DOCSLIB.ORG

Revolutionary Time and Regeneration LYNN HUNT

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Revolutionary Time and Regeneration LYNN HUNT Revolutionary Time and Regeneration LYNN HUNT ABSTRACT Beginning in 1789 and escalating in intensity into at least 1793, a new temporal schema took shape in which revolutionary time pulverized the foundations of the old order. Revolution came to mean rejecting the past, introducing a sense of rupture in secular time, maximizing and elongating the present in order to turn it into a moment of personal and collective transformation, and shaping the future in accordance with the discoveries made in the present. Time ceased being a given. It became a medium of endless potential for change that could be willed, that is, enacted by conscious choice. In the opening lines of his report to the National Convention on the new republican calendar, P.F.N. Fabre d’Eglantine explained the logic of the revolutionary reform of time: «The regeneration of the French people, the establishment of the republic, have necessarily led to the reform of the common era [l’ère vulgaire]. We can no longer count the years in which kings oppressed us as a time in which we have lived». A new calendar, he argued, would produce a new people: «it is therefore necessary to replace these visions of ignorance with the realities of reason and priestly prestige with the truth of nature»1. The «realities of reason» and «truth of nature» required a rational calendar divided into twelve equal months of 30 days each. The 1 P.F.N. Fabre d’Églantine, Rapport fait à la Convention nationale dans la séance du 3 du second mois de la seconde année de la République française, au nom de la Commission chargée de la confection du calendrier par P.F.N. Fabre-d’Eglantine, Imprimé par ordre de la Convention, Paris 1793, pp. 1-2. «Diciottesimo Secolo», anno I, 2016, pp. 62-76. LYNN HUNT months were named after a seasonal element: Germinal, for instance, connoted germination of seeds, while Floréal stood for the month of flowering. Each month had three ten-day divisions called décades («a common numerical name») and days called primidi, duodi, etc. up to décadi in order to eliminate any trace of extraneous imagery2. At the end came five days (six in leap years) of ‘sans-culottides’ devoted to uplifting festivals. The calendar was doomed for many reasons. It reset time at the foundation of the French republic ensuring that it would never be used outside of French-controlled territories or be embraced by opponents of the republic within France. Because it began in the third week of September, the months did not coincide with Gregorian calendar months, making any translation between the two calendars all the more difficult. The abolition of Sunday as a day of rest and of religious observance once every seven days in favor of décadi every ten guaranteed resistance in the working classes and among the Catholic devout. Despite all these obstacles, the republican calendar regulated official communication for more than a decade3. Although the reform of the calendar failed to take root in the way that the metric system eventually did, the experiment with the calendar captures in the most dramatic fashion the revolutionary obsession with time. This preoccupation took many forms ranging from the most general to the very specific. It was fueled by the conviction that revolutionaries could institute a rupture with the past and in the process recast the political consciousness of the citizenry. The desire for rupture first drew on and then propelled forward a startling rejection of many past practices from the determination of the Third Estate’s deputies to the Estates General not to meet 2 Ibidem, pp. 9-10. 3 M. Shaw, Time and the French Revolution: The Republican Calendar, 1789-Year XIV, The Royal Historical Society and The Boydell Press, Rochester (NY) 2011; S. Bianchi, La bataille du calendrier ou le décadi contre le dimanche. Nouvelles approches pour la réception du calendrier républicain en milieu rural, «Annales historiques de la Révolution française», 312, 1998, pp. 245-264; S. Perovic, The Calendar in Revolu- tionary France: Perceptions of Time in Literature, Culture, Politics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012. 