Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu: Their Influences on the French Revolution

The French Revolution is considered a time of great change by most historians; the ideas of liberty, personal freedoms and forms of government were all heavily altered during this period. Although some may correctly attribute the collapse of the older French government to things such as social and economic issue, the actual ideas that were elaborated upon during this revolutionary period came from the French Enlightenment philosophers (Cranston 1). The writings of the enlightenment authors Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu all had an effect on the changing ideas of liberty and forms of government, which contributed to the start of the French Revolution.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778) influenced the revolution by altering the idea of the effects of civilization upon natural freedoms. Rousseau was a composer, music theorist and novelist, as well as a political thinker of the Enlightenment. Rousseau mainly effected the French perception of civilization's consequences upon liberty and "most of his works deal with the mechanisms through which humans are forced to give up liberty" (Hooker 1). His main idea can be summed up in the first line of his most renowned work, The Social Contract (1762): "Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains" (Hooker 1). Rousseau argued that civilization affected liberty in a negative way, as opposed to the original perception in which civilization enhanced human liberty (Hooker 1). Rousseau's idea of a perfect government was a republic (Cranston 12). He believed that "a people could only be free if it ruled itself" (Cranston 13). He also believed that freedom was, in effect, "ruling oneself, living under a law which one has oneself enacted" (Cranston 11) or a system approved and made by the people. His ideas influenced many revolutionary figures - both negatively and positively - including Maximillien Robespierre (1758 - 1794), who twisted Rousseau's ideas, such as the idea that citizens have the right to rebel against their civilization, to fit his own purposes during the "Reign of Terror" (Cranston 12).

Rousseau's very first piece of published writing was Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences (1750). This was the essay in which he originally stated .his belief that civilization has the effect of morally corrupting human beings. In Rousseau's opinion, "the natural moral state of human beings is to be compassionate; civilization has made us cruel, selfish and bloodthirsty" (Hooker 1). The advancements in technology (such as industrialization and machines, or weapons like the revolver) which most people considered progressive and improving, Rousseau thought of as degrading and ultimately a source of the moral problems in our world today. In summary, the main point that Rousseau was trying to make in this work was that "civilization robbed us of our natural freedom" (Hooker 1).

Another of Rousseau's most influential writings is The Discourse on Inequality (1754). It was written for an essay contest in Geneva, Switzerland and won first place. This essay was the culmination of all of Rousseau's main ideas, gathered into one work. The first of these was his idea of the "noble savage" (Hooker 1), postulating that humans are happiest when they are neither completely uncouth nor completely cultured; rather, the happiest human state is that of a 'refined uncultivated person', as contradictory as that may sound (Hooker 1). The second idea is the thought that there is a contractual obligation between government and citizen, or, the idea of the social contract (this idea was later elaborated upon in Rousseau's The Social Contract, 1762). The third idea is the nature of human distinctions, or, the way in which humans thought processes and beliefs differ from each other. Because of this, no government will ever please an entire people. His next idea is the nature of human freedom, which he had previously outlined in Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences. In this essay, Rousseau's main disagreement with society was that civilization takes away people's own God-given individuality, since "civilized human beings live outside themselves in the opinions and authority of others" (Hooker 1). Instead of living by their own morals and beliefs, people live by the standards society sets for them.

Finally, the famous and influential The Social Contract was Rousseau's "piece de resistance' when it came to revolutionary thinking and "abstract political thought" (Hooker 1). This work stressed a new concept; that of the "social contract". This contract was a mutual indenture between the people and the government, in which "the governed agree to be ruled only so that their rights, property and happiness [will] be protected by their rulers" (Hooker 1). The salient point of this entire work, onto which the revolutionaries clung, was the idea that should this social contract be violated, "the governed are free to chose another set of governors or magistrates" (Hooker 1). This idea influenced both the formation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789, the French Constitution) and the Declaration of Independence (1775, the American Constitution). Its influence is also seen in the fact that both the French and American revolutions ended with "contracts, outlining the rights and liberties of the governed" (Hooker 3). These contracts specified that government should protect the rights of every citizen, not just the wealthy and powerful members of society. This idea, however, was sometimes taken too far: Rousseau was not, as some have believed, encouraging anarchist thought. Rather than just a simple disagreement between a people and its leaders, "it was only when political authority broke the basic premise of the social contract and individual liberty was replaced by inequality that Rousseau believed that government should be torn down (Hooker 2). In summation, although he supported the dismantlement of a government IF the government was in breach of their 'social contract', Rousseau still believed in order and civil obedience (Hooker 2).

Voltaire (1694-1778), otherwise known as Francois Marie Arouet, changed the perception of the relationship between nature and science, as well as the best way to achieve progress (Cranston 13). Voltaire was heavily influenced by the English writers Sir Francis Bacon and, to a lesser extent, John Locke (Cranston 12-13). He admired Locke's Letter for Toleration (1689), and even based his Traite sur la Tolerance (1763), or A Treatise on Toleration, on the same main concepts. While he admired Locke as one of the best English philosophers, Voltaire believed that Bacon was "the most up-to-date thinker" (Cranston 13), and that the French public could relate to him. He thought Bacon was most assuredly a 'man of science', in that he could relate humanity's own downfall to the rise of science and the corresponding relationship between the two with progress. Bacon insisted that science was "a practical enterprise to give us mastery of our own world" (Cranston 13), saying humanity could exploit nature to our advantage and use science to improve our own lives. Voltaire then, reasonably, supported Bacon's idea of how progress can be achieved: government should be focused on "an enlarged royal prerogative, at the expense of the rights of the Church, Parliament, and the courts" (Cranston 13), or essentially a strong monarchy.

