French Revolution

Part 2: Political Freedom!

Part 2: Political Freedom!

Objective: Understand what political freedom is. Determine what the right balance is between security and freedom.

Assessment Goals: (Learning Target 1,2,3,6,7): Identify the changes in government and rights of people throughout the revolution. Determine when you believe people were the most free. Explain and defend using primary and secondary source evidence.

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A: Initial Revolutionary Movements _____________________________________________

Estates General

Tennis Court Oath

Storming of the Bastille http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/french-revolution/source-2/

‘The London Gazette’ – Saturday 18 July – Tuesday

21 July, 1789 (ZJ 1/85

Transcript In the Evening a Detachment with Two Pieces of Cannon went to the Bastile, to demand the Ammunition deposited there. A Flag of Truce had been sent before them, which was answered from within; But nevertheless, the Governor (the Marquis de Launay) ordered the Guard to fire, and several were killed. The Populace, enraged at this Proceeding, rushed forward to the Assault, when the Governor agreed to admit a certain Number, on Condition that they should not commit any Violence. A Detachment of about Forty accordingly passed the Drawbridge, which was instantly drawn up, and the whole Party massacred. This Breach of Faith, aggravated by so glaring an instance of Inhumanity, naturally excited a Spirit of revenge and Tumult not to be appeased. A Breach was soon made in the Gate, and the Fortress surrendered. The Governor, the principal Gunner, the Jailer, and Two

old Invalids, who had been noticed as being more active than the Rest, were seized, and carried before the Council assembled at the Hotel de Ville, by whom the Marquis de Launay was sentenced to be beheaded, which was accordingly put in Execution at the Place de Grêve, and the other Prisoners were also put to Death. Questions to Answer:

1. Why were the people outside the Bastille so outraged when the Governor gave the order to fire on them?

2. Some were allowed in - on what condition?

3. What happened to the 40 who went into the Bastille?

4. What happened to the Governor?

Women March on Versailles

Declaration of the Rights of Man

Notes: Use this graphic Organizer to keep track of your information.

Period of the Revolution

Major Events/

People of this time

Changes in the

Government

Evidence Changes in Rights

Evidence

Initial

Revolutionary Movement

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B: Robespierre & the Reign of Terror ______________________________________________ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilien-Robespierre

Who: Maximilien Robespierre, in full Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre, (born May 6, 1758, Arras, France—died July 28, 1794, Paris), radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French Revolution.

When: In the latter months of 1793 he came to dominate the Committee of Public Safety, the principal organ of the Revolutionary government during the Reign of Terror, but in 1794 he was overthrown and executed in the Thermidorian Reaction.

How: On July 27, 1793, Robespierre took his place on the Committee of Public Safety, which had first been set up in April. While some of his colleagues were away on missions and others were preoccupied with special assignments, he strove to prevent division among the revolutionaries by relying on the Jacobin societies and the vigilance committees. Henceforward his actions were to be inseparable from those of the government as a whole.

Those who initiated the Terror saw it as a bitter but necessary medicine, a elimination of reactionary elements so the revolution could survive and remain on course. Little new policy was needed to initiate a policy of terror. Speeches in the Convention set the tone, while the radicals in the Committee of Public Safety gave their approval. The Law of Suspects, passed in September 1793, formed the legal basis for the Terror by outlining who might be targeted. The Law of Suspects called for the immediate arrest of anyone in one of six categories. Anything from hoarding grain, harbouring suspects, evading the levée en masse (conscription), possessing subversive documents, even speaking critically of the government could lead to a charge. Arrests and trials were conducted by the Revolutionary Tribunals, which were expanded and given new legal authorities.

Primary Sources

©2013 The DBQ Project This page may be reproduced for classroom use 83

Republic of Virtue, Maximillian Robespierre 1794

If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the patrie.

Robespierre, Speech on Revolutionary Government The theory of revolutionary government is as new as the Revolution that created it. It is as pointless to seek its origins in the books of the political theorists, who failed to foresee this revolution, as in the laws of the tyrants, who are happy enough to abuse their exercise of authority without seeking out its legal justification. And so this phrase is for the aristocracy a mere subject of terror a term of slander, for tyrants an outrage and for many an enigma. It behooves us to explain it to all in order that we may rally good citizens, at least, in support of the principles governing the public interest.It is the function of government to guide the moral and physical energies of the nation toward the purposes for which it was established.The object of constitutional government is to preserve the Republic; the object of revolutionary government is to establish it.Revolution is the war waged by liberty against its enemies; a constitution is that which crowns the edifice of freedom once victory has been won and the nation is at peace.The revolutionary government has to summon extraordinary activity to its aid precisely because it is at war. It is subjected to less binding and less uniform regulations, because the circumstances in which it finds itself are tempestuous and shifting above all because it is compelled to deploy, swiftly and incessantly, new resources to meet new and pressing dangers.The principal concern of constitutional government is civil Liberty; that of revolutionary government, public liberty. Under a constitutional government little more is required than to protect the individual against abuses by the state, whereas revolutionary government is obliged to defend the state itself against the factions that assail it from every quarter.To good citizens revolutionary government owes the full protection of the state; to the enemies of the people it owes only death.

