The French
Revolution was certainly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, but it is important to
understand that it was in no way its cause. The French Revolution started as a peasant revolt in
the face of abuses by the nobility and the threat of famine.
That being said,
we can still examine how the revolution and its immediate aftermath were shaped by the
Enlightenment. Throughout the period, philosophers such as Locke, Rousseau, Beccaria,
Montesquieu, and Voltaire expounded ideas that were contrary to the political and social
landscape of pre-revolution France. They drew up models based on social contracts and rule
according to the will of the populace that ran counter to the system of absolute French monarchs
and the privileged aristocracy. Taken together, this painted a rough blueprint of what a
republic might look like. Indeed, the young United States had already been established according
to these ideas of the Enlightenment and provided further inspiration to the French
revolutionaries.
It should be pointed out that although they espoused ideas
that would inform the creation of the Republic of France, not all the Enlightenment thinkers
advocated for the complete end of the monarchy. Voltaire, in particular, held great reservations
about the general populace being intelligent enough to govern themselves. However, Voltaire's
notions of rationalism over blind religious adherence did much to shape how the Catholic Church
was restructured after the revolution.
Where we see the ideas of the
Enlightenment most clearly is in the works and influence of Emmanuel Joseph Siey¨s. Siey¨s was
heavily influenced by Rousseau and argued that the French Third Estate basically represented the
will of the populace since it composed nearly all of it. He argued that a representative
government would be the best way to employ the will of the people in government. It is largely
through his influence that the French National Assembly was established.
Furthermore, the philosophers of the Enlightenment, particularly Locke, argued that all
people have certain natural rights and that it is a government's job to protect these rights.
Also, Beccaria posited that criminal punishments should never be brutal and excessive. If you
examine the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, you will find many of Locke and
Beccaria's notions enshrined in this founding French document.
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