The March to Versailles

The March To Versailles

It was early in the morning on October 5 when groups of women they stormed through the gates. The women demanded bread had gotten together and made a big crowd in the central while they stood in the palace of Versailles sopping wet and marketplace of Paris The march to Versailles, with its angry muddy. The King was scared and overwhelmed by group of women and their threatening behavior was one of many violent people that stood before him. Since the national assembly had disturbances that occurred during the French Revolution. The most of the power in the country of France and the king had very march on Versailles's main purpose was to obtain bread and force little, the king gave in to the women's demands. He then told the the price of bread down to where it had been. Versailles was women that he would have all of the bread in Versailles ordered known as a royal paradise, and many very important people lived out to them. But more than bread arrived in Paris. The King there along with the King and his family. Versailles was also decided to move his court to Paris was well, a decision that would known as a great big paradise where there were a lot of parties have dire consequences as the revolution unfolded. held and the King did nothing but hunt and have fun. It was a very huge surprise to have all of these working class people march into the palace and demand bread from the King.

Bread was the main diet of the French people at this time. In fact, working people back in the revolutionary days spent about half of their wages to buy bread for food. However, in August of 1789, the price of the bread that these people had been purchasing all this time, increased greatly. The people had so much trouble trying to get food, that at Versailles, a mad crowd of people killed a baker who was trying to sell his bread at 18 sous [French money], which was very costly for the people. This incident showed exactly how much bread meant to the people in Paris.

The women got to the Hotel de Ville where they numbered around 6,000, while the men were encouraging the women to perform the march. The men started screaming at the women to march. So the women began their march to Versailles. As they marched through the streets, more women came out of their houses and off the street to join them. The women were armed with pitch forks, muskets, pikes, swords, bludgeons, crowbars, and scythes as they marched through the rain. When the women reached Versailles, A Royalist Journalist Comments on the King's Acceptance of the July 14 Revolution With the press virtually free in the first years of the Revolution, despite regulating acts by the public authorities, journalists did not hesitate to color the news or make comments, as the excerpts concerning the king's trip to Paris after the fall of the Bastille vividly indicate.

His Majesty, seeing that it would be necessary to drown the goodness of his heart, confounded the evil-minded and all those insurrection in pools of blood, preferred to recognize it by dint of who had counted on his taking an extreme stand or at least upon a his clemency. He appeared without preliminary ceremonies before little resistance: he announced that he would go to Paris.... the States General which for the first time he called the National Assembly. He confirmed the dismissal of the army camped around It was on the 17th of June that the Third Estate declared itself the Paris, approved the establishment of the bourgeois militia, handed a National Assembly and it was on the 17th of the following month letter for the recall of Necker to the president of the assembly, that the King confirmed the new order of things by going to Paris. authorized eighty deputies to be sent to Paris to bring the tidings of Versailles will never forget that day and that departure: the King's his generosity and, by his silence, ignored the defection of the former servants could not, without shedding tears, watch the French French Guard and the murder of his officers. monarch, whose very name was invested with thoughts of love and authority, proceed without ceremony and without defence, in the But, if Paris frightened Versailles, no less did Versailles terrify midst of an armed populace, toward a capital in delirium, in order Paris. The capital, which could not believe in so much clemency on to sanction an insurrection. the part of the King, barricaded its streets and was covered with armed men who seemed to have sprung from the earth.... The From the Journal politique national, No. 8, as quoted from Leo national cockade was hoisted everywhere; it was white, blue, and Gershoy, The Era of the French Revolution, 1789-1799 (New York: red. These colors decorated everything, sanctioned everything, D. Van Nostrand, 1957), 126-128. justified everything. ... These successes led on to others and the appetite for power could not be appeased. The City Hall and the bourgeoisie of Paris, not content with the sacrifices which His Majesty had made to keep the public peace, and in the drunken throes of sovereignty, demanded that His Majesty come to the capital to show it a king without an army, without ministers, without a council, and since it must be said, a king stripped [of his powers]: His Majesty, with an instinct which we would call genius, if we did not fear to denigrate the Report of the British Ambassador on the Events of 14 July 1789

John Frederick Sackville, third Duke of Dorset, was ambassador extraordinary from Great Britain to France from 1783 to 1789. His account of 14 July, 1789, directed to the Duke of Leeds, British Foreign Secretary, is of interest for his interpretation of the significance of the events of that day. The spelling and punctuation of the original have been followed.