63 Revolutionary Time and Regeneration separately from the other two estates in May-June 1789 to the tearing down of royal statues in 1792, the renaming of streets and squares and even cities, the introduction of new secular names for children (Brutus, Tell, Tricolore, etc.), and the preference for the use of citoyen[ne] rather than Monsieur or Madame in common speech4. To truly break with the past, regeneration had to be achieved as quickly as possible. The calendar was meant to be a public statement of an already accomplished rift. As Gilbert Romme, its main architect explained, this was «one of the most important operations» undertaken toward «the progress of the arts and the human spirit», an undertaking that could only succeed «in a time of revolution» [un temps de révolution]. By its very existence, the calendar effaced eighteen centuries of fanaticism; now «time opens a new book of history» that will capture «the annals of regenerated France»5. Romme was not alone in speaking of ‘revolutionary time’ as something very different from what had come before. From the very beginning of the French Revolution, in July 1789, commentators searched for ways of expressing their sense of the compression and therefore acceleration of time. The newspaper Révolutions de Paris referred in its second issue to «the innumerable multiplicity of events these last eight days […] a thousand pens would not suffice to trace all the details». That third week in July 1789 seemed «a week that was for us six centuries»6. Every unexpected turn of events had the same effect. After the king’s attempted escape in June 1791, Jeanne-Marie Roland wrote, «we are living through ten years in twenty-four hours; events and emotions are jumbled together and follow each other with a singular rapidity»7. 4 L. Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution, University of California Press, Berkeley 1984, pp. 52-86; S. Bianchi, Les ‘prénoms révolutionnaires’ dans la révolution française : un chantier en devenir, «Annales historiques de la Révolution française», 322, 2000, pp. 17-38. 5 G. Romme, Rapport sur l’ère de la République: séance du 10 septembre 1793, Imprimé par ordre de la Convention Nationale, Paris 1793, pp. 1-2. 6 Révolutions de Paris, Dédiées à la Nation, vol. 2 (Du samedi 18 au 25 juillet 1789): pp. 1 and 7. 7 C. Perroud (éd.), Lettres de Madame Roland, vol. 2: 1788-1793, Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1902, p. 325, Letter to Henry Bancal, 11 July 1792, Paris. 64 LYNN HUNT Within weeks of the fall of the Bastille, it became customary to identify this quickening of time with revolution. The fact that Louis-Marie Prudhomme named his paper Révolutions de Paris from its first appearance on 18 July 1789 gives some hint of this. On the evening of 6 October 1789, Jacques-Pierre Brissot dashed off his first account of the ‘October Days’ (5-6 October 1789) for his newspaper Le patriote françois: «The events that have taken place right in front of us appear almost like a dream [...]. We cannot give a detailed account today of this astonishing Revolution»8. Contemporaries clearly sensed that something momentous was happening from July 1789 onward, but the significance of revolutionary time did not congeal all at once. After all, calendar reform was not proposed until the fall of 1793. Keith Baker argues that a change in the meaning of revolution occurred sometime in the second half of 1789, probably around the October Days. When Prudhomme first published his paper in July, revolution still meant an unexpected and dramatic event. But as one event became a succession of them, participants and observers, such as the journalists associated with Révolutions de Paris, began to detect a distinctive rhythm, a special revolutionary dynamic, and the emergence of an entirely new epoch that was separating itself from the ‘ancien régime’9. The term ancien régime changed in tandem with revolution. It had been used infrequently before 1789 to refer to former regimes, such as the Gauls before Clovis or the way an abbey was run before it was combined with another10. Starting in the spring of 1789, during the quarrels over voting by head, pamphleteers who opposed voting by order used it to refer to the previous dominance of the privileged orders: «Suivant l’ancien régime, la noblesse & le clergé, qui ne sont 8 «Le patriote françois», No. 63, Mercredi 7 octobre 1789, p. 3. 9 K.M. Baker, Inventing the French Revolution: Essays on French Political Culture in the Eighteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990, p. 221. 10 Répertoire universel et raisonné de jurisprudence civile, criminelle, canonique et bénéficiale, vol. 13, Chez Panckoucke, Paris 1777, p. 302; and vol. 48, Chez Panckoucke et Dupuis, Paris 1781, p. 13. 