Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: The Beginning of a Revolution

The fact that the American Revolution was successful surely made an impression on the rest of the world. In France, ideas circulating were certainly in line with those of these new Americans. The notion that people had certain rights was intriguing.

So at one level, the French were experimenting with these new ideas of right and wrong. At the same time, the French working classes were oppressed beyond endurance by work, taxation, and starvation. Another sector of the population, the bourgeoisie, rankled against the established social and economic systems, striving for a way to expand the conduct of business. Added to this was a combination of monarch, nobles, and clergy who were happy with the way things were, for the most part.

Initial Efforts to Save a Sagging France

The country's financial situation was dire, however. Louis XVI and two different finance ministers tried to address the huge debt by controlling government spending and reducing expenses at Versailles. These efforts eased the financial crisis somewhat. Still, the country plummeted to bankruptcy. When Louis attempted to tax the aristocracy, they refused unless the Estates-General, the body of representatives from each of the three estates, or classes, in France, was called in to session. It had been 175 years since a French monarch had convened the Estates-General.

The Estates-General

Historically, the Estates-General met in three separate chambers. Each estate had one vote. If this precedent were followed, the members of the Third Estate-the bourgeoisie, workers, and peasants-knew they would be outvoted at every turn by the First Estate and Second Estate, made up of clergy and nobles, respectively. The Third Estate demanded greater representation (they far outnumbered the other two estates in actual numbers) as well as a vote by head instead of a vote by estate. The king doubled the Third Estate in the assembly, but the Parlement of Paris would not allow a vote by head. The Estates-General gathered on May 5, 1789.

The Third Estate Stirs up the Mix

The Third Estate continued to demand a head vote. After being denied, the representatives declared themselves the French National Assembly on June 17. Locked out of the meeting hall, the Third Estate met at a nearby tennis court and its members swore never to disband until France had a constitution. This pledge came to be known as the Tennis Court Oath.

About a month later, on July 14, it was rumored that royal troops were descending upon Paris to disperse the self-declared National Assembly. An angry mob gathered around the Bastille, a prison in Paris, where they hoped to get weapons. In anger and confusion, the mob overran the prison.

A French Declaration

On August 27, 1789, the French National Assembly, composed of members of all three estates, adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). The Marquis de Lafayette composed the document with the help of his friend Thomas Jefferson. Like the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776), composed by Jefferson, Lafayette's Declaration is one of the great historical documents of all time. Some of the articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man sound familiar:

"Men are born and remain free and equal . . . ."

"Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else . . . ."

On Goes the Revolution

As it turned out, this was not the end of France's revolution. It wasn't until September 1791 that the French National Assembly completed an agreement providing for a limited monarchy. Still, there were upsets as factions rose and fell in power. Through the years, however, the ideals expressed by Lafayette, based on the notions of the Enlightenment thinkers, continued to guide and inspire the French to strive for liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Sources:

Jean Landord, 2001 American and Change