The general wish now is that the King would come to Paris and it Comte d'Artois' livery, red and white in honor of the Duc was hoped yesterday that His Majesty would be induced to show d'Orléans have been substituted. Himself here on this day, but it is said that He is prevented coming by indisposition: it is thought difficult to foresee what Thus, My Lord, the greatest Revolution that we know anything of measures the people will have recourse to: the general idea has been effected with, comparatively speaking, if the magnitude however is that an armed Body of Citizens to the number of at of the event is considered, the loss of very few lives; from this least 50,000 will go to Versailles and forcibly bring their moment we may consider France as a free Country, the King a Sovereign to the Capital. The disposition of the people at this very limited Monarch, and the Nobility as reduced to a level with moment is so unfavorable to the Court that I should not be the rest of the Nation. surprised if the States-General, by appearing to give too much ______credit to the King's professions, should lose the consideration in Quoted from John Hall Stewart, A Documentary Survey of the which they have hitherto been held by the Nation. French Revolution (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951), 104-105. The Populace will not easily forgive the removal of M. Necker; for they seem determined to push their resentment to the utmost lengths; but God forbid that should be the case, since they have already got the upper hand, for who can trust to the moderation of an offended multitude?

The regularity and determined conduct of the populace upon the present occasion exceeds all belief and the execration of the Nobility is universal amongst the lower order of people.

Everybody since Monday has appeared with a cockade in his hat; at first green ribbons were worn but that being the color of the J. B. Humbert --Journal Account of the Storming of the Bastille

My name is J. B. Humbert, and I am a native of Langres, working It was about half past three. the first bridge had been lowered, and and living in Paris, at M. Belliard's, watchmaker to the king, rue the chains cut; but the portcullis barred the way; people were de Hurepoix. trying to bring in some cannon which had previously been dismantled. I went to the district of St-André-des-Arts on Monday morning July 13 with the rest of the citizens and patrolled the streets with I crossed over by the small bridge and from the further side helped them all that day and night, armed with swords, the district having to bring in the two guns. When they had been set up on their gun- no firearms or only a few. carriages again, everybody with one accord drew up in rows of five or six, and I found myself in the front rank. The cannon were Overcome with weariness and lack of food and sleep, I left the then leveled: the bronze gun at the large drawbridge and a small district at six in the morning. I learned during the course of the iron one, inlaid with silver, at the small bridge. morning that arms for the various districts were being distributed at the Invalides. I promptly went back to inform the garde It was decided to start the attack with musket fire. We each fired bourgeoisie of St-André-des-Arts. half a dozen shots. Then a paper was thrust through an oval gap a few inches across; we ceased fire; one of us went to fetch a plank We reached the Invalides at about two o'clock. I followed the which was laid on the parapet to enable us to go and collect the crowd, to get to the cellar where the arms were kept. On the paper. One man started out along it, but just as he was about to staircase leading to the cellar, seeing a man armed with two take the paper, he was killed by a shot and fell into the moat. muskets, I took one from him. Another man, carrying a flag, immediately dropped his flag and went to fetch the paper, which was then read out loudly and Armed with my gun, I then set off for my own district. As I clearly, so that everyone could hear. learned on the way that they were handing out powder at the Hôtel de Ville I hurried thither, and was given about a quarter of a This message, which offered capitulation, proving unsatisfactory, pound, but they gave me no shot, saying that they had none. we decided to fire the gun; everyone stood aside to let the cannan- As I left the Hôtel de Ville I heard someone say that the Bastille ball pass. Just as we were about to fire, the small drawbridge was was being besieged. My regret at having no shot prompted an idea lowered; it was promptly filled by a crowd of people, of whom I which I immediately carried out, namely to buy some small nails, was the tenth. We found the gate behind the drawbridge closed: which I got from the grocer's at the Coin du Roi, Place de Grève. after a couple minutes an invalide [veteran] came to open it, and There I prepared and greased my gun and immediately set off for asked what we wanted: Give up the Bastille, I replied, as did the Bastille, loading my gun as I went. everyone else: then he let us in. My first concern was to call for extract by himself, and persuaded me to go to a hospital to get it the bridge to be lowered; this was done. seen to.

Then I entered the main courtyard (I was about eighth or tenth). I happened to glance at a staircase on my left, and I saw three citizens who had gone up five or six steps and were hurrying down again.

I immediately rushed over to the staircase to help the citizens, whom I assumed to have been driven back. I rapidly climbed up to the keep, without noticing that nobody was following me; I reached the top of the stairs without meeting anyone, either. In the keep I found a Swiss soldier squatting down with his back to me; I aimed my rifle at him, shouting: lay down your arms; he turned round in surprise, and laid down his weapons, saying: 'Comrade, don't kill me, I'm for the Third Estate and I will defend you to the last drop of my blood; you know I'm obliged to do my job; but I haven't fired.'

Immediately afterwards I went to the cannon that stood just above the drawbridge of the Bastille, in order to push it off its gun- carriage and render it unusable. But as I stood for this purpose with my shoulder under the mouth of the cannon, someone in the vicinity fired at me, and the bullet pierced my coat and waistcoat and wounded me in the neck; I fell down senseless. When I recovered from my swoon I found myself very weak and decided to go downstairs; people made way for me on seeing my blood and my wound.