65 Revolutionary Time and Regeneration pas ensemble que la trentième partie de la nation, ont chacun séparément une force égale à tout le reste des citoyens»11. Before long, though it is difficult to say exactly when, the ancien régime became the former regime, that which had been superseded. In a 1789 tract on the rights and obligations of a ‘free people’ (a phrase that in itself signified that a transformation had occurred), the author urged his fellow citizens to vote carefully because «L’Égoïsme, qui sous l’ancien régime pouvait tout, et menait à tout, causerait aujourd’hui la destruction générale»12. By 1790, at the latest, Jean- Paul Marat regularly fulminated against those, such as Necker, whom he suspected of trying to maintain or restore the ancien régime: «Aujourd’hui même il sollicite l’assemblée de lui accorder de grands, de prompts secours, sous prétexte d’empêcher la dissolution de l’état, de régénérer les finances, mais uniquement pour affermir l’admini- stration, pour le mettre en état de perpétuer l’ancien régime»13.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • H-France Review Volume 16 (2016) Page 1
    H-France Review Volume 16 (2016) Page 1 H-France Review Vol. 16 (April 2016), No. 46 Timothy Tackett, The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England, 2015. x + 463 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, sources, bibliography and index. $66.00 U.S. (cl). ISBN 978-0-674-73655-9. Compte rendu de Jean-Pierre Gross, historien. Timothy Tackett s’est fait connaître en 1996 par son premier grand ouvrage Becoming a Revolutionary, publié en français l’année suivante sous le titre « Par la volonté du peuple ».[1] Essai de biographie collective établie à partir d’un fichier de 1 315 députés élus à l’Assemblée constituante, cette étude exhaustive fut entreprise avec le concours de Edna Lemay, dont le Dictionnaire des constituants, 1789-1791 venait de paraître en 2 tomes.[2] Son dessein était de saisir le profil, la formation et la culture de ceux qui allaient devenir les premiers révolutionnaires et constituer l’élite politique française de ces années charnières. Exploit réussi, qui serait suivi en 2003 d’un second volume consacré à l’impact de la fuite du roi, When the King took flight, en version fançaise Le roi s’enfuit: Varennes et l’origine de la Terreur.[3] Dans son nouveau livre, Timothy Tackett fait donc appel à une méthode éprouvée: capter chez les membres de cette même élite l’évolution de la mentalité révolutionnaire par le biais de témoignages contemporains puisés aux sources, et dépister dans leur comportement les signes avant-coureurs de la Terreur de 1793-1794.
    [Show full text]
  • Fair Shares for All
    FAIR SHARES FOR ALL JACOBIN EGALITARIANISM IN PRACT ICE JEAN-PIERRE GROSS This study explores the egalitarian policies pursued in the provinces during the radical phase of the French Revolution, but moves away from the habit of looking at such issues in terms of the Terror alone. It challenges revisionist readings of Jacobinism that dwell on its totalitarian potential or portray it as dangerously Utopian. The mainstream Jacobin agenda held out the promise of 'fair shares' and equal opportunities for all in a private-ownership market economy. It sought to achieve social justice without jeopardising human rights and tended thus to complement, rather than undermine, the liberal, individualist programme of the Revolution. The book stresses the relevance of the 'Enlightenment legacy', the close affinities between Girondins and Montagnards, the key role played by many lesser-known figures and the moral ascendancy of Robespierre. It reassesses the basic social and economic issues at stake in the Revolution, which cannot be adequately understood solely in terms of political discourse. Past and Present Publications Fair shares for all Past and Present Publications General Editor: JOANNA INNES, Somerville College, Oxford Past and Present Publications comprise books similar in character to the articles in the journal Past and Present. Whether the volumes in the series are collections of essays - some previously published, others new studies - or mono- graphs, they encompass a wide variety of scholarly and original works primarily concerned with social, economic and cultural changes, and their causes and consequences. They will appeal to both specialists and non-specialists and will endeavour to communicate the results of historical and allied research in readable and lively form.
