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THE REVOLUTION
IN POLITICS~
1775--1815
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round to Revolution
¯ What social, political, and economic
factors formed the background to the
French Revolution?
Revolution in Metropole and
Colony, 1789-1791
¯ What were the immediate events
that sparked the Revolution, and how
did they result in the formation of a
constitutional monarchy in France?
Row did the ideals and events of the
Revolution raise new aspirations
tr and Republican
France, 1791-1799
t did the Revolution
~rn at home and in the
Napoleonic Era, 1799-1815
Bonaparte
~f France, and what
~is downfafl? How did
gain
eighteenth century were a dme of great upheaval.
A series of revolutions and revolutionary ~vars challenged the old order of monarchs and aristocrats. The ideas of freedom and equalit% ideas
that have not stopped shaping the world since that era, flourished and
spread. The revolutionary era began in North America in 1775. Then in
1789 France, the most influential country in Europe, became the leading
revolutionary nation. It established first a constitutional monarchy, then a
radical republic, and finally a new empire under Napoleon. Inspired by
both the ideals of the Revolution and internal colonial conditions, the
slaves of Saint-Domingue rose up in 1791. Their rebellion led to the creation of tlae new independent nation of Haiti in 1805.
The armies of France violently exported revolution beyond the nation’s borders in an effort to establish new governments throughout
much of Europe. The world of modern domestic and international politics was born.
B~ackground to Revolution
Since )’uly 1789 the origins of the French Revolution have been one
of the most debated topics in history. Historians !ong explained the
Revolution as a clash between the rising bourgeoisie and the entrenched
nobility in ~vhich the former asserted its right to political power commensurate with its new economic strength. It is now apparent that such
a simplistic explanation cannot account for the complexity of an event
that spanned several decades and involved millions of people and numerous nations. In uncovering the path to revolution, numerous interrelated
factors must be taken into account. These include deep social changes in
France, a long-term political crisis that eroded monarchical legitimacy,
the impact of new political ideas derived from the Enlightenment, the
emergence of a "public sphere" in which such opinions were formed and
shar~c}, anft, p~rhaps most importandy, a financial crisis created by France’s
participation in expensive overseas wars.
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In this painting by the female artist Nanine Vallain, the figure of Liberty bears a copy of the Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in one hand and a pike to defend them in the other, The painting
hung in the Jacobin dub until its fall from power. (MusOe de la Revolution Francaise, Vizille/The
",m~" This icon will direct you to interactive activities and study materials on the
website college.hmco.com/pic/mckaYWe~t9e
683
CHAPTER21
®
Background to Revolution
THE REVOLUTION iN POLITICS,
While these developments built a thirst fbr f~tndamental political reform, there was nothing inevitable in the
unfolding of the Revolution. As in many historical
events, chance played a significant role in leading the
French to revolution and in the course of events after its
outbreak¯ Examining the background of institutions,
events, and ideas helps explain how the f~scinating and
complex phenomenon lmown as the French Revolution
came into being.
¯ What social, political, and economk factors formed the
background to the French Revolution?
Legal Orders and Social Change
As in the Middle Ages, France’s 25 million inhabitants
were still legally divided into three orders, or estates-the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else. As the nation’s
first estate, the clergy numbered about one hundred
thousand and had important privileges. It mvned about
20 percent of the land and paid only a "voluntary gift,"
rather than regular taxes, to the government every five
years. Moreover, the church levied a tax (the tithe) on
landowners, which averaged somewhat less than l0
percent.
The second estate consisted of some four hundred
thousand nobles, the descendants of "those who fought"
in the Middle Ages. Nobles o~vned about 25 percent of
the land in France outright, and they too were lightly
taxed¯ Moreover, nobles continued to enjoy certain
manorial rights, or privileges of lordship, that dated
back to medieval times. These included exclusive rights
to hunt and fiih, village monopolies on baking bread and
pressing grapes for wine, fees for justice, and a host of
other "useful privileges." In addition, nobles had "honorific privileges" such as the right to precedence on public occasions and the right to ~vear s~vords. These rights
conspicuously proclaimed the nobility’s legal superiority
and exalted social position.
