The French Revolution: The Rise Of The Catholic Church

Before the Revolution, the Catholic Church had been one of the most powerful institutions in France. The Bishops and Priests controlled aspects of French society, life, and thought. The leaders of the Revolution believed that the Church had too much control over French society and that this control limited individual expression and thought. The Churches were then placed under government control to limit the powers and privileges of the clergy. The French Revolution had, “introduced new crucial values, new status strivings, new levels of expectation and it changed the essence of community” (Nardo, 120). Even though the Bourbons were restored to the French throne after Napoleon's exile in 1815, the restoration never undid the major gains of the revolution. These gains included, “the destruction of absolutism, manorialism, legal inequality, and clerical privilege, as well as commitments to representative government, a constitution, and careers open to talent” (“French Revolution”, 36). The crowning of Kings in France also did not undo the gains of the revolution because, “they would rule by the will of the people, not by their own will” (Otfinoski,5). The revolution ended in the establishment of a permanent democracy. The principles of national sovereignty, natural rights, freedom and …show more content…
The middle class saw the elite as in it for themselves, trying to get a place at Versailles and become closer with the King. The third Estate was regarded as inferior to the rest and did not receive any help from the other classes. According to Patit Mishra, “A decadent feudal order was clinging to its privileges, while the cry of the philosophes was "equality, liberty, and fraternity” (404). The higher classes wanted to maintain their power and superiority and the lower working class wanted to be viewed as equals and receive assistance from those above