    [Show full text]
  • Revolutionary Education at the Height of Sans-Culottes Power" (2007)
    UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2007 Gabriel Bouquier: Revolutionary education at the height of sans- culottes power Jonathan Douglas Deverse University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Deverse, Jonathan Douglas, "Gabriel Bouquier: Revolutionary education at the height of sans-culottes power" (2007). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2286. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/a7at-svnd This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GABRIEL BOUQUIER: REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION AT THE HEIGHT OF SANS-CULOTTES POWER by Jonathan Douglas Deverse Bachelor of Arts University of California, Santa Cruz 2002 A thesis submitted in partial fiilfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in History Department of History College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2008 UMI Number: 1456335 Copyright 2008 by Deverse, Jonathan Douglas All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
    [Show full text]
  • La Russie De Romme Philippe Bourdin
    La Russie de Romme Philippe Bourdin To cite this version: Philippe Bourdin. La Russie de Romme. Bourdin A.-M., Bourdin p., Ehrard J., Rol-Tanguy H., Tchoudinov A. Gilbert Romme. Correspondance 1779-1786, Presses universitaires Blaise- Pascal, pp.11-44, 2014, Histoires crois´ees,978-2-84516-667-7. <hal-01016756> HAL Id: hal-01016756 https://hal-clermont-univ.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01016756 Submitted on 1 Jul 2014 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destin´eeau d´ep^otet `ala diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publi´esou non, lished or not. The documents may come from ´emanant des ´etablissements d'enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche fran¸caisou ´etrangers,des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou priv´es. Informations sur le(s) auteur(s) Prénom, NOM et Philippe Bourdin, professeur d'histoire moderne titre des auteurs Laboratoire Centre d’Histoire « Espaces et Cultures » Affiliation(s) Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, EA 1001, Centre d’Histoire « Espaces et Cultures », CHEC, BP 10448, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand Nom du collectif Équipe Romme Discipline(s) Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Histoire Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Histoire, philosophie et sociologie des sciences Informations sur le dépôt Titre "La Russie de Romme" Publié sous la Anne-Marie Bourdin, Philippe Bourdin, Jean Ehrard, Hélène Rol-Tanguy et direction de Alexandre Tchoudinov (éd.) Publié dans Gilbert Romme. Correspondance 1779-1786 Lieu, éditeur, Clermont-Ferrand, Presses universitaires Blaise-Pascal, Collection ‘Histoires croisées’, , volume, n°, date, volume 2, tome 1, 2014, p.11-44.
    [Show full text]
  • The Calendar in Revolutionary France : Perceptions of Time in Literature, Culture, Politics / Sanja Perovic
    THE C A LENDA R IN REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE One of the most unusual decisions of the leaders of the French Revolution – and one that had immense practical as well as symbolic impact – was to abandon customarily accepted ways of calculating date and time to create a revolutionary calendar. The experiment lasted from 1793 to 1805 and prompted all sorts of questions about the nature of time, ways of measuring it and its relationship to indi- vidual, community, communication and creative life. This study traces the course of the revolutionary calendar, from its cultural ori- gins to its decline and fall. Tracing the parallel stories of the calen- dar and the literary genius of its creator, Sylvain Maréchal, from the Enlightenment to the Napoleonic era, Sanja Perovic reconsiders the status of the French Revolution as the purported ‘origin’ of modern- ity, the modern experience of time and the relationship between the imagination and political action. sanja perovic is Lecturer in the French Department at King’s College London. Le calendrier républicain, Debucourt, No. 1987–49, © Musée de la Révolution française/Domaine de Vizille. THE CA LENDA R IN REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE Perceptions of Time in Literature, Culture, Politics SANJA PEROVIC King’s College London cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, uk Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107025950 © Sanja Perovic 2012 This publication is in copyright.
    [Show full text]
  • Rjeoutski V. (Paris), Tchoudinov A. (Moscow) Russian “Participants” of the French Revolution
    2010 Rjeoutski V. (Paris), Tchoudinov A. (Moscow) Russian “participants” of the French revolution Authors studied in details the history of several Russian aristocrats, such as count Pavel Stroganov, princes Boris and Dmitry Golitsyns, who stayed in revolutionary Paris during 1789– 1790, along with their personal perception of Revolution and their attitude towards it. Authors used an extensive complex of documents from the archives of France, Italy and Russia. The supplement to this article contains letters of Stroganov, the Golitsyns and their family’s tutors Gilbert Romme and Michel Olivier for this period, as well as unfinished work of Boris Golitsyn “About the influence of events on the Constitution” Keywords: French revolution of XVIIIth century, Russian aristocracy, cross-cultural contacts Tchepourina M. (Moscow) The “thermidorian” Camille Babeuf and his readers The author analyzes the history of relations between F.N. Babeuf, (who was going at that time by the name of Camille), and readers of his Journal de la liberté de la presse. Several letters of this correspondence are published here. The article is based on the documents found in the Russian State Archive of Socio-political History. Keywords: French revolution of XVIIIth century, periodical press, post-Thermidorian period, Babeuf. Prusskaya E. (Moscow) The Arab chronicles as a primary source of the Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign This article gives analysis of Arab chronicles composed by al-Jabarti and al-Turki, which describe the events in Egypt during the campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Middle East (1798-1799). The supplement to this article contains fragments of al-Turki chronicle, which depicts his perception of the French revolution (maybe, revolutionary ideas brought by the French to Egypt?).