Notes: Use this graphic Organizer to keep track of your information.

Period of the Revolution

Major Events/

People of this time

Changes in the

Government

Evidence Changes in Rights

Evidence

Reign of Terror

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C: Napoleon Bonaparte ______________________________________________ NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (History.com) Who: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). When: After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51.

Document

Napoleon’s actions/decisions/etc.

What impact did he/this have on people and their rights?

Evidence?

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Primary Sources

1. Source: General Napoleon Bonaparte to Andre Francois, private conversation in 1788 “I can no longer obey. I have tasted command. I have tasted power and I cannot give it up. I love power.”

2. Napoleon Bonaparte, 1802, shortly after being appointed Consul (leader) of the French Republic “Of all our institutions public education is the most important. Everything depends on it, the present and the future. It is essential to the morals and the political ideas of the next generation. Above all it is essential to equality. I was not always a ruler. Before I became a ruler, I was a subject, and before that I was a student. I can never forget how powerfully the sentiment (feeling) of equality influenced my mind and excited my heart.” 3. Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, in a letter to his brother Joseph, who Napoleon had made King of Spain. “I will be master everywhere in France and of everything, as long as I have breath in my body. Your character is quite different from mine. You like flattering people, and falling in with their ideas. I like people to please me, and to fall in (agree) with my ideas. I am master today.” 4. Source: Napoleon, in a conversation with Barry O’Meara in 1817. O’Meara was Napoleon’s doctor on the island of St. Helena following Napoleon’s final defeat and exile. “I have always been of the opinion that the sovereignty (power to rule) should lay with the people. In fact, my imperial government was a kind of republic. I was called the head (leader) of it by the voice of the people. My policy was that careers should be open to talent. No one should get special treatment based on birth or fortune, and this system of equality is the reason that your English monarchy hates me so much.”

5. Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, 1804, shortly after being crowned emperor of France “It is said that I love power. Well, does anyone have any cause for complaint? Never have the prisons been so empty (crime was low) and the people so safe. The government is strong, my hand is steady (stable), and my enemies are sensible (smart) enough to know that I shall not slacken the reins (loosen my grip on France).” 6. Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, written in in 1817 during his exile on St. Helena “My rise to power was not the result of a conspiracy or a crime. It was the result of the peculiar (strange) circumstances of the times, and because I fought successfully against the enemies of my country. What is most extraordinary (special), though, and I believe unmatched in history, is that I rose from being an average soldier to the astonishing height of power I possessed (being emperor) without having committed a single crime to obtain it.” 7. Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, December 1812 “I have always considered Louis XVI’s death to be a crime, and I thought so before I became a ruler myself. Since I have worn a crown I have shown clearly enough that I mean to close the door on revolution (stop it from happening). The sovereigns (kings) of Europe are indebted to me for stopping the revolutionary storm that threatened their thrones.” 8. Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, in a letter to his brother Jerome. Napoleon appointed Jerome as the new King of Prussia after conquering the Prussians “The benefits of the Code Napoleon (Napoleonic Code), public trial, and the introduction of juries will be the leading features of your Government. And to tell you the truth, I believe these things will help you consolidate (strengthen, secure) your rule over the Germans more than the most resounding (decisive) military victories. I want your subjects to enjoy a degree of liberty, equality, and prosperity never before known to the German people. And they will love you for this.”

9. Memoirs of Madame de Remusat, early 19c

I can understand how it was that men worn out by the turmoil of the Revolution, and afraid of that liberty which had long been associated with death, looked for repose under the dominion of an able ruler on whom fortune was seemingly revolved to smile. I can conceive that they regarded his elevation as a degree of destiny and fondly believed that in the irrevocable they should find peace. I may confidently assert that those persons believed quite sincerely that Bonaparte, whether as consul or emperor, would exert his authority to oppose the intrigue of faction and would save us from the perils of anarchy. None dared to utter the word "republic," so deeply had the Terror stained that name; and the government of the Directory had perished in the contempt with which its chiefs were regarded. The return of the Bourbons could only be brought about by the aid of a revolution; and the slightest disturbance terrified the French people, in whom enthusiasm of every kind seemed dead. Besides, the men in whom they had trusted had one after the other deceived them; and as, this time, they were yielding to force, they were at least certain that they were not deceiving themselves. The belief, or rather the error, that only despotism could at that epoch maintain order in France was very widespread. It became the mainstay of Bonaparte; and it is due to him to say that he also believed it. At the moment when Bonaparte placed the imperial crown upon his head there was not a king in Europe who did not believe that he wore his own crown more securely because of that event. Had the new emperor granted a liberal constitution, the peace of nations and of kings might really have been forever secured.

10. Napoleon Bonaparte, December, 1804. The internal situation of France is today as calm as it has ever been in the most peaceful periods. There is no agitation to disturb the public tranquility, no suggestion of those crimes which recall the Revolution. Everywhere useful enterprises are in progress, and the general improvements, both public and private, attest the universal confidence and sense of security. . . .

Notes: Use this graphic Organizer to keep track of your information.

Period of the Revolution

Major Events/

People of this time

Changes in the

Government

Evidence Changes in Rights

Evidence

Reign of Terror