On the way to the Bastille kitchens I met an army surgeon, who urged me to show him my wound; when he had examined the place, he told me I had a bullet in my neck which he could not Oath of the Tennis Court "Let us swear to God and our country that we will not disperse until we have established a sound and just constitutions, as instructed by those who nominated us." -M. Mounier

"The king has no excuse for what he has just done", was just one accepted this oath. This oath, which would change Mother France of the disappointed reactions of the enraged Third Estate members forever, was known as the Tennis Court Oath. who stood knocking violently at the door of the Hotel des Menus when they were locked out on June 20, 1789. The reason the Another key player in the Tennis Court Oath was Mirabeau. On Estates General was going to meet on this day was because of a June 23, 1789 he reminded King Louis XVI of the oath the Third recent voting conflict between the Estates General that had put the Estate had taken on the 20th and also said that the Third Estate estates in deadlock for days. The Third Estate desired a change in would not leave the meeting hall till the Estates General could the voting in the Estates-General, from voting by order, which the vote by head or were forced out by bayonets. The King said to let First and Second Estates wanted, to voting by head. them sit, but was bluffing, and finally gave way to their proposal, and said that the Estates General would vote by head. Later, on As the Third Estate stood outside the meeting hall talking about June 27, the King ordered his "loyal clergy and nobility" to join what they would do next, after they had found out that the king the National Assembly. It seemed as if the Third Estate had won, had canceled the royal session because his son died and he found and everyone at Versailles was yelling "Vive Le Roi", as if the out about the formation of the National Assembly, which put him Revolution was over. But what they didn't know was that the King in great mourning, the sky began to rain. Once the rain was poring had sent troops to regulate in Paris. These troops would soon, and drenching the Third Estate members, they sleeked shelter even though they didn't know it, be part of the storming of the across the street in a nearby indoor tennis court. Inside the tennis Bastille where several soldiers and Parisians would be killed and court, Bailly, one of the main leaders of the Third Estate, stood on help promote the French Revolution. a table and voiced the ideas of Mounier, another leader. This proposal voiced by Bailly was that the Third Estate would not leave Versailles until there was a constitution which they agreed upon. This idea of Mounier's was taken in favor of a more radical Richard Cobb, General Editor. Voices of the French Revolution, reform plan proposed by Sieyes. Of the 577 members, all but one Topsfield, Massachusetts: Salem House Publishers. 1988, 72. Arthur Young -- PLIGHT OF THE FRENCH PEASANTS French peasants in the late eighteenth century were better off than the peasants of eastern and central Europe, where serfdom predominated. The great majority of France's 21 million peasants were free; many owned their own land, and some were prosperous. Yet the countryside was burdened with severe problems, which sparked a spontaneous revolution in 1789. A rising birthrate led to the continual subdivision of French farms among peasant sons; on the resulting small holdings, peasants struggled to squeeze out a living. Many landless peasants, who were forced to work as day laborers, were also hurt by the soaring population. An oversupply of rural day laborers reduced many of the landless to beggary. An unjust and corrupt tax system also contributed to the peasants' poverty. Peasants paid excessive taxes to the state, church, and lords; taxes and obligations due the lords were particularly onerous medieval vestiges, as most peasants were no longer serfs. A poor harvest in 1788-1789 and inflation worsened conditions. Arthur Young (17-11-1820), an English agricultural expert with a keen eye for detail, traveled through France just prior to the Revolution. In Travels During the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789, he reported on conditions in the countryside.

