“Crowds killed the governor of the Bastille, put his head on a pike, and paraded it through the streets,” (choices.edu). This was one of the many violent and gruesome events during the French Revolution, which was an uprising in France against the monarchy from 1789 - 1799. This uprising resulted in the monarchy to fall, and lead to the establishment of France as a republic. The French Revolution was caused by social inequality, the Enlightenment Period , and the rise to the price of bread. To begin with, one of the societal causes of the French Revolution was the social inequality towards the peasants of France. Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards of different social classes within a group or society.
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The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition that spread through Europe in the 1700s. Some ideas from this period transferred to important documents that came out of the revolution. For example, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility,” (France: Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen , 1789.) During the Enlightenment Period, many ideas of government and equality were spoken by philosophers, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. Rousseau argued that, “...all adult male citizens had the same innate rights, and that governments could only gain legitimacy by protecting the rights of each citizen,” (choices.edu). However, as I mentioned in a previous paragraph, during the time of the 18th century, rights were given to based on class. The idea that all men had equal rights was new, but supported by many others like the bourgeoisie and peasants. Another famous philosopher was Baron de Montesquieu. In his work The Spirit of Laws, “.. he outlined the principal of the separation of government power into three branches of government: the executive, the judicial, and legislative,” (choices.edu). Montesquieu believed that with separation of power, no branch of government could threaten the freedom of the people. This idea went against the …show more content…
The Enlightenment Period, the increase of the price of bread, and the prejudice against the peasants formed together to create a shift in government. The French Revolution was only one among many other revolutions, such as the American Revolution, or Haitian Revolution. If you look closer into these revolutions, there’s a common theme of cause throughout all of them: reform. The people will never stop wanting change. There will never be a time where every single citizen will be happy with the way their government runs things or the decisions that they make. There won’t be a time where no one will have ideas of improving the government. But is that such a bad thing? With new ideas of innovation, we can make our government more efficient and our country a finer place to live in. As philosopher Edmund Burke once said, “ A nation without the means of reform is without the means of survival,” (Burke,
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition that spread through Europe in the 1700s. Some ideas from this period transferred to important documents that came out of the revolution. For example, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility,” (France: Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen , 1789.) During the Enlightenment Period, many ideas of government and equality were spoken by philosophers, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. Rousseau argued that, “...all adult male citizens had the same innate rights, and that governments could only gain legitimacy by protecting the rights of each citizen,” (choices.edu). However, as I mentioned in a previous paragraph, during the time of the 18th century, rights were given to based on class. The idea that all men had equal rights was new, but supported by many others like the bourgeoisie and peasants. Another famous philosopher was Baron de Montesquieu. In his work The Spirit of Laws, “.. he outlined the principal of the separation of government power into three branches of government: the executive, the judicial, and legislative,” (choices.edu). Montesquieu believed that with separation of power, no branch of government could threaten the freedom of the people. This idea went against the …show more content…
The Enlightenment Period, the increase of the price of bread, and the prejudice against the peasants formed together to create a shift in government. The French Revolution was only one among many other revolutions, such as the American Revolution, or Haitian Revolution. If you look closer into these revolutions, there’s a common theme of cause throughout all of them: reform. The people will never stop wanting change. There will never be a time where every single citizen will be happy with the way their government runs things or the decisions that they make. There won’t be a time where no one will have ideas of improving the government. But is that such a bad thing? With new ideas of innovation, we can make our government more efficient and our country a finer place to live in. As philosopher Edmund Burke once said, “ A nation without the means of reform is without the means of survival,” (Burke,