Chapter 21Part 3

The French Revolution

The Age of Montesquieu continued

International Reaction to the French Revolution is mixed at first then tide turns

Edmund Burke : Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

One of the great (if not greatest) intellectual defenses of European conservatism

Defended inherited privileges: especially those of the English Monarchy and Aristocracy

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Burke predicted anarchy followed by dictatorship in France: Moderates would lose out to radicals, French would turn to military dictator to restore order & rescue France from horrific chaos

Advised England to go slow in extending liberties

Eventually, Burke came to urge war as an ideological struggle against French barbarism

Thomas Paine Opponent of Burke: Wrote Rights of

Man in response Defended Enlightenment principles

and France’s Revolution Believed revolution to be a triumph

of liberty over despotism

Wordsworth “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very Heaven”

Flight to Varrenes, June 1791

King—like other émigrés– sees handwriting on the wall and tries to escape w/ family

Royal Vanity dooms plan and is captured at Varrenes

Never trusted after this and puts 1791 Constitution (& his future) in jeopardy

CONSTITUTION OF 1791

Based on Separation of Powers Constitutional Monarchy: king has veto

power for four years, limited by approval by ministers

Single elected legislature Independent hierarchy of courts

Enlightenment principles: new law code, marriage = civil contract, kept records CC had, promised free public education

Active/Passive Citizens

1791 Constitution, cont. Doomed to fail: Too radical for King, Nobles, &

bourgeoisie Not radical enough for some

bourgeoisie Moderates get pushed out in this

situation

Once Constitution is created, National Assembly disbands

The Legislative Assembly

(1791-1792) The new elected group of lawmakers

provided for in the Constitution replaced the National Assembly

No member of the National Assembly could be part of the new Leg. Assembly; Therefore:

Government loses Older Cautious Intelligent M.C. Moderates, who are replaced by Younger Rash Intelligent M. C. Radicals

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY MAKE-UP

GROUPS / FACTIONS BECOME IMMEDIATELY APPARENT

NO GROUP CHANGES ITS IDEOLOGY V. MUCH (this makes for a confusing situation for understanding Political Aspects of Fr. Rev.)

Jacobins “Umbrella Group”: named after their

political club Came to dominate the Legislative

Assembly Girondins: group within Jacobins (rural-

based) became the left wing of the Revolution; will lead France into war

Girondins were passionately committed to the Revolution; wanted a Republic

Other groups will soon emerge: “Mountain”, “Cordeliers”, “Enrages” all

more radical in their turn

Our Political Spectrum Right: Constitutional Monarchs—265 Center (Plain): 345 Left: Jacobins Continuum Shift of Radicalism:

Jacobins soon persuade Plain to vote with them w/ leadership coming from Girondins

Condorcet, Roland, Brissot, Vergniaud

Want M.C. Republic, oppose Parisians centering world around themselves

Pillnitz Declaration Aug. 1791

Emigres: French nobles who fled France lived with relatives, tried to influence foreigners to help restore the French monarchy

HRE Leopold II met with Prussian King. Declared:

They would invade France IF all other nations joined (which he knew they wouldn’t)

Girondins sieze control of this: “Revolution could never be secure in France until it spread to the world”

April 20, 1792 The Legislative Assembly declared war

on Austria Prussia joins Austria: Brunswick

Manifesto (July 25, 1792): “If a hair on Louis XVI’s head is harmed (“by word or deed”) then Paris would witness “a model vengeance, never to be forgotten”

Doesn’t frighten French, stiffens resolve War goes badly at first: losses,

unorganized, defection of officers . . . France saved b/c Prussia & Austria fighting over dividing up Poland

August, 1792 The Tuileries was stormed, King flees to

Nat. Assembly, was taken prisoner Seals fate of monarchy & Constitution This was the beginning of the “Second

Revolution”

The Paris Commune A revolutionary provisional

government was set up in Paris and usurped power of the Legislative Assembly

Was led by Danton who urges: “Boldness, more boldness, always boldness . . .”

Radicals successfully caused the Constitution to be suspended

The Paris Commune Ordered new elections based on

universal male suffrage to summon a new national convention to give France a Republican form of government…

…Does one need a king in a republic?

The September Massacres

Led by the Paris Commune

Rumors spread that imprisoned counter-revolutionary aristocrats and non-juring priests were plotting with foreign invaders

Mobs slaughtered over 1,000 priests, bourgeoisie, and aristocrats who opposed the revolutionaries’ program

Most of the Revolutionaries’ foreign

supporters Were shocked by the violence

Remember U.S. History…Everyone in America (Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans) had supported the French Revolution from 1789-1793

When it became too violent and chaotic, American Federalists withdrew their support