The abuses attending the levy of taxes were heavy and universal. to whose protection the intendant himself would naturally look up, The kingdom was parceled into generalities [administrative units], could find little difficulty in throwing much of the weight of their with an intendant at the head of each, into whose hands the whole taxes on others, without a similar support. Instances, and even power of the crown was delegated for everything except the gross ones, have been reported to me in many parts of the military authority; but particularly for all affairs of finance. The kingdom, that made me shudder at the oppression to which generalities were subdivided into elections, at the head of which [people have been subjected] by the undue favours granted to such was a sub-delegue appointed by the intendant. The rolls of the crooked influence. But, without recurring to such cases, what taille, capitation, vingtièmes and other taxes, were distributed must have been the state of the poor people paying heavy taxes, among districts, parishes, and individuals, at the pleasure of the from which the nobility and clergy were exempted? A cruel intendant, who could exempt, change, add, or diminish at aggravation of their misery, to see those who could best afford to pleasure. Such an enormous power, constantly acting, and from pay, exempted because able! ... The corveés [taxes -paid in labor, which no man was free, must, in the nature of things, degenerate often road building], or police of the roads, were annually the ruin in many cases into absolute tyranny. It must be obvious that the of many hundreds of farmers; more than 300 were reduced to friends, acquaintances, and dependents of the intendant, and of all beggary in filling up one vale in Lorraine: all these oppressions his sub-delegues, and the friends of these friends, to a long chain fell on the tieri etát [Third Estate] only; the nobility and clergy of dependence, might he favoured in taxation at the expense of having been equally exempted from tailles militia and corveés. their miserable neighbours and that noblemen in favour at court, The penal code of finance makes one shudder at the horrors of so great that many cahiers (lists of the Third Estate's grievances) punishment inadequate to the crime.... demanded the utter suppression of them. Such were the exertions of Arbitrary power which the lower orders felt directly from the 1. Smugglers of salt, armed and assembled to the number of five, royal authority; but, heavy as they were, it is a question whether in Provence, a fine of 500 liv. [livres French coins] and nine years the [abuses], suffered [indirectly] through the nobility and the galleys [sentenced to backbreaking labor rowing sea vessels], in clergy, were not yet more oppressive. Nothing can exceed the all the rest of the kingdom, death. complaints made in the cahiers under this head. They speak of the dispensation of justice in the manorial courts, as comprising every 2. Smugglers, armed, assembled, but in number under five, a fine species of despotism the districts indeterminate-appeals of 300 liv. and three years galleys. Second offense, death.... endless-irreconcilable to liberty and prosperity-and irrevocably [condemned] in the opinion of the public- augmenting Iitigations- 14). Buying smuggled salt, to resell it, the same punishments as favouring every [form of trickery] - ruining the parties - not only for smuggling…. by enormous expenses on the most petty objects, but by a dreadful The Capitaineries [lords' exclusive hunting rights] were a dreadful loss of time. The judges, commonly ignorant pretenders, who hold scourge on all the occupiers of land, fly this term is to he their courts in cabarets [taverns] .… are absolutely dependent on understood the paramountship of certain districts, granted by the the seigneurs [lords]. Nothing can exceed the force of expression king to princes of' the blood, by which they were put in possession used in painting the oppressions of the seigneurs, in consequence of the property of all game, even on lands not belonging to them. . of their feudal powers. . . . The countryman is tyrannically . . In speaking of the preservation of the game in these enslaved by it. . . Capitaineries, it must be observed that by game must be In passing through many of the French provinces, I was struck understood whole droves of wild boars, and herds of deer not with the various and heavy complaints of the farmers and little confined by any wall or pale, but wandering at pleasure over the proprietors of the feudal grievances, with the weight of which whole country, to the destruction of crops; and to the peopling of their industry was [burdened]; but I could not then conceive the the galleys by the wretched peasants, who presumed to kill them multiplicity of the shackles which kept them poor and depressed. I in order to save that food which was to support their helpless understood it better, afterward children. . . . Now an English reader will scarcely understand it without being told, that there were numerous edicts for preserving the game which prohibited weeding and hoeing, lest the young partridges should be disturbed; ... manuring with night soil, lest the flavour of the partridges should be injured by feeding on the corn so produced; ... and taking away the stubble, which would deprive the birds of shelter. The tyranny exercised in these Capitaineries, which extended over 400 leagues of country, was GRIEVANCES OF THE THIRD ESTATE

At the -same time that elections were held for the Estates General, the three estates drafted cahiers de doléances the lists of grievances that deputies would take with them when the Estates General convened. The cahiers from all three estates expressed loyalty to the monarchy and the church and called for a written constitution and an elected assembly. The cahiers of the clergy and the nobility insisted on the preservation of traditional rights and privileges. The Cahier of the Third Estate of Dourdan, in the généralité of Orleans (one of the thirty-four administrative units into which pre-revolutionary France was divided), expressed the reformist hopes of the Third Estate. Some of the grievances in the cahier follow.