Everyone else was a commoner, legally a member of
the third estate. A f~w commoners--prosperous merchants, lawyers, and officials--~vere well educated and
rich, and they might even have purchased manorial rights
as a way of obtaining profit and social honor. The vast
majority of the third estate consisted of peasants and
agricultural ~vorkers in the countryside and urban artisans and unskilled day laborers. Thus the third estate was
a conglomeration of very different social groups united
only by yheir shared legal status as distinct from the nobility and clergy.
The Three Estates In this political cartoon fi-om ~789 a
peasant of the third estate struggles under the crushin
den of a happy clergyman and a plumed i
lion--"Let’s hope this game ends soon"--sets fbrth a
program of reform that any peasant could understand. (Rdunion des Musdes Nationaux/Art Resource, NY)
In discussing the origins of the French Revolution
torians long f’ocused on growing tensions between
nobility and the comf2.ortablc members of the
the bourgeoisie or upper middle class. Increasing in
wealth, culture, and self-confidence, this risiug
geoisie became progressively exasperated by
dal" la~vs restraining the economy and b}
of a reactionary nobility that was dosing
middle-class aspirations. As a result, the French
geoisie eventually rose up to lead the entir
a great social revolution that destroyed feudal
and established a capitalist order based on individualism
and a market economy.
In recent years, a flood of new research has challenged
these accepted views. Above all, revisionist historians 1773 Boston Tea Party
have questioned the existence of growing social conflict 1775 Paine, Common Sense
between a progressive capitalistic bourgeoisie and a reac1775~~783 American Revolution
tionary feuda! nobility in eighteenth-century France.
stead, they see both bourgeoisie and nobility as highly .1786-,1789 Financial crisis in France
fragmented, riddled with internal rivalries. The ancient
,1789 Feudalism abolished in France: ratification of
sword nobility, for example, was profoundly separated
U.S.
Constitution; storming o~ the Bastille
from the newer robe nobility by differences in wealth,
education, and worldvie~v. Differences within the
1789-’1799 French Revolution
geoisie--between wealthy financiers and loca! lawyers,
~790 Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
for example--were no less profound. Rather than standing as unified blocs against each other, nobility and bour- "179"1 Slave insurrection in Saint-Domingue
geoisie formed t~vo parallel social ladders increasingly
"1792 Wo!lstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights or
linked together at the top by wealth, marriage, and EnWoman
lightenment culture.
Revisionist historians stress three developments in par- 1793 Execution o~ Louis XV!
ticular. First, the nobility remained a ~uid and relatively "1793-"1794 Economic controls to help poor in
open order. Throughout the eighteenth century substanFrance; Robesplerre’s Reign of Terror
tial numbers of successful commoners continued to seek
and qbtaln noble status through government service and
1794 Robespierre deposed and executed
purchase of expensive positions confi:rring nobility. Sec- "1794-"1799 Thermidorian reaction
ond, key sections of the nobility were no less liberal than
the middie class, and until revolution actually began, 1799-~8~5 Napoleonic era
both groups generaliy supported the judicial opposition ~805 Haitian republic declares independence
to the government led by the Parlement of Paris. Third,
nobility and the bourgeoisie were not really at odds 18~2 Napoleon invades Russia
in the economic sphere. Investment in land and govern~8~8~5 Napoleon defeated and exiled
ment service were the preferred activities of both groups,
and the ideal of the merchant capitalist was to gain
enough wealth to retire f?om trade, purchase an estate,
nobly as a large landowner. At the same time,
nobles often acted as aggressive capitalists, inThe Crisis of Political Legitimacy
especially in mining, metallurgy, and foreign
Overlaying these social changes was a centuryqong polit-
Revisionists have clearly shaken the belief that theical and fiscal struggle between the monarchy and its op¯ " and the nobility were inevitably locked inponents that was primatily enacted in the law courts.
