Influences Leading to the French Revolution

By the year 1789, France was one of the wealthiest nations in Western Europe; yet despite the wealth of the nation and the beauty of their architecture, the people were still unhappy. This feeling of unhappiness eventually culminated into a revolution-one which down King Louis XVI as monarch. At the time, Great Britain and the Netherlands were the only nations that afforded their common people a smaller chance of arbitrary punishment and allowed them more freedoms. Despite the amount of freedom available to the French people, the age-old monarchy and regime came to a bloody end. Historians debate the tangible causes of such a revolution: some believe that the revolution may have been caused by the regime's inability to adjust to a changing world; other historians argue that the peasants and working class were merely upset, coupling the ambitions of a rising bourgeoisie. One of the largest indirect causes of the French Revolution, however, is the outcome and dynamics of individuals from every social status and class who had been in some way influenced by the ideals and philosophies brought forth by the Enlightenment. In 1784, Immanuel Kant defined the Enlightenment as "man's release from his self-incurred tutelage" (p.1).

This definition implies that the knowledge and inequality of the time was self-induced; therefore only he who would realize such a thing could break free. During this time, such knowledge of the outside world made itself known to the people of France: ideals of equality among men, freedom of speech, and an American Revolution. The people of France took this opportunity to overthrow their king for a more appealing government regime. As power began to slowly dissolve away from the monarchy and pass to a legislative regime, groups that had initially been allied by new interests were slowly faced with the source of bloodshed and conflict.

In theory, France was under the control of an absolute monarch; this form of government was growing increasingly unpopular with other nations in the world as well as the people of France. The king's ability and power to act on his power was only contained by noblemen and members of the clergy-both of whom were equally resented by the common people for their power and privileges. The middle and working classes were large and growing.

Following the revolutionary war that had just taken place in America, many individuals became obsessed with the ideas of freedom and equality of all people. John Locke, a philosopher of the time, had often argued that all men were equal and should be treated as such: "He that would have been insolent and injurious in the woods of America, would not probably be much better in a throne; where perhaps learning and religion shall be found out to justify all that he shall do to his subjects" (Sect. 92). While many of Locke's ideas were challenged, several philosophers agreed with his points of view: "Perhaps no man ever had a more judicious or more methodical genius, or was a more acute logician than Mr. Locke" (Voltaire, c. 1778, Letter XIII, 1).many new philosophies that were becoming popular with the middle and working classes had been introduced by several theorists and philosophers, such as Diderot and Voltaire; the success of the American Revolution, people could use as precedent that many of these ideals could be implemented. However, these ideas were not popular among every one: "The philosophers, who have examined the foundations of society, have, every one of them, perceived the necessity of tracing it back to a state of nature, but not one of them has ever arrived there" (Rousseau, p.1).

Several key intellectuals behind the American Revolution had spent time in Paris during the war. Benjamin Franklin, for example, had frequently been in contact with French individuals and helped facilitate the contact between the revolutionaries in America with the French troops that would aid them. This consistent communication between the two groups helped spread the ideas revolting against a seemingly oppressive government. Several people in France began to attack the privileges granted to members of the Catholic Church, the undemocratic system of government; others pushed for greater freedoms, such as the freedom of speech. Though each of these ideals were introduced by the Enlightenment, debate still exists as to how deeply the effected the various classes of people in France at the time. Other debates continue about whether these ideals were presented because of the influence, or if the bourgeois were merely using them to push for their own, self-serving interests.

Several ideas and philosophies came about during the Enlightenment, including ideas centered on the education of women. Prior to the enlightenment, females had been viewed as an inferior gender. Daniel Defoe (1719) had already begun writing his theories on the education of women:

A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without comparison. Her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments, her person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly. She is all softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight. She is every way suitable to the sublimest wish, and the man that has such a one to his portion, has nothing to do but to rejoice in her, and be thankful (Defoe, 3).

The Enlightenment brought forth an era where radical ideas, those that were unpopular among those in power, ran rampant through the growing numbers of working class individuals. Women were becoming more educated, allowing them more knowledge of politics and civil issues. Common people were becoming angrier as they saw the rich and powerful given more privileges than they were allowed. The final straw, it would appear, was when these same concerns were combated in the form of a Revolutionary War in America; at this time, the French people were able to see that ideals from the Enlightenment (freedom and equality) could be implemented into a new form of government.

Works Cited

Defoe, D.. "(On) the Education of Women." (1719). Fordham. February 14, 2006 < http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1719defoe-women.html>.

Kant, I. "What is Enlightenment?." (1784). Fordham. February 14, 2006 < http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/kant-whatis.html>.

Locke, J. "Two Treatises of Government." (1690). Fordham. February 14, 2006 < http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1690locke-sel.html>.

Rousseau, J.J. "A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind.". Fordham. February 14, 2006 < http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1782rousseau-inequal.html>.

Voltaire "On John Locke from letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques." C.1778. Fordham. February 14, 2006< www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html >.