) and obtain written verification of this special need and then present this verification to the instructor.  Submitting assignments: Unless otherwise specified in class (and in writing), all assignments are to be submitted as hard copies, i.e. on paper, and not via e- mail.  Syllabus Caveat: "Faculty shall not be bound to adhere to their course outlines on a strict day-today basis, but should follow their outlines as much as is reasonably possible. After distribution of course outlines to students, major assignment or course requirement changes (e.g. additional term papers or examinations) must be announced to students with reasonable timetable for completion." (UPS 300.004)  Technical problems: If you have technical problems (e.g. with the login to Blackboard or with accessing the CSUF campus computer resources, including the CSUF library computers), call (714) 278-7777. Please note that this hotline is not available 24/7.

Emergency Information: http://www.fullerton.edu/emergencypreparedness/ep_students.html