...Subjects to Citizens: Locke, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution The idea of people as citizens rather than as subjects originates in 16th century Europe, during the Early Modern Period. During this period, European social order was in a state of flux as the rule of kings was confronted with a persistent and determined challenges defined by social forces that were pushing for more secular and democratic governments. There were both individuals and events that today may be seen as powerful drivers of those forces, and among them are John Locke, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. As such a force, the Enlightenment, which began during the mid-17th century and remained a major political and philosophical phenomenon until approximately 1800, had tremendous impact in the rise and triumph of democracy over monarchy. The Enlightenment was catalyzed by the persistent discourse of a number of philosophers and historians, one of the foremost of which was John Locke. The magnitude of change introduced by the Enlightenment is rendered more clearly when viewing that period in context of the preceding era—the Medieval Period, during which the rule of kings prevailed, sustained by an embedded religious institutions that qualified the lineages of kings for ruler ship through divine ordainment. The Church enjoyed considerable reciprocity from the crowns by doing so, because rulers recognized the equity that religion held in the minds of their “subjects”...
Words: 875 - Pages: 4
...disruption of the French Revolution. From the beginning, the French Revolution was built on conflicting ideas; men could act for their own self-interest, but not if that interest did not support the common benefit of everyone. Driven by this conflict, Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine were two specific English writers that engaged in this debate. With their argument specifically dealing with where the natural rights of men are derived from and the responsibilities of the government to their people. Having conservative views, Burke wanted to see change that respected tradition and happened slowly over time. He certainly did not want to see the state overthrown by the common man. In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke wanted to show his concern for the British people based on his reactions to the events in France. Thomas Paine responded to Burke’s theories with Rights of Man. Paine believed the monarchy was unnatural and evil, and the people had the right to take over a government like this at any given time. He saw the revolution as a change that developed a new state which represented the people, even ignoring or justifying the injustice of some of its actions. As the French revolution intensified with the execution of King Louis XVI and the Reign of Terror, Burke’s arguments proved more consistent than Paine’s. Edmund Burke’s interpretation of natural rights better represented the outcome of the French Revolution, ultimately being the factor that makes his argument more effective...
Words: 1441 - Pages: 6
...The French Revolution, which took place at the end of the 18th century, was perhaps the most significant revolution in history to date. Not only did it have an enormous impact on politics and social order within France but also across the European continent which was, at that period in history, the fulcrum of civilisation and modernity. A bitter dispute ensued about the French principles of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’. This essay intends to focus on the impact that the Revolution had on Britain at that time and we will reflect on the influence that literary writings had upon shaping Britain’s views of the revolution and its espoused ideals, and in turn the consequences that they would have on British society into the 19th century. Leading up to the beginning of the French Revolution political and social unrest was spreading in Britain. The country was divided on one argument: the rights of man. On one side of the argument were the radicals who strongly supported a new form of government, that of elective democracy. This group were countered by the loyalists who adamantly opposed such drastic changes and remained allegiant to the church and the monarchy. Loyalists vehemently opposed what they saw as the threat against traditional British values. The radicals were part of a post-enlightenment movement that believed citizenship and its right derived from natural human rights such as that of all men being allowed to take part in politic regardless of their status or background...
Words: 2495 - Pages: 10
...In the process of consolidating his position, Napoleon's Consulate Reforms betrayed the principles of the French Revolution" To what extent is this true? In napoleons consolidating section "he oversaw the development of a police state that Louis XVI could never had dreamed of" said Francois Furet. this was said to be achieved through a gradual increase in power through the series of reforms in which he would have completely changed the course of French History. Many of the key aspects of the french society which Napoleon reformed were for the Political, electoral systems as well as education, social, religious and financial. these reforms set out his path to his overall power being established, however this question also leads to the debate on wether he upheld the principles of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as people like Sutherland believes he has betrayed many of the principles with the majority of his reforms and as a result has betrayed the Revolutionary principles what the new republic were founded upon. Napoleon reformed key aspects of the French electoral and governmental systems in such a way that it lead many to believe he had betrayed the principles of the Revolution. One way in which people disagreed with that statement was because on the surface level the electoral reforms seemed to be a good thing, six million people were entitled to a vote, unlike the Ancien Regime, this promoted liberty and equality. Also another positive...
Words: 1955 - Pages: 8
...Introduction (Answer each question in three sentences.): What was the “Enlightenment”? What sort of things occurred during this time period? The “Enlightenment” was a movement that would transform an era of misery and exploitation (the European middle ages) to one of change and intellect. In this period people began to challenge authority, look towards new ideas, and aim for bettering their current lives rather than waiting for the afterlife. The “Enlightenment” not only brought new ways of thinking about government, social values and personal rights, but was the driving force behind action for change and rebellion against authorities. During the Industrial Revolution, for example, the impoverished workers educated themselves in order to be...
