Rallying Change
Words and ideas become action driving the French Revolution
Instead of just complaining amongst themselves, French citizens took up a battle cry to create change in government and society.
The resounding cry of the French revolution, liberté, egalité, and fraternité: freedom, equality and brotherhood, began in whispers in private societies. The cry became a roar of unity against political, social and religious injustice.
From the time of Cardinal Richelieu, France was an absolute monarchy. The King controlled religion, politics and society by divine right, believed to be the will of God and God’s representative on earth. In 1788, King Louis XVI called for a national assembly, the lawmaking body with representatives from the three classes, the nobility, the clergy and the third estate (the commoners). The National Assembly had not met since 1614 but this change was too late. Just as America demanded of England no taxation without representation, the third estate wanted fair representation proportional to their numbers.
Taxation and natural disaster contributed to the growing poverty of French citizens. France was nearly bankrupt from participating in wars and the nobility refused to increase their portion of taxes. The ruling class passed legislation to further tax the already suffering commoners. Food crops were damaged by hail, followed by a draught and then a winter of extreme cold. These conditions made produce and wheat flour a precious and expensive commodity. Bread was the main part of the diet for three fourths of the population. People stood in long breadlines at the bakeries to buy bread. If they had no money, they went without food, tummies growling. Unlike the average citizen the nobility lived quite well and could afford meats, oysters and desserts like cake.
For the resulting terror, blame has been placed on a variety of groups and individuals - power hungry revolutionaries, church leaders, the nobility, literary societies and freemasons, but not one group was completely responsible. The fury that swept across France on a tide of blood with not one person safe from the deluge was for freedom: who had it, who wanted it and what actions the citizens were willing to accept to achieve it.
Before the revolution, literary societies met in salons (living rooms) often run by women called salonnieres. They would begin with a topic, someone would present ideas and the others would discuss and expand on the idea. These clubs did not limit their discussions to literary thought; they discussed politics with the idea to promote change.
Personal ambition led Maximilien Robespierre to become the primary leader of the revolution. Through community events he gained citizen support. He distracted them from political issues by creating a unity for the cause. He became a leader and icon who for a while the citizens followed without thinking, because his ideas would help them get what they wanted. He used fraternité to his advantage.
The Jacobin club came together as a small radical group from Breton. They rented a hall in the Dominican monastery and took their name from the hall where they met. The club started with a reunion in a café of deputies to the estates general and then patriots joined them after the National Assembly moved to Paris.
During the early years of the revolution, The Jacobin clubs forced change by discussing important issues before a vote in the national assembly to gain support. The Jacobins became a nationwide organization to influence elections and spread Robespierre’s ideas. Club leaders and members discussed and tried to force a vote in a certain direction, like today’s lobbyists, until the vote was finished. Then they moved on to the next issue. The Jacobin club met in bars to appeal to the working class.
Freemasonry began in England in the 1600s. Some of the early revolutionary leaders, Robespierre, duc d’Orleans, Mirabeau and Danton were members. The duc d’Orleans, Philippe Chartres joined this secret society that advanced human rights and knowledge, a place where ideas could be explored in a tolerant environment that accepted the tenets of humane treatment, intellectual growth and the kinship of all men. He took an oath that included accepting all men as equal. He changed his name to Philippe Egalité and renounced his nobility.
An old saying states, "There is strength in numbers." The citizens of France were able to force change by talking to each other and through the might of the population. Early revolutionary leaders declared that the monarchy and nobility were the root problem. These leaders sought power and chose to use the words of change to their advantage, some were simply grasping power they had been thus far denied and others had sinister motives that demanded the shedding of blood. Someone had to pay for the past and present inequalities and in the end no French Citizen was exempt.
The revolution did not stop once the citizens seized power. The new Republican government encouraged neighbors to accuse people who did not support the republic. If a citizen failed to wear the red, white and blue tricolor they risked being judged as a supporter of the nobility and therefore an enemy of the state and executed at the guillotine. For disagreeing with Robespierre or other leaders, a citizen could meet the same fate.
The revolution provided an opportunity for the citizen to belong to something greater and become something greater than they could accomplish alone: freedom, equality and brotherhood.
