The Role Of Equality In The French Revolution

Even though the French Revolution held many enlightened ideas, it failed to instill advanced ideals such as the rule of the majority, however insured equality before the law and religious tolerance to a larger degree. The French Revolution failed to instill the rule of the majority to the people because Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor for life without giving citizens the choice to vote. To add, The Napoleonic Civil Code of France 1804 didn’t address and include clauses that reinforce the rule of the majority. On the contrary, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen included a clause stating that all citizens have a right to decide, however, in the end the people weren’t given a choice to elect Napoleon emperor for life. Even though the revolution didn’t include rule of the majority, they did insure equality under the law for all male citizens. Equality under the law was a major change from the Old Regime because of the abolition of the social …show more content…
This ideal was partly achieved because equality was given to all men, however women were still suffering as they did in the middle Ages. Similarly, the revolution successfully gave religious tolerance to the people. Through Napoleon’s Civil Code in 1804, the government insured that the every Frenchman shall enjoy civil rights, which achieved and acknowledged the separation of powers from church and state. This acknowledged this because the people were able to be liberated from the church, which was an outside entity from the government. Even though the church and state were separated, the church still held power over the people, however not to the same extent as it had previously. Like the French Revolution, the ideals of rule of the majority, equality before the law, and religious tolerance were achieved to an extent in the Venezuelan