29 March. 1789 It wishes: over to the regular courts of justice within forty-eight hours at the latest. The order of the third estate of the City, 1. That his subjects of the Third Estate, Bailliage [judicial district], and County equal by such status to all other 4. That no letters or writings intercepted of Dourdan, imbued with gratitude citizens, present themselves before in the post [mails] be the cause of the prompted by the paternal kindness of the the common father without other detention of any citizen, or be King, who deigns to restore its former distinction which might degrade produced in court against him, except rights and its former constitution, forgers them. in case of conspiracy or undertaking at this moment its misfortunes And against the State. impotence, to harken only to its foremost 2. That all the orders [the three estates], sentiment and its foremost duty, that of already united by duty and a common 5. That the property of all citizens be sacrificing everything to the glory of the desire to contribute equally to the inviolable, and that no one be Patrie [nation] and the service of' His needs of the State, also deliberate in required to make sacrifice thereof for Majesty. It supplicates him to accept the common concerning its needs. the public welfare, except upon grievances, complaints, and assurance of indemnification based remonstrances which it is permitted to 3. That no citizen lose his liberty except upon the statement of freely selected bring to the foot of the throne, and to see according to law; that, consequently, appraisers.... therein only the expression of its zeal and no one be arrested by virtue of special the homage of its obedience. orders, or, if imperative 15. That every personal tax be abolished; circumstances necessitate such that thus the capitation and the taille and orders, that the prisoner be handed its accessories be merged with the vingtièmes in a tax on land and real or substantial public examination has born into the order of nobility and those nominal property. verified his morality, integrity, and born into that of the third estate be ability.... revoked, as thoroughly injurious to an 16. That such tax be borne equally, order of citizens and destructive the without distinction, by all classes of 10. That the study of law be reformed, competition so necessary to the glory and citizens and by all kinds of property, even that it be directed in a manner analogous prosperity of the State. feudal and contingent rights. to our legislation, and that candidates for degrees be subjected to rigorous tests FINANCES 17. That the tax substituted for the corvée which may not be evaded; that no [taxes paid in labor] be borne by all dispensation of age or time granted. 1. That if the Estates General considers classes of citizens equally and without necessary to preserve the fees of aides distinction. That said tax, at present 11. That a body of general customary la [tax commodities], such fees be made beyond the capacity of those who pay it be drafted of all articles common to all uniform throughout the entire kingdom and the needs to which it is destined, be the c loans of the several provinces and and reduced a single denomination.... reduced by at least one-half... bailliages. . 2. That the tax of the gabelle (tax on salt] JUSTICE 12. That deliberations of courts ... which eliminated if possible, or that it be tend to prevent entry of the third estate regulated among the several provinces of 1. That the administration of justice be there be rescinded and annulled as the kingdom. . reformed. either by restoring strict injurious to the citizens of that order, in execution of ordinances, or by reforming contempt of the authority of the King, 3. That the taxes on hides, which have it the sections thereof that are con trary to whose choice they limit, and contrary to tally destroyed that branch of commerce the dispatch and welfare of justice.... the welfare of justice, the administration a caused it to go abroad. be suppressed of which would become the patrimony of forever those of noble birth instead of being entrusted to merit, enlightenment, and 4. That ... all useless offices, either in 7. That venality [sale] of offices be virtue police or in the administration of justice, suppressed.... be abolished and suppressed. 13. That military ordinances which 8. That the excessive number of offices in restrict entrance to the service to those AGRICULTURE the necessary courts be reduced in just possessing nobility be reformed. measure, and that no one be given an 4. That the right to hunt may never office of magistracy if he is not at least That naval ordinances establishing a affected the property of the citizen; that, twenty-five years of age, and until after a degrading distinction between officers accordingly he may at all times travel over his lands. have injurious herbs rate likewise established by His Majesty uprooted, anti cut luzernes on the basis of the deliberations of the [alfalfa], ...fourrage [fodder], and other Estates General.... prodoce whenever it suits him; and that stubble may be freely raked immediately 15. That the militia, which devastates the after the harvest. . country, takes workers away from husbandry, produces premature and 11. That individuals as well as ill-matched marriages, and imposes secret communities be permitted to free and arbitrary taxes upon those who are themselves from the right s of banalité subject thereto, be suppressed and [ peasants were required to use the lord's, replaced by voluntary enlistment at the mill, winepress, and oven], and corveé, expense of the provinces. by payments in money or in kind, at a Emmanuel Sieyès -- Bourgeois Disdain For Special Privileges Of The Aristocracy

In a series of pamphlets, including The Essay on Privileges (1788) and What is the Third Estate? (1789). Abbé Emmanuel Sieyès (1748-1836) expressed the bourgeoisie's disdain for the nobility. Although educated at Jesuit schools to become a priest, Sieyès had come under the influence of Enlightenment ideas. In What Is the Third Estate? he denounced the special privileges of the nobility, asserted that the people are the source of political authority, and maintained that national unity stands above estate or local interests. The ideals of the Revolution-liberty, equality, and fraternity-are found in Sieyès's pamphlet, excerpts of which follow.