    [Show full text]
  • Gilbert Romme Et La Communauté Scientifique Pétersbourgeoise (1779-1786)” Hélène Rol-Tanguy
    ”Gilbert Romme et la communauté scientifique pétersbourgeoise (1779-1786)” Hélène Rol-Tanguy To cite this version: Hélène Rol-Tanguy. ”Gilbert Romme et la communauté scientifique pétersbourgeoise (1779-1786)”. Anne-Marie Bourdin, Jean Ehrard et Hélène Rol-Tanguy (éd.). Gilbert Romme. Notes scientifiques et anecdotes, 1782-1788, Clermont-Ferrand, Presses universitaires Blaise-Pascal, pp.13-31, 2009, Histoires croisées. halshs-00708188 HAL Id: halshs-00708188 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00708188 Submitted on 14 Jun 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Informations sur le(s) auteur(s) Prénom et NOM du Hélène ROL-TANGUY ou des auteurs Laboratoire Centre d’Histoire « Espaces et Cultures » Affiliation CHEC Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, EA 1001, Centre d’Histoire « Espaces et Cultures », CHEC, BP 10448, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand Discipline(s) Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Histoire Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences Équipe de Équipe Romme du CHEC recherche / Projet / Collaboration / Séminaire Informations sur le dépôt Titre « Gilbert Romme et la communauté scientifique pétersbourgeoise (1779-1786) » Sous-titre Publié sous la Anne-Marie Bourdin, Jean Ehrard et Hélène Rol-Tanguy (éd.) direction de Publié dans Gilbert Romme.
    [Show full text]
  • The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
    THE COMING OF THE TERROR IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution Timothy Tackett The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, En gland 2015 Copyright © 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First printing Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Tackett, Timothy, 1945– Th e coming of the terror in the French Revolution / Timothy Tackett. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 674- 73655- 9 (alk. paper) 1. France— History—Reign of Terror, 1793– 1794. 2. France— History—Revolution, 1789– 1799. I. Title. DC183.T26 2015 944.04—dc23 2014023992 Contents List of Illustrations vii List of Maps ix Introduction: Th e Revolutionary Pro cess 1 1 Th e Revolutionaries and Th eir World in 1789 13 2 Th e Spirit of ’89 39 3 Th e Breakdown of Authority 70 4 Th e Menace of Counterrevolution 96 5 Between Hope and Fear 121 6 Th e Factionalization of France 142 7 Fall of the Monarchy 172 8 Th e First Terror 192 9 Th e Convention and the Trial of the King 217 10 Th e Crisis of ’93 245 11 Revolution and Terror until Victory 280 12 Th e Year II and the Great Terror 312 Conclusion: Becoming a Terrorist 340 Abbreviations 351 Notes 353 Sources and Bibliography 419 A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s 447 Index 449 Illustrations Th e Tennis Court Oath 50 Attack on the Bastille 56 Market women leave Paris en route to Versailles 67 Federation Ball 93 Confrontation between Catholics and
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons from the French Revolution
    Lessons from the French Revolution The French revolution provides an interesting case study on Sabbath practice as it relates to a change in the weekly cycle. At this time Charles-Gilbert Romme introduced a ten-day week into French society. By instituting a 10-day week, the French government exerted power over the Roman Catholic Church in her main area of influence: control of time. Throughout the middle ages, the people had been taught to reverence Sunday and lived in fear of the power of the papacy. Even the name of “Sunday” was removed from the new week, the days being numbered instead: Primidi, Duodi, Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi, Décadi (First, Second, Third, etc.).1 The primary purpose for this change was to destroy the traditional seven-day week, particularly Sunday, the worship day for most of Christendom. When Charles-Gilbert Romme, its chief architect, was asked what the main reason for the new calendar was, he emphatically stated: “To abolish Sunday.”2 “The décade [the new “week”] – or, rather, to be more precise, its ‘peak day,’ Décadi – came to be the single most important symbol of the de-Christianization of France.”3 Churches were forbidden to hold services on any day except for Décadi and citizens were not to close their stores on Sunday or acknowledge it by wearing their habits du dimanche, or “Sunday best”.4 It is interesting to observe that this issue of the day of worship was also a problem for Sunday as well as for Sabbath keepers. So what happened to the keeping of the Sabbath during this time? Was it kept on the seventh day (Septidi) every 10th day so that the Sabbath was aligned with the correct name of the day? Or was it kept every seventh day irrespective of the name of the day? Eg.