Words: 2251 - Pages: 10
...The English Revolution was a period of armed conflict and political turmoil between 1642 and 1660. This included the execution of the Charles 1st, the rise of the Commonwealth followed by the Protectorate under Cromwell and then the eventual restoration of the Monarchy. Richardson is correct to state that the events that occurred were “inherently controversial… momentous and far reaching” which are still debated today. This debate rages on whether these events can constitute a Revolution. It is dependent on what definition of the word Revolution is enacted. Historians such as Jeff Goodwin provide interpretations of what it means to have a Revolution, which shall be further explored, however what ultimately accounts is how the events and interpretations of the time fit into these interpretations. Ultimately there are two ways to look at Revolution, firstly there is the struggle or initial violent uprisings of the populous against the established state. The other way of looking at a revolution is to also examine the more long term changes or effects in the mind-set of the contemporise. In other words the changes in the way men think. Richardson pushes the idea of the initial struggle constituting a Revolution whereas others such as Hill believe that the long-term effects are more significant. Both arguments both valid against differing definitions of Revolution. Similarities between the French and English Revolutions will also provide a stark comparison of the English situation...
Words: 3214 - Pages: 13
...Societies, then and now, have expressed their concern of governmental control of human property, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However once these basic rights, have been tampered with, humans have a duty and right to revolt against terrene. In “The Two Treatises of Government”, John Locke made the claim that “men are by nature free and equal against claims that god had made all people naturally subject to a monarch.” (Locke, 2012) Locke uses that claim as part of the justification for understanding legitimate political government as the result of a social contract where people in the state of nature conditionally transferred some of their rights to the government in order to better ensure the stable, comfortable, enjoyment of...
Words: 2928 - Pages: 12
...Bonaparte was one of the most intelligent, power driven emperors in French history. During the French revolution, the people were at war with their government because the peasants overthrew every form of government that was made. Peasants were getting tired of social classes and being taxed so heavily. During this time, the reign of terror had begun. The reign of terror was made of radicals (a group of peasants) who killed people who did not agree with the revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor which ends the French revolution. Napoleon was a hero to the citizens of France because he did great things for their country. The way Napoleon used the power he had and gained more embodies the ideals of the French revolution because he did everything in his power to make things fair. Napoleon embodies the ideals of the French revolution because of his treatment towards the peasants. After the French revolution, Napoleon wanted to give more rights to peasants in other countries. For example, Napoleon issues an imperial decree in Spain that outlaws feudal rights (document 2). To give the peasants more land, the number of convents in Spain are eliminated. Napoleon also wanted the peasants to be taxed less so he made it illegal to tax imports with in Spain (document 2). Napoleon wanted to...
Words: 592 - Pages: 3
...it is necessary to realize this much: first, that this book functions in connection with two intellectual communities alongside which it organically emerges; second, that rather than merely mentioning it, this aspect ought to be taken to its logical conclusion. As Glick remarks (52), the main communities with which this book establishes an interlocution are the Pan-Africanist struggles in London against Italy’s fascist inroads in Ethiopia and a certain school of renowned French socialist scholars (Michelet, Lefebvre, Aulard, Mathiez, and Jaures). As regards the former, Buhle points out to the fundamental role The Black Jacobins was meant to play in the African Revolution:...
Words: 1467 - Pages: 6
...Instructor: Christopher Davies The enlightenment of the 18th century brought about new ways for religions and politics for the French Revolution. With the new ideas would help impact the French Revolution from 1789 to 1799. The enlightenment ideas about religion and society shaped the policies of the French Revolution. “The constant arrival of ships meant that ideas from Europe also traveled across the ocean, including those from Enlightenment thinkers and later revolutionary France. Some inhabitants of Saint Domingue embraced these ideas, but others reviled them. The grandsblancs especially became concerned when certain Enlightenment thinkers attacked slavery. They also disliked the emphasis on the rights and freedoms of the middle class, represented on Saint Domingue by the petitsblancs and gens de couleur. The petitsblancs, meanwhile, welcomed idealistic notions of justice and freedom because they resented the aristocratic dominance of the grandsblancs.” Getz, T.R. & Brooke, J.E. (2012). World history: The human experience from 1500. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. There were a lot of impacts related to the French Revolution as for political, social and culture. The political impacts that were related to the French Revolution are the political ideologies Nationalism and socialism. French nationalism, and nationalism as such, paradoxical in four ways. In their conception, nations often arise from states; in France, monarchs first...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
...The impact of the French Revolution on the twentieth century totalitarian systems. by Kinga K. Krajewska The French Revolution is one of the most significant events of the modern era. Not only has it changed a countenance of France, but it has also considerably affected the further history of Europe and the world. Nevertheless, the essence of its significance raises controversy among scholars. In a long tradition of historiography of the French Revolution there can be extracted several major concepts: the liberal approach represented by historians such as Alexis de Tocqeville or Francois Mignet, the Classic or Marxist interpretation, which considers the French upheaval as a 'bourgeois' revolution, and the Revisionism. The last-named has abolished the myth of the social interpretation and has brought a new conception of the Revolution as highly political. Probably the most influential revisionist work on the French Revolution is Francuas Furet's Penser la Revolution francaise (1978; English translation- Interpreting the French Revolution, 1981). It assumes the revolutionary events as remarkably anti-democratic and emphasises its connection with the totalitarian systems. The book has stated quite an innovative thesis, which has become an object of evaluation for both academics and the general public. Thus, this essay is to demonstrate the impact of the Revolution on the totalitarianism of the twentieth century and to indicate the major similarities as well as their...