The plan of this book is fairly simple. We ... Has nobody observed that as soon as Who is hold enough to maintain that the most ask ourselves three questions. the government becomes the property of Third Estate does not contain within itself a separate class, it starts to grow out of all everything needful to constitute a 1. What is the Third State? Everything. proportion and that posts are created not complete nation? It is like a strong and to meet the needs of the governed but of robust man with one arm still in chains. If 2. What has it been until now in the those who govern them? ... the privileged order were removed, the political order? Nothing. nation would not be something less but It suffices to have made the point that the something more. What then is the Third 3. What does it want to be? Something so-called usefulness of a privileged order Estate? All; but an "all" that is fettered to the public service is a fallacy;; that, . . Only the well-paid and honorific posts and oppressed. What would it be without without help from this order, all the the privileged order? It would be all; but are filled by members of' the privileged arduous tasks in the service are order [nobles]. Are we to give them free and flourishing. Nothing will go well performed by the Third Estate; that without the Third Estate; everything credit for this? We could do so only it without this order the higher posts could the Third Estate was unable or unwilling would go considerably better without the be infinitely better filled; that they ought others.... to fill these posts. We know the answer. to be the natural prize and reward of Nevertheless, the priviIeged have dared recognised ability and service; and that if ... The privileged, far from being useful to preclude the Third Estate. "No matter the privileged have succeeded in usurping the notion; can only weaken and injure it; how useful you are,” they said, "no all well-paid and honorific posts, this is the nobility may be a burden for the matter how able you are, you can go so both a hateful iniquity towards the nation. far and no further. Honors are not for the generality of citizens and in act of treason like of you… to the commonwealth. The nobility, however, is ... a foreigner in represented by the same legislative distinct from the rights of the great body our midst because of its civil and assembly, etc. of citizens? Because of these special political prerogatives. rights, the nobility does not long to the Is it not obvious that the nobility posses common order; nor is it subject to the What is a nation? A body of Associates privileges and exemptions which it common laws. Thus its private rig make living under common laws and brazenly calls its rights and which stand it a people apart in the great nation. Edmund Burke -- REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE

Burke regarded the revolutionaries as wild-eyed fanatics who had uprooted all established authority, tradition, and institutions, thereby plunging France into anarchy. Not sharing the faith of the philosophes in human goodness, Burke held that without the restraints of established authority, people revert to savagery. For Burke, monarchy, aristocracy. and Christianity represented civilizing forces that tamed the beast in human nature. By undermining venerable instituitions. he said, the French revolutionaries had opened the door to anarchy and terror. Burke's Reflections, excerpts of which follow, was instrumental in the shaping of conservative thought.

. . You [revolutionaries) chose to act of low-born servile wretches, until the following those false lights, France as if you ad never been moulded into emancipating year of 1789. . . . By has bought undisguised calamities at civil society, and ad every thing to following wise examples you would a higher price than any nation has begin anew, You began ill, cause you have given new examples of wisdom purchased the most unequivocal began by despising every thing hat to the world. You would have blessings! ... France, when she let belonged to you. . . . If the last rendered the cause of liberty loose the reins of regal authority, generations of your country appeared venerable in the eyes of every worthy doubled the licence, of a ferocious without much lustre in your eyes, you mind in every nation.... You would dissoluteness in manners, and of an might have passed hem by, and have had a free constitution; a potent insolent irreligion in opinions and derived your claims from a more early monarchy; a disciplined army; a practices; and has extended through race of ancestors. Under a pious reformed and venerated clergy; a all ranks of life. . . . all the unhappy predilection for those ancestors, your mitigated but spirited nobility, to lead corruptions that usually were the imaginations would have realized in your virtue.... disease of wealth and power. This is them a standard of virtue and wisdom, one of the new principles of equality in beyond the vulgar practice of the Compute your gains: see what is got France.... hour: and you would have risen with by those extravagant and the example to whose imitation you presumptuous speculations which ... The science of government being aspired. Respecting your forefathers, have taught your leaders to despise therefore so practical in itself, and you would have been taught to all their predecessors, and all their intended for such practical purposes, respect yourselves. You would not contemporaries, and even to despise a matter which requires experience, have chosen to consider the French themselves, until the moment in which and even more experience than any as a people of yesterday, as. a nation they became truly despicable. By person can gain in his whole life, however sagacious and observing he ... Nothing is more certain than that madmen are not our lawgivers. We may be, it is with infinite caution that Out manners, our civilization, and all know that we have made no any man ought to venture upon the good things which are connected discoveries, and we think that no pulling clown an edifice which has with manners and with civilization discoveries are to be made, in answered in any tolerable degree for have, in this European world of ours, morality nor many in the great ages the common purposes of depended for ages upon two principles of government. . . . We fear society, or on building it up again, principles and were, indeed, the result God; we look up with awe to kings, without having models and patterns of of both combined: I mean the spirit of with affection to parliaments, with duty approved utility before his eyes.... a gentleman and the spirit of to magistrates, with reverence to religion.... priests, and with respect to nobility...... The nature of man is intricate; the objects of society are of the greatest Burke next compares the English ... We are afraid to put men to live and possible complexity: and therefore no people with the French trade each on his own private stock of simple disposition or direction of revolutionaries. reason, because we suspect that this power can be suitable either to man's stock in each man is small, and that nature, or to the quality of his affairs. ... Thanks to our sullen resistance to the individuals would do better to avail innovation, thanks to the cold themselves of the general bank and When ancient opinions of life are sluggishness of our national capital of nations and of ages. taker away, the loss cannot possibly character, we still bear the stamp of be estimated From that moment we our forefathers.... We are not the 1Rousseau, Voltaire, and Helvetius were have no compass to govern us; nor converts of Rousseau1; we are not the French philosophes of the eighteenth century can we know distinctly to what port we disciples of Voltaire; Helvetius has noted, respectively for advocating democracy, 1 attacking the abuses of the Old Regime, and steer.... made no progress amongst us. applying scientific reason to moral principles. Atheists are not our preachers; TH0MAS PAINE -- Rights of Man In his Rights of Man, excerpted below, Thomas Paine argued that reason, not tradition, was the proper foundation of government. He defended the principle of natural rights and insisted that as a form of government, a republic was superior to hereditary monarchy or aristocracy.