g conflict before the Revolution. But in stressingWhen Louis XIV finally died in 1715 and was succeeded
between the two groups, especially at the by his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV (r. 1715, revisionists have also reinfbrced the view that the 1774), the Sun King’s elaborate system ofabsolutist rule
to correspond with social reality was challenged. Favored by the duke of Orldans (1674Legally, society was still based on rigid or- 1723), who governed as regent until 1723, a number of
from the Middle Ages. In reality, France institutions retrieved powers they had lost under Louis
already moved far to~vard being a society based on XIV. Instead of assuming personal rule, the regent reineducation in which an emerging elite that in- stated councils of state to aid in decision making.
ad bourgeois notables ~vas frusMost important, in !715 the duke restored to the high
by a bureaucratic monarchy that continued to courts of France--the parlements--the ancient right to
right to absolute power.
evaluate royal decrees pnblic!.y in writing before they
Background to Revolution
CHAPTER21 @ THE REVOLUTION IN POLITICS,
were registered and given the force of law. The restora- philosophes applauded the~e measures: the sovereign was
his power to introduce badly needed reforms that
tion of this right, which had been suspended under ~zouisusing
had been blocked by a self-serving aristocratic elite. Most
XIV, was a fateful step. The magistrates of the parlements philosophes, and public opinion as a whole, sided with
were leaders of the robe nobility. In 1604 Henry IV had
created the paulette (see page 528) on royal offices as a the old parlements, however, and there *vas widespread
way to raise desperately needed revenue. The unintended criticism of "royal despotism."
consequence of this act was to transtbrm royal offices, in- Learned dissent was accompanied by scandalous libels.
as Louis le bien-aimd (beloved Louis) in his
cluding judicial positions, into a form of private propertyKnown
youth,
the
icing found his people turning against him for
passed down ftom father to son. By allowing a wellmoral
as
well
as political reasons. Kings had always mainentrenched and highly articulate branch of the nobility torained mistresses
who were invariably chosen from the
evaluate the king’s decrees before they becanae law, the
duke of Orldans sanctioned a counterweight to absolute court nobility. Louis XV broke that pattern with Madame
de Pompadour, daughter of a disgraced bourgeois finanprover.
These implications became dear when the heavy ex- cier. As favorite from 1745 to 1750, Pompadour exertremendous influence over literature, art, and the
penses of the ~Var of the Austrian Succession plunged cised
decorative arts, using her patronage to support Voltaire
France into financial crisis. In 1748 Louis XV appointed
a finance minister who decreed a 5 percent income mx on and promote the rococo style. Even after their love att~ir
Pompadour wielded considerable influence over
every individual regardless of social status. Exemptionended,
the king, helping bring about the alliance with Austria
from most taxation had long been a hallowed privilege of
the nobility, and other important groups--the clergy, thethat resulted in the Seven Years’ War. Pompadour’s !ow
large towns, and some wealthy bourgeoisie--had also birth and hidden political influence generated a stream of
gained special tax advantages over time. The result was a resentful pamphleteering.
Pompadour, the king appeared to sink ever lower
vigorous protest from many sides led by the influentialin After
licantiousness;
his last ~:avorite, Madame du Barry, was
Parlement of Paris. The monarchy retreated; the new tax
derided as a common streetwalker, and the king
was dropped.
Fol!owing the disastrously expensive Seven Years’ War accused of maintaining a brothel of teenage girls at Ver(see pages 635-637), the conflict re-emerged. The gov- sailles to serve his lusts. The illegal stream of
ernment tried to maintain emergency taxes after the warmongeting became a torrent. Lurid and
ended; the Parlement of Paris protested and even chal- depictions of the court ate away at the foundations
lenged the basis of royal authority, claiming that theroyal authority, especially among the common people i
king’s power had to be limited to protect liberty. Once turbulent Paris. The king was being stripped of the
again the government caved in and withdrew the taxes. cred aura of God’s anointed on earth and ~vas bein
The judicial opposition then asserted that the king couldvented in the popular imagination as a degenerate.
not levy taxes without the consent of the Parlement of Despite this progressive desaeralization of the
its power was still great enough to ride over the c
Paris, which was acting as the representative of th~ entire chy,
position, and Louis XV would probably have prevailed it
nation.