Words: 1546 - Pages: 7
...In this essay, I will be tracing the development of the French Revolution and its impact by examining the following four phases (all of which led to the development of the other), Constitutional Monarchy/The National Assembly (1789-1791), The Reign of Terror (1792-1794), The Directory (1795-1799), and The Age of Napoleon (1799-1815). In this essay I argue that the French Revolution was caused by the worsening condition of the French monarchy, economic depression, and New Ideas of the Enlightenment Movement and the French Revolution resulted in radical social, economic, and political change throughout France. A Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a king or queen acts as Head of State. The ability to make and pass...
Words: 1537 - Pages: 7
...an extract from the pamphlet labelled ‘What is the Third Estate?’ written by the French clergyman Abbé Sieyés which was published in January 1789. The author, Sieyés, was elected as a representative of the Third Estate when the Estates-General were met in May 1789. It can, therefore, be argued that the source is useful to historians studying the significance of 1789 owing to the fact that it embodies the views of the Third Estate even if it is propaganda. In addition to this, it is important to mention that Source A is published in January 1789 when revolutionary ideologies were swiftly spreading across the country as a result of the King’s declaration in August 1788 that the Estates-General would meet which is often considered by historians to have been a factor of the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 as it made members of the public believe change was possible. To an historian, the arguments presented by Sieyés in the source itself are both relevant and useful to develop a greater understanding of the significance of 1789 owing to the fact that it presents the frustrations and the requirements the Third Estate. Sieyés use of the question and answer combination featured in the pamphlet of ‘What is the Third Estate? – Everything’ presents the argument that those who make up the Third Estate i.e. the menu peuple are the nation itself. This can be supported by the known fact that they represented approximately 98 per cent of the French population. It can be useful to an historian...
Words: 1983 - Pages: 8
...Napoleon, after the French Revolution ends, takes power of the French state and becomes emperor of France. The people are fine with this because Napoleon is conquering many foreign lands across Europe and even many other parts of the world. He becomes too powerful in his quest for world domination, and the French and many other countries do not like the amount of power this one man has. Also, before this time Oliver Cromwell had deemed himself “consul for life” of England, and that also upset the people, and the others feel as if Napoleon is becoming like Cromwell maybe even worse. The people decided and feel that the absolute power of one man creates problems for everyone including the nobility and clergy. As a result, the Congress of Vienna is formed, consisting of many countries in Europe, they are created to make sure that in the future not one single monarch or country can control more than they should. Also, the people overthrew The Directory, because it was a strong dictatorship and failed at efforts to establish stable representative government. The Enlightenment ideas were tested and proved to be hazardous for the French, and that is what overall caused the challenging of these...
Words: 1658 - Pages: 7
...texts illuminate aspects of this title in a though-provoking way. In your argument refer closely to TWO of your prescribed texts and other texts of your own choosing Romanticism developed during the late 17th century in Europe, at a time in history when people were beginning to question society and their place within the world. The French and American revolutions represented a universal atmosphere of social tumult in which previously accepted social and political structures were becoming increasingly challenged. The French Revolution was influenced by Romantic ways of thinking such as what it means to achieve liberty for the individual. The romantic exploration of liberty for the individual through a connection to nature, imagination and spirituality through the sublime are represented in both Coleridge's poem Kubla Kahn and Keat’s “Ode to a Nightingale”. These romantic views were a direct reaction from the art of the enlightenment era as explored in the 1768 painting of Agrippina Landing at Brundisium, emotional stoicism is represented as being a model for morality in society. Revolutionary questioning of the fundamental nature of humanity and change for women was explored in Mary Wollstonecraft's text "A vindication in the rights of women". The 1768 painting by Benjamin West of Agrippina landing at Brundisium depicts the qualities of the Enlightenment that the romantics rebelled against. The neoclassical painting was popular during the enlightenment as it stressed...
Words: 1142 - Pages: 5