    [Show full text]
  • Figures De La Révolution Française
    Figures de la Révolution française Avec ce dossier, mon objectif est de donner une courte biographie des principaux acteurs de la Révolution, mais également de personnages moins connus et au rôle pourtant prédominant. La Révolution, en effet, ce ne furent pas seulement Danton et Robespierre : nombreux furent ceux qui orbitèrent autour d’eux, avec des parcours extrêmement divers. Techniciens se tenant autant que possible éloignés des luttes politiques ou, au contraire, figures de proues du mouvement populaire ; orateurs brillants ou hommes de l’ombre ; députés, militaires ou administrateurs… Le but de ces courtes notices est aussi de montrer que tous les parcours étaient différents, et qu’il est bien difficile d’établir des catégories simplistes. Ces notices sont rédigées au gré de mes envies et inspirations du moment : de nouveaux acteurs seront probablement rajoutés dans des versions ultérieures, et la liste des mises à jour est donnée en dernière page. Comme toutes les productions sur le site, ce dossier est sous licence CC-BY-SA : vous pouvez en faire ce que vous voulez tant que vous mentionnez la provenance et reprenez la même licence. Profitez-en ! 1 Reine Audu ............................................................................................................................................. 5 François-Noël « Gracchus » Babeuf ........................................................................................................ 6 Jean Sylvain Bailly ..................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 0 Tyrants of the Soul: Prejudices in French
    TYRANTS OF THE SOUL: PREJUDICES IN FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION, 1789-1799 by Hannah N. Malcolm Honors Thesis Appalachian State University Submitted to the Department of History and The Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts December, 2016 Approved by: Michael C. Behrent, Ph.D, Thesis Director Pavel Osinsky, Ph.D., Second Reader ______________________________________________________ Ralph E. Lentz II, M.A., M.Th., Third Reader Michael C. Behrent, Ph.D., Departmental Honors Director Ted Zerucha, Ph.D., Interim Director, The Honors College 0 Whenever I transcend the limits of my own life span and begin to reflect on this past, judging it, and this future, forming projects of the will, thinking ceases to be a politically marginal activity. -Hannah Arendt History is the subject of a structure whose site is not homogeneous, empty time, but time filled by the presence of the now. -Walter Benjamin 1 2 Abstract Through analyzing textbooks, educational pamphlets, and the correspondence of the Committee of Public Instruction, I show that prejudices became the object of critique in the era of the Enlightenment and were a continuing topic of political concern during the French Revolution. During the French Revolution, prejudices represented any form of counter- revolutionary tendencies which were presumed to be a result of heteronomous reason and thus posed an epistemological threat to the revolutionary and Enlightenment projects. Correspondents to the Committee adopted revolutionary language to discuss their concerns and so legitimatized the threat of prejudices. The textbook authors believed that moral education, supplemented by appeals to the students’ sensibilities, would be the most effective way to purge prejudices from society.
    [Show full text]
  • DEF the Destruction of Art Iconoclasm And
    The Destruction of Art Iconoclasm and Vandalism since the French Revolution Dario Gamboni REAKTION BOOKS 2 A Historical Outline Preservation, use, and symbol A few general remarks are necessary at the outset of this historical summary. Horst Bredekamp stressed the value that the study of ‘wars of images’ possesses because they question the universal validity of the modern concept of ‘art’. I would say that dealing with the destruction of works of art means seeing them in the broader context of artefacts, objects, even – to pay a tribute to George Kubler – ‘things’.1 Some prejudices may be better fought against in this way. First, the binary opposition between creation and destruction. Unfortunately, the very word ‘destruction’ that I have to employ, notwithstanding its simplifying character, contributes to this symmetry and tends to evoke the idea that the mistreatment it denotes is – after ‘creation’ or ‘production’ – the second, and the last, one that any object has been subjected to, unless the object still exists. From this point of view, in summary, an object is made, it exists, and it may, ultimately, be destroyed. Now, a closer examination of the history of any object shows that the bad treatments in question take place in a long series of interventions of which they may or may not be the final ones. ‘Creation’ itself may be constituted of several of these interventions, as every ancient building attests (of how many depends on the stage or state at which one chooses to situate the ‘standard’ existence of the object). Some of these interventions aimed at lengthening its existence, others (the iconoclastic ones) at terminating it, and many – maybe all – at modifying it.
    [Show full text]