How Did the Enlightenment Influence the French Revolution?

How did the Enlightenment influence the French Revolution?

   CHSS 128 History of the Modern World

Midterm Essay

Professor: Gregory Areshian

Student: Arfenya Sarsgyan

3/21/2017

The French Revolution was an age which had an enormous impact on the modern world history. There were a lot of influential factors which affected to the start of this revolution. During the 18th century, political, cultural and social difficulties in the country brought to existence the French Revolution. The social imbalance became a reason for people to start looking for new philosophy and ideals. At that time science and a new way of thinking became popular and resulted to Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers were different, and they lived in an extraordinary period in history when human reasons triumphed the old and traditional beliefs of past. The ideals of Enlightenment philosophes were discussed everywhere in France. Thus it was not only the movement and development of science but was a cultural phenomenon which gathered the whole population. This was the reason that enlightenment ideals influenced and changed the country in a huge way in different spheres during The French Revolution. The concepts of philosophes such as John Locke, François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), The Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacque Rousseau had impacted differently in various aspects and phases of the French Revolution.

First of all, Enlightenment concepts had an impact on the government change, which was revolutionary for the France. French government for paying its debts imposed higher taxes only on peasants, who comprised of ninety-five percent of overall population. This led to more problems in the country because of unfairness. Further, peasants created The Third Estate, and their goal was to do everything for having a new constitution. This oath was named the Tennis Court Oath and had a significant influence in further actions. Further, in August 1789 “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” was created by the National Assembly, which was including every citizen’s rights. This document acknowledged rights of property, liberty, and security. This idea John Locke provided in his book “Two Treatises on Government” and named this notion “natural rights.” The main statement of this document was that government should protect the natural rights of its citizens. John Locke thought that all the people are equal and they should have equal rights and he criticized the monarchy.  The concepts of Locke were the foundations for “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.” This important document was written with the ideas of Enlightenment era philosophes and helped people of France in having more power as citizens. All of this events were taking place in the first phase of the French Revolution. This declaration was fundamental in French Revolution and caused the change of French government from monarchy to republic. Moreover, besides Locke’s impact on state change, later Jean Jacque Rousseau also had a crucial influence on creating a French government. Rousseau dreamed for a country where citizens could control their individual sovereignties.  He claimed that the best form of governing the country is the Republic. His ideas and thoughts on freedom and republic government were presented in his work “The Social Contract.” This contract was read by almost every citizen of France, which brought to the entirely new way of thinking and led to start the French Revolution. Additionally, different from others The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was also an Enlightenment philosophe who was into legislative changes topic and suggested the three forms of government in his work “The Spirit of Laws” 1748.  Montesquieu in his work mentions republics, monarchies, and despotism as forms of governments. However, more crucial was his opinion about the separation of function of government to the executive, legislative, and judicial which is nowadays is the most spread way of governments.

Further, Jean Jacque Rousseau’s famous work “The Social Contract” based on the political theory which was published in 1762 had the impact not only on governmental changes but also social. This work includes in it the famous quotation of Rousseau “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” ("The Political Theories Of Jean Jacques Rousseau On JSTOR") Rousseau believed that people were degraded by society. One of the main ideas that are included in this social contract is that people should have a “general will” for having a better society. The core notion of this concept is that people in public community should have the common goal and each should be responsible for making it real. Moreover, Rousseau assumed that even when it is not in the interests of some citizens, they act against their will for the society. For instance, if from particular heavy taxation there can be some benefits for society people can support that idea without thinking of personal desires. This method of living and this thinking can lead to the establishment of equality and liberty in the community. The concepts of French Revolution which are the freedom, equality and fraternity are well known. These perceptions impacted a lot on various events in different countries till nowadays. This ideal of Rousseau had an impact on social problems during the French Revolution. Society was divided into parts, and there was no understanding of achieving to something common together. However, especially the concept of “general will” changed a lot of aspects and was the solution to numerous problems in society. All of this ideas can bring to the understanding of Rousseau’s liberty, which is civil liberty. He claimed that only with civil liberty people could be free.

Further, a vital point of Enlightenment’s influence is the impact of the people’s thinking about the church. Everyone blindly was following the church before the Enlightenment and never thought about it in an individual way. Every citizen of France was following each rule and law of the church. People never had an idea that church can lead them in the wrong way. As almost everything was changing during the revolution, it is normal that there were also changes between citizens and the church. People started to criticize the statements and principles of the church. Moreover, residents began to question the church, and trust level declined. All of this contributed to more power of citizens over the church. This was the result of the National Assembly’s confiscations of all church lands and fixing economic issues with that resources. Further, there was a need of new structure for French Church and the National Assembly established “Civil Constitution of the Clergy” on July 12, 1790, which was a reorganization of Catholic Church. In this crucial reforming point was the payment of clergy’s wages. The government paid to the members of the church and members were obligated to swear loyalty to the state. National Assembly had complete power over the church as it has lost all his authority. This reformation also was for fixing economic problems the gaps of the country and the inflation. Furthermore, the pope di not accepted this changes and took some steps such as threatening to exclude any priest who will accept new rules. This led to the bigger collapse of the Catholic Church in France, and The National Assembly decided to completely change the church that it would not have any connections with Pope and Catholic Church.

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