After years of attempting to compromise with the par- he had lived to a ripe old age, but he died in 1774.
king, Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792), was a shy
lements, Louis XV roused himself for a determined de- new
fense of his absolutist inheritance. "The magistrates," heyear-old ~vith good intentions. Taking the throne, he ii
to have said, "What I should like most is to b
angrily told the Parlement of Paris in a famous f?ce-to- reported
"2 The eager-to-please monarch
loved.
face confrontation, "are my officers .... In my person
only does the sovereign power rest."~ In 1768 Louis ap- of vehement opposition from France’s educated
dismissed chancellor Maupeou and
pointed a tough career official named Rend de Maupeou He
strong-~villed
minister’s work. Louis also ~vaffled
as chancellor and ordered him to crush the judicial oppoeconomy, dismissing controllersition.
Maupeou abolished the existing parlements and exiledattempts to liberalize the economy drew fire. ~a
the vociferous members of the Parlement of Paris to thebut unreformed monarchy now faced a judicia!
that claimed to speak for the entire
provinces. He created a new and docile parlement of lion
Increasingly
locked in stalemate, the country
royal officials, known as the Maupeou parlements, and
he began once again to tax the privileged groups. A few toward rene~ved financial crisis and political
The Impact of the American Revolution
Coinciding with the first years of Louis XVI’s reign, the
American Revolution had an enormous impact on France
both in practical and ideological terms. French expenses
to support the colonists bankrupted the Crown, while
the ideals of liberty and equality provided heady inspiration for political refbrm.
Like the French Revolution, the American Revolution
had its immediate origins in struggles over increased
taxes. The high cost of the Seven Years’ War--fought
with little financial contribution ftom the colonies-doubled the British national debt. When the government
tried to recoup some of the losses in increased taxes on
the colonies in !765, the colonists reacted with anger.
The key questions were political rather than economic.
To what extent could the home government assert its
power while limiting the authority of colonial legislatures and their elected representatives? Accordingly, who
should represent the colonies, and who had the right to
make laws for Americans? The British government
replied that Americans were represented in Parliament,
albeit indirectly (like most British people themselves),
and that the absolute supremacy of Parliament throughout the empire could not be questioned. MaW AmetiToward Revolution in Boston The Boston Tea Party was
cans felt otherwise.
one of many angry confrontations benveen British’offiIn 1773 the dispute over taxes and representation only
cials and Boston patriots. On January 27, 1774, an angry
flared up again after the British government awarded a crowd seized a British customs collector and tarred and feathmonopoly on Chinese tea to the East India Company, ered him. This French engraving of 1784 commemorates the
~ excluding colonial merchants from a lucrativedefiant and provocative actiom (The Granger Collection, New
business. In response, Boston men disguised as Indians York)
~ th~
e~v the compauy’s tea
held
a rowdy
party"
into the
harbor."tea
This
led toan
extreme measures. The so;oercive Acts closed the port of Bostou, curtailed remained loyal to the Crown; large numbers of these
, and greatly expanded the royal governor’s Loyalists emigrated to the northern colonies of Canada.
County conventions in Massachusetts protested On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress
and urged that the acts be "rejected as the at- adopted the Declaration of Independence. Written by
icked administration to enslave America." Thomas Jeft?rson, it boldly listed the tyrannical acts
t! assemblies joined in the denunciations. In committed by George III (r. 1760-1820) and confi1774 the First Continental Congress met in dently proclaimed the natural rights of mankind and the
where the more radical members argued sovereignty of the dUnetican states. Sometimes called
concessions to the Cro~vn. Compro- the world’s greatest political editorial, the Declaration of
was also rejected by the British Parliament, and in Independence in effect universalized the traditional
fighting began at Lexington and Concord. rights of English people and made them the rights of all
and the colonists moved slowly mankind. It stated that "all men are created equdl
toward open rebellion and a declaration of They are endoxved by their Creator xvith certain unalienThe uncompromising attitude of the able rights .... Among these are life, liberty, and the
government and its use of German mercenaries pursuit of happiness."
tg-standing loyalties to the home country On the internai!ional scene, the French ~vanted reamong the separate colonies. Some colonists venge tbr the htuniliating defeats of the Seven Years’ War.
