Leaders of the French Revolution who represented the Third Estate, which made up the vast majority of the French population, were motivated by the lack of representation of the lower classes and the growing inequalities between the nobles and the peasants. Additionally, the reexamination of traditionally accepted beliefs in the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment due to increased rational thinking and applied philosophy fueled a reconsideration of France’s irresponsible and ineffective absolute government. This dissatisfaction only increased when the Third Estate shared their opinions with the existing government, who chose to ignore them; thus the Revolution begins in 1789 with the Tennis Court Oath and the Storming of the Bastille.
The …show more content…
It can be said that the Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists initiated the early stages, which led to the full-scale political, social, and economic revolution that is the entirety of the French Revolution. Voltaire, who died in 1778, did not live to see the bona fide revolution, but he saw many events that led to social upheaval. In his piece Philosophical Dictionary: The English Model, Voltaire writes about being “secure on lying down that you shall rise in possession of the same property with which you retired to rest” (Voltaire, 43). Although it speaks to the English government, the realization is also applicable to France in that citizens should feel confident that they have some economic security and are deserving of fair treatment and trial. Jean Jacque Rousseau’s The Social Contract is antithetical to the French absolute government, but if the socialism is viewed from a more democratic perspective, it can be said that it also promotes fair treatment among all classes and in France’s case, estates. He writes that “We might, over and above all this, add, to what man acquires in the civil state, moral liberty, which alone makes him truly master of himself; for the mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescribe to ourselves is liberty” …show more content…
The soldier writes “When la patrie [the motherland] calls us to her defense, we ought to fly there as if running to a good meal. Our life, our wealth, and our talents do not belong to us. It is to the national, la patrie, that all that belongs” (Joliclerc, 63). This speaks to the warrior mentality and runs parallel to Rousseau’s Social Contract in that an individual gives up their will for the good of the entire people. It becomes even clearer when Joliclerc writes to his mother “If I should perish there, you ought to rejoice. Can one make a finer sacrifice than to die for one’s country? Can one die for a more just, glorious, and fairer cause?” (Joliclerc, 63). A cause worth taking pride in the possibility of sacrificing one’s own life for must be one of great significance. This piece invokes a sense of revolutionary nationalism and exposes the general public’s ideas on the Revolution at the height of the Reign of Terror, when the Jacobins were overthrowing suspected counterrevolutionaries and absolute
The …show more content…
It can be said that the Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists initiated the early stages, which led to the full-scale political, social, and economic revolution that is the entirety of the French Revolution. Voltaire, who died in 1778, did not live to see the bona fide revolution, but he saw many events that led to social upheaval. In his piece Philosophical Dictionary: The English Model, Voltaire writes about being “secure on lying down that you shall rise in possession of the same property with which you retired to rest” (Voltaire, 43). Although it speaks to the English government, the realization is also applicable to France in that citizens should feel confident that they have some economic security and are deserving of fair treatment and trial. Jean Jacque Rousseau’s The Social Contract is antithetical to the French absolute government, but if the socialism is viewed from a more democratic perspective, it can be said that it also promotes fair treatment among all classes and in France’s case, estates. He writes that “We might, over and above all this, add, to what man acquires in the civil state, moral liberty, which alone makes him truly master of himself; for the mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescribe to ourselves is liberty” …show more content…
The soldier writes “When la patrie [the motherland] calls us to her defense, we ought to fly there as if running to a good meal. Our life, our wealth, and our talents do not belong to us. It is to the national, la patrie, that all that belongs” (Joliclerc, 63). This speaks to the warrior mentality and runs parallel to Rousseau’s Social Contract in that an individual gives up their will for the good of the entire people. It becomes even clearer when Joliclerc writes to his mother “If I should perish there, you ought to rejoice. Can one make a finer sacrifice than to die for one’s country? Can one die for a more just, glorious, and fairer cause?” (Joliclerc, 63). A cause worth taking pride in the possibility of sacrificing one’s own life for must be one of great significance. This piece invokes a sense of revolutionary nationalism and exposes the general public’s ideas on the Revolution at the height of the Reign of Terror, when the Jacobins were overthrowing suspected counterrevolutionaries and absolute