Voltaire believed this system of government could work in France, since France had an extensive history of being successful with kings and monarchies (Cranston 13-14). He also believed that "the great enemies of liberty were

Although Voltaire's most famous work was A Treatise for Toleration, his first influential writing was the play, Brutus (1730). It summarized the feelings of the people, by representing the life of Brutus, murderer of Caesar, in ancient Roman times (Herbert 14). In this play, "the horror of a tyrannical government is expressed with all the fire of Voltaire's genius" (Herbert 14). This play had a profound effect upon the revolution; according to Herbert, "Voltaire's writings lent themselves readily to radical use, and some of the most common slogans of the revolution were borrowed from his Brutus" (70). One of these slogans was the last line of Brutus, 'Rome is free, that suffices, let us give thanks to the gods'which appeared in a salon review that analyzed the portrait by David of the same name (Herbert 70). This play was looked upon as the culmination of the Revolution, and "presentations of Voltaire's Brutus were quickly accepted as the triumph of 'democratic' theater" (Herbert 80) by those involved in the revolution, even though Voltaire had meant his plays to be in support of an improved monarchy - not a democracy. Voltaire's lesser-known plays also had an impact on the Revolution, as evidenced by this quote from Mahomet (1742) that appeared on the Bastille Memorial: "An altar to the first anniversary of the fall of the Bastille also bore citations from Voltaire [. . .] 'All mortals are equal; it is not birth/But virtue alone which makes the difference'" (Herbert 70-71). Voltaire also "described the English kingdom [. . .] as the homeland of liberty" (Cranston 12), and believed the English to be a great source of ideas on liberties, though not to such an extent as Montesquieu, who heavily idealized many English writers.

Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was heavily influenced by the English. Like Voltaire, he admired the political theories of the English, especially those of Locke (Cranston 12). Montesquieu's works also altered both the idea of freedom and the idea of a monarchic government in the Revolution. Although he did admire the English's separation and division of the power of government, he worried that "the spirit of 'extreme' liberty among the English could undercut the constitutional separation of powers that protect their liberties" (Krause 231). He mainly believed that freedom was, in essence, "being unconstrained and unimpeded in doing what one chooses to do, as long as it is lawful" (Cranston 11). He "claimed a liberal constitutional monarchy was the best system of government" (Cranston 10), especially for a freedom-loving people, since "by dividing the sovereignty of the nation, it provided a permanent check on any one of them becoming despotic" (Cranston 10). Montesquieu believed that the French should, like the English, use "the Crown, the aristocratic courts, the Church, the landed nobility, and the chartered cities" (Cranston 10) to divide sovereignty among different groups, as opposed to having power solely with a king or queen. Montesquieu also gave great power to the aristocracy in his plan for government, which might be explained by the fact that he himself was a noble. These ideas influenced the Comte de Mirabeau, who was the "leading orator among the revolutionists" (Cranston 10). Mirabeau disagreed, however, with the power set aside for the aristocracy, in spite of being a noble himself.

Montesquieu's main work was L'Espirit des lois (1753), or The Spirit of the Laws. This book primarily outlined "what sort of 'spirit' a regime must have to sustain a constitution of separate powers and so to preserve individual liberties" (Krause 232). The 'spirit' of a government was believed, by Montesquieu, to be essentially "the physical, conditions of the country...the type of life of the people...the religion of the inhabitants, their inclinations, their wealth, their number, their commerce, their mores, and their manners" (Krause 232-3). If a government attempted to achieve consensus amongst their people involving these factors, a government ought to continue to survive. In this book, Montesquieu supports the English system, which "establishes a functional separation between the legislative, executive, judicial powers" (Krause 235), and he "indicates that in England, the people ultimately (if indirectly) hold sovereign power" (Krause 237). This work influenced how France perceived a limited constitutional monarchy, by introducing English ideas.

A republic, a monarchy, and a liberal constitutional monarchy: although they had different ideas, all three of these Enlightenment thinkers - Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu - changed the perceptions of freedom and government for the French and the world. Their writings influenced the French Revolution, by inciting citizens and giving them a reason to rebel against their regime, whether by breaking a social contract, adopting a progressive, scientific government, or proposing the adoption of the English system of rule.

Works Cited
Cranston, Maurice. "Ideas and Ideologies." History Today May 1989: Vol. 39, Issue 5, 10-13.

Krause, Sharon. "The Spirit of Separate Powers in Montesquieu." Review of Politics Spring 2000: Vol. 62, Issue 2, 231-266.

Herbert, Robert L. David, Voltaire, Brutus, and the French Revolution: An Essay in Art and Politics. Los Angeles, Viking Press, 1972.

Hooker, Robert. "The Age of Englightenment: Rousseau." 6 June 1999. 25 February 2005. Washington State University. www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ROUSSEAU