CHAPTER 21 ~ THE REVOLUTION tN POLITICS, 1775-1815
strengthened in its oppos!tion by widespread popular
support. When renewed efforts to reform the tax system
met a similar fate in 1776, the government was forced to
finance all of its enormous expenditures during the
American war with borrowed money. As a result, the national debt and the annual budget deficit soared.
By the 1780s, fully 50 percent of France’s annual
budget went for interest payments on the debt. Another
25 percent went to maintain the military, while 6 percent
was absorbed by the king and his court at Versailles. Less
than 20 percent of the entire national budget was available for the productive functions of the state, such as
transportation and general administration. This was an
impossible financial situation.
One way out would have been for the government to
declare parti!l bankruptcy, forcing its creditors to accept
greatly reduced payments on the debt. The Spanish
monarchy had regularly repudiated large portions of its
debt in earlier times, and France had done
an attempt to establish a national bank ended in financial disaster in 1720. Yet by the 1780s the French debt
~vas being held by an army of aristocratic and bourgeois ~
creditors, and the French monarchy, though
theory, had become too weak for such a drastic and unpopular action¯
Nor could the king and his ministers
create inflation to cover their deficits¯ Unlike England
and Holland, which had far larger national debts
to their populations, France had no central bank, no par
per currency, and no means of creating credit.
money was good gold coin. Therefore
economy and public distrust made it increasingly
for the government to obtain new gold loans in 1786
had no alternative but to try to increase taxes~
France’s tax system was unfair
revenues were possible only through fixndamental
form. Such re[brms, which would affect al!
France’s complex and fragmented
dora’s box of social and political demands.
The Revolution was looming by
could have realized what was to follow. Spurred
pressed economy and falling tax receipts, Louis
minister of finance revived old proposals
era! tax on all landed property as well as to form
vincial assemblies to help administer the tax, and
convinced the king to call an Assembly of Notables
Financial Crisis
gain support for the idea. The notables, who
The French Revolution thus had its immediate origins in important noblemen and high-ranking clergy,
the financial difficulties of the government. The efforts of the new tax. In exchange for their support,
manded that control over al! government
Louis XV’s ministers to raise taxes had been thwarted by
given to the provincial assemblies. When the
the high courts, led by the Parlement of Paris, which was
They sympathized with the rebels and supplied guns and
gunpowder from the beginning. By 1777 French volunteers were arriving in Virginia, and a dashing young nobleman, the marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), quickly
became one of George Washington’s most trusted generals. In 1778 the French government offered a formal alliance to the American ambassador in Paris, Benjamin
Franklin, and in I779 and 1780 the Spanish and Dutch
declared war on Btitain. Catherine the Great of Russia
helped organize the League of Armed Neutrality in order
to proEect neutral shipping rights, which Britain refused
to recognize.
Thus by 1780 Great Britain was engaged in an imperial war against most of Europe as well as against the thirteen colonies. In these circumstances, and in the face of
severe reverses, a new British government decided to cut
its losses and off~red peace on extremely generous terms.
By the Treaty of Paris of 1783, Britain recognized the independence of the thirteen colonies and ceded all its
territory between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River to the Americans. Out of the bitter rivalries
of the Old World, the Americans snatched dominion
over a vast territory.
Europeans who dreamed of a new era were fascinated
by the political lessons of the American Revolution. The
Americans had begun with a revolutionary defense
against tyrannical oppression, and they had been victorious. They had then shown how rational beings could
assemble together to exercise sovereignty and write a
permanent constitution--a new social contract. All this
gave greater reaiiEy to the concepts of individual liberty
and representative government and reinforced one of the
primary ideas of the Enlightenment: that a better ~vorld
was possible.