Among the incivilities by which nations reason cannot subscribe and which can We have heard the rights of man called a or individuals provoke and irritate each only be established upon his ignorance; “leveling system.” but the only system to other, Mr. Burke's pamphlet on the and the more ignorant any country is, the which the word "leveling" is truly French Revolution is an extraordinary better it is fitted for this species of applicable is the hereditary monarchical instance. . . . There is scarcely an epithet government. system. It is a system of mental leveling. of abuse to be found in the English It indiscriminately admits every species language with which Mr. Burke has not On the contrary, government in a well Of character to the same authority. Vice loaded the French nation and the National constituted republic requires no belief and virtue, ignorance and wisdom, in Assembly. Everything which rancor, from man beyond what his reason can short, every quality, good or bad, is put on prejudice, ignorance, or knowledge could give. He sees the rationale of the whole the same level. Kings succeed each other, suggest are poured forth in the copious System, its origin and its operation; and as not as [rational men], but as animals. It fury of near four hundred pages. . . . it is best supported when best understood, signifies not what their mental or moral the human faculties act with boldness and characters are. The two modes of government which acquire, under this form of government, a prevail in the world are, first, government gigantic manliness. Passing over, for the present, all the evils by election and representation; secondly, and mischiefs which monarchy has government by hereditary succession. The . . . Each of those forms acts on a different occasioned in the world, nothing can former is generally known by the name of base - the one moving freely by the aid of more effectually prove its uselessness in a republic; the latter by that of monarchy reason, the other by ignorance. . . . state of civil government than making it and aristocracy. hereditary. Would we make any office All hereditary government is in its nature hereditary that required wisdom and Those two distinct and opposite forms tyranny. A heritable crown or a heritable abilities to fill it? erect themselves on the two distinct and throne, or by what other fanciful name opposite bases of reason and ignorance. such things may be called, have no other 'To aristocratic critics, the principle of the As the exercise of government requires significant explanation than that mankind rights of man reduced those who were talents and abilities, and as talents and are heritable property. To inherit a naturally better to the level of their abilities cannot have hereditary descent, it government is to inherit the people, as if inferiors. is evident that hereditary succession they were flocks and herds. . . . requires a belief from man to which his It requires some talents to be a common calculated to produce the wisest laws by appears as if the tide of mental faculties mechanic, but to be a king requires only collecting wisdom where it can be found. flowed as far as it could in certain the animal figure of a man - a sort of I smile to myself when I contemplate the channels, and then forsook its course and breathing automaton. This sort of ridiculous insignificance into which aros in others. How irrational then is the superstition may last a few years more, literature and all the sciences would sink hereditary system which establishes but it cannot long resist the awakened were they made hereditary, and I carry the channels of power, in company with reason and interest of man. . . . same idea into governments. A hereditary which wisdom refuses to flow! By governor is as inconsistent as a hereditary continuing the absurdity, man is As this is the order of nature, the order of author, I know not whether Homer1 or perpetually in contra diction with himself; government must necessarily follow it, or Euclid had sons, but I will venture an he accepts for a kin or a chief magistrate government will, as we see it does, opinion that if they had, an had left their or a legislator person whom he would not degenerate into ignorance. The hereditary works unfinished, those son could not elect for constable. system, therefore, is as repugnant to have completed them. human wisdom as to human rights and is 1 Homer, ancient Greek epic pact Odyssey as absurd as it is unjust. Do we need a stronger evidence of the and the Iliad. Euclid was mathematician absurdity of hereditary government that is of the third century b.c., who As the republic of letters brings forward seen in the descendants of those met in systematized the principles of geometry. the best literary productions by giving to any line of life, who once were famous Is genius a fair and universal chance, so the there scarcely an instance in which there representative system of government is is not a total reverse of character? It Maximilien Robespierre -- REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE

In his speech of February 5, 1794. Robespierre provided a comprehensive statement of his political theory, in which he equated democracy with virtue and justified the use of terror in defending democracy.

