HOW, AND WITH WHAT RESULTS, DID THE CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE
CLERGY CONSTITUTE A TURNING POINT IN THE SUPPORT BASE OF THE
REVOLUTIONARIES?
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed by the revolutionary government in 1790 with the aim of reducing the power and influence of the church. It also aimed at subordinating the church to the state. The revolutionary government sought to achieve these aims by taking over the responsibility of paying the clergy’s salaries. The bishops would now be elected by the same voters who elected other government officials and they had to be approved by the government rather than by the pope. Finally it was decided that the clergy take an oath of loyalty to the government. Not surprisingly, the civil constitution was strongly opposed by the pope and soon most clergymen rejected it. Other
Catholic countries also condemned it. Perhaps the most worrying thing for the government is the way in which it soon antagonised the peasants who had been an important component of the revolutionaries’ support base. This essay seeks to explore the civil constitution and show how it weakened the support base of the revolutionaries as it alienated the Catholic constituency that had been sympathetic all along. The essay will also show how the civil constitution had far-reaching consequences that included civil and international war.
The Civil Constitution narrowed the support base of the revolutionaries by antagonising the peasants and civil war was the ultimate result. Prior to the civil constitution, the outbreak of the revolution had united different sections of the Third Estate. The peasants who constituted just over ninety per cent of the
French population were by far the largest component of the revolution’s support base. There was so much uniting the Third Estate including demands for political and civil rights. The civil constitution changed all that and drove a wedge among the revolutionaries. This was because the peasants who remained devout Catholics were ultimately influenced by the pope and clergy to reject the civil constitution. Peasants were incited into revolting against the government especially in places such as Vendee, Lyons, Marseille and
Bordeaux. When the government responded with military force the situation degenerated into civil war in 1793.
The Civil Constitution alienated Louis XVI and increased conflict between the executive and legislative arms of the revolutionary government. Even before the passage of the civil constitution, the king and his colleagues in the revolutionary government were already at loggerheads. The National Assembly accused the king of bias in the use of his veto to protect the interests of the reactionary nobles and clergy. The civil constitution worsened things and certainly put
Louis XVI in a difficult position as head of state on one hand and devout
Catholic on the other. He had a dilemma deciding whether to act as head of state and approve the legislation or follow his religious convictions and reject the new law. Either way it was a difficult situation and when Louis XVI chose to follow the pope’s example in denouncing the civil constitution, he undermined his standing in the revolutionary government. That gave his opponents yet another excuse to seek his ouster and eventual execution in 1793. His downfall marked the end of the moderate course in France’s revolution.
The Civil Constitution alienated sympathetic elements within the clergy and sowed the seed of civil war that broke out three years later. In 1790, the pope rejected the civil constitution and condemned it in very strong terms. He denounced it as a heresy and called on all Catholics to resist it. The Pope’s decision weighed with most of the bishops and priests in France who rejected the civil constitution and came to be known as refractory or non- juring priests.
The Pope’s decision influenced Catholic countries such as Austria to oppose
France’s revolutionary but moderate government. The pope and clergy’s decision influenced the peasants to turn against the revolutionary government.
Foreign and civil war quickly followed the rejection of the civil constitution at home and abroad. Faced with war, the revolutionaries abandoned moderation and adopted repressive measures such as conscription, requisitioning and suspension of civil rights were adopted in a desperate struggle for survival.
They also attempted to completely destroy the church. Priests were persecuted and many of them were forced into exile in the aftermath of the failure of the
Civil Constitution.
The Civil Constitution alienated foreign sympathy for the revolution and resulted in tension and ultimately contributed to the international war beginning in 1792.
When the revolution broke out in 1789, there was so much international sympathy and enthusiasm. In Britain prominent people welcomed it in the belief that France would undergo its own political and social transformation very much like the one Britain had undergone more than a century earlier. That transformation had resulted in the creation of a constitutional monarchy and the extension of political participation to ordinary people. The poet William
Wordsworth spoke glowingly of how it was “bliss” to be alive during the outbreak of the revolution. The passage of the civil constitution however started a chain of events that led France away from the moderate course to that of radical and violent changes. It began with the rejection of the civil constitution by the clergy and the revolt that it inspired. The government was ultimately forced into the harsh, repressive measures of the so-called Reign of
Terror. Foreign sympathisers or supporters of the revolution were horrified into withdrawing their support by the high levels of repression and the mass executions as the government sought to crush dissent.
In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that the civil constitution certainly undermined the support base of the revolutionaries. This happened through the alienation of the peasants who were by far the largest group in France, the alienation of sympathetic clerical elements as well as people in other countries like Britain. The consequences included civil and international war.