No country felt the consequences of the American
Revolution more directly than France. Hundreds of
French officers served in America and were inspired by
the experience, the marquis de Lafayette chief among
them. French inteflectuals and publicists engaged in passionate analysis of the new federal Constitution as well as
the constitutions of the various sEates Of the new United
States. Perhaps more imporEantly, the expenses of supporting the revolutionary forces provided the last nail in
the coffin for the French treasury.
Revolution in Metropole and Colony, 1789-1791
refused, the notables responded that such sweeping tax’
changes required the approval of the Estates General, the the eve of revolution. The local assemblies of the clergy
representative body of al! three estates, which had not showed considerable dissatisfaction with the church
hie/archy. The nobles were politically divided. A consermet since 1614.
Facing imminent bankruptcy, the king tried to reassert vative majority was drawn fi’om the poorer and more nuhis authority. He dismissed the notables and establishedmerous provincial nobility, but fully one-third of the
new taxes by decree. In stirring language, the judges of nobility’s representatives were liberals committed to mathe Parlement of Paris promptly declared the royal initia-jor changes.
tive null and void. When the king tried to exile the @ for the third estate, there was great popular particijudges, a tremendous wave of protest swept the country. ?anon in the elections. Almost all male commoners
Frightened investors also refused to advance more loans tWenty-five years of age and older had the right to vote¯
to the state. Finally, in luly 1788, Louis XVI bowed to However, most of the representatives selected by the
public opinion and called for a spring session of the Es- third estate were well-educated, prosperous members of
the middle class¯ Most ~vere not businessmen but rather
tates Genera!.
la~vyers and government officials. Social status and prestige were matters of particular concern to this economic
elite. No delegates from the great mass of laboring
poor--the peasants and urban artisans--were elected.
Revolution in N~etropole and
The petitions for change coming from the three estates
Colony, ~789-~79~
showed a surprising degree of consensus. There was genAlthough inspired by the ideals of the American Revolu-eral agreement that royal absolutism should give way to a
tion, the French Revolution did not mirror the Americancons!itutionai monarchy in which laws and taxes would
example. It ~vas more radical and more complex, more reqmre the consent of the Estates General in regular
influential and more controversial, more loved and moremeetings. All agreed that individual liberties would have
to be guaranteed by law and that economic regulations
~;uropeans and most of the rest of the world, should be loosened. The striking similarities in the grievgreat revolution of the eighteenth century, the ance petitions of the clergy, nobility, and third estate re revolution that opened the modern era in politics. In flected a shared commitment to a basic reform platform
, the slave insurrection in Saint-Domingue--whichamong the educated elite.
world.
’ resulted in the second independent republic of
Online Study Center Im roveYour
liberation movements across the ~m,~p.
P. Estate Grade
~
rlmary beurce:
The Third
Speaks: The CaNer
What were the immediate events that sparked the
~ and how did they result in the formation of a
nonarchy in France? How did the ideals and
early Revolution raise new aspirations in the
Formation of the National Assembly
agreed to hold the Estates General, folhe set elections for the three orders.
meetings of the Estates General, local
m prepare a list of grievances for their repro bring to the next electoral level¯ This
~s it was, set offa flood of debate,
demands throughout France. All across the
and commoners came together in
orders to draft petitions for change and
delegates to the Estates General. These docucomplaints French subjects had on
de Doleances of the Carcassonne
Yet an increasingly bitter quarrel undermined this corn
sensus during the intense electoral campaign: how would
the Estates General vote, and precisely ~ho would lead in
the political reorganization that ~vas generally desired?
The Estates Genera! of 1614 had sat as three separate
houses. Each house held one vote, despite the enormous
numerical discrepancies between the estates in the genera! population. Given the close ties between them, the
nobility and clergy would contro! a!I derisions. As soon
as the estates were called, the aristocratic Parlement of
Paris, mainly out of respect for tradition but partly out of
a desire to enhance the nobility’s political position, ruled
that the Estates General should once again sit separately.
The ruling was quickly denounced by some intellectuals,
who demanded instead a single assembly dominated by
the third estate to ensnare fundamental reforms. In his famous 1789 pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? the abbd
Emmanuel loseph S’eyes argued.that the nobility was a
troy, overptivileged minoti~) arid that the neglected third