What is the objective toward which we ennobles them, and commerce will be democratic or republican government are reaching, The peaceful enjoyment of the source of public wealth and not only.... liberty and equality. the reign of that merely of the monstrous riches of a few eternal justice whose laws are engraved families. A democracy is a state where the not on marble or stone but in the hearts sovereign people, guided by laws of of all men, even in the heart of the slave We wish to substitute in our country ... their own making, 'to for themselves who has forgotten them or of the tyrant all the virtues and miracles of the everything that they can do well, and by who disowns them. . republic for all the vices and absurdities means of delegates everything that they of the monarchy. cannot do for themselves. We wish an order of things where all the low and cruel passions will be curbed, all We wish, in a word, to fulfill the It is therefore in the principles of the beneficent and generous Passions intentions of nature and the destiny of democratic government that you must awakened by the laws. where ambition humanity, realize the promises of seek the rules of your political conduct. will be a desire to deserve glory and philosophy, and acquit providence of the serve the patrie [nation], where long reign of crime and tyranny. We But in order to found democracy and distinctions grow only out of the very wish that France, once illustrious among consolidate it among us, in order to system of equality; where the citizen will enslaved nations, may, while eclipsing attain the peaceful reign of be subject to the authority of the the glory of all the free peoples that constitutional laws, we must complete magistrate, the magistrate to that of the ever existed, become a model to the war of liberty against tyranny; ... people, and the People to that of justice; nations, a terror to oppressors, a [S]uch is the aim of the revolutionary where the patrie assures the well-being consolation to the oppressed, an government that you have organized.... of each individual, and where each ornament of the universe; and that, by individual shares with pride the sealing our work with our blood, we may But the French are the first people in the prosperity and glory of the patrie, where witness at least the dawn of universal world who have established true every soul expands by the continual happiness-this is our ambition, this is democracy by calling all men to equality communication of republican our aim. and to full enjoyment of the rights of sentiments, and by the need to merit citizenship; and that is, in my opinion, the esteem of a great people, where the What kind of government can realize the true reason why all the tyrants arts will embellish the liberty that these prodigies [great deeds)? A leagued against the republic will be ... Externally all the despots surround vanquished. you; internally all the friends of tyranny What means will they employ? Slander conspire.... It is necessary to annihilate and hypocrisy. There are from this moment great both the internal and external enemies conclusions to be drawn from the of the republic or perish with its fall. What things may be favorable for the principles that we have just laid down. Now, in this situation your first political em. ployment of these? The ignorance maxim should he that one guide, the of the sans-culottes.1 Since virtue (good citizenship) and people by reason, and the enemies of equality are the soul of the republic, and the people by terror. The people must therefore be your aim is to found and to consolidate enlightened. But what are the obstacles the republic, it follows that the first rule If the driving force of popular to the enlightenment of the people? of your political conduct must be to government in peacetime is virtue, that Mercenary writers who daily mislead relate all of your measures to the of Popular government during a them with impudent falsehoods. maintenance of equality and to the revolution is both virtue and terror: development of virtue; for the first care virtue, without which terror is What conclusions may be drawn from of the leg islator must be to strengthen destructive; terror, without which virtue this? 1. These writers must be the principles on *which the government is impotent. Terror is only justice that is proscribed as the most dangerous rests. Hence all that tends to excite a prompt, severe, and inflexible; it is thus enemies of the people. love of country, to purify moral an emanation of virtue; it is less a standards, to exalt souls, to direct the distinct principle than a consequence of passions of the human heart toward the the general principle of democracy 2. Right-minded literature must be public good must be adopted or applied to the most Inpressing a series needs of notes of writtenscattered in the about in profusion. established by you. All that tends to the patrie. summer of 1793, RobespierreWhat are die other obstacles to the concentrate and debase them into expressed his policy towardestablishment of liberty-' Foreign war selfish egotism, to awaken an counterrevolutionaries. and civil war. infatuation for trivial things, and scorn [DESPOTISM IN DEFENSE for great ones, must be rejected or OF LIBERTY] How can foreign war he ended? By repressed by you. In the system of the putting republican generals in command French revolution that which is immoral What is our goal? The enforcement of of our armies and punishing those who is impolitic, and that which tends to the constitution for the benefit of the have betrayed us. corrupt is -counterrevolutionary. people. Weakness, vices, and prejudices are the How can civil war be ended? By road to monarchy... Who will our enemies be? The vicious punishing traitors and conspirators, and the rich. particularly if they are deputies or administrators; by sending loyal troops 1. Proscription [condemnation] of under patriotic leaders to subdue the perfidious and counter-revolutionary 4. Sustenance and laws for the people. aristocrats of Lyon, Marseille, Toulon, writers and propagation of proper the Vendée, the Jura, and all other literature. 1 Sans-culottes literally means without regions in which the standards of the fancy breeches worn by the rebellion and royalism have been raised: 2. Punishment of traitors and aristocracy. The term refers generally and by making frightful examples of all conspirator, particularly deputies and to a poor city dweller (who wore simple scoundrels who have outrage liberty and administrators. trousers). Champions of equality the spilled the blood of patriots. sans-culottes hated the aristocracy and 3. Appointment of patriotic generals; the rich bourgeoisie. dismissal and punishment of others.