The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

NOBILITY

That in case the States General determine that provisional detention may be necessary at times, it ought to be ordained that every person so arrested shall be delivered, within twenty-four hours into the hand of appropriate judges, to be judged with the least possible delay, in conformity with the laws of the kingdom; that evocations be abolished, and that no extraordinary commission be established in any instance; finally that no person be deprived of his position, civil or military, without judgment in due form.

Since individual liberty is a right equally sacred for citizens of all ranks and classes, without distinction or precedence, the States General are invited to interest themselves in the suppression of all forced service in the militia and of acts of authority which involve the violation of personal rights, and which are the more intolerable in a century of intelligence, when it is possible to accomplish the same end with less oppressive means. The application of these principles ought to suffer exception only in the case of an urgent necessity, when the safety of the country is at stake, in which case the extent of the executive power should be enlarged.

From the right of personal liberty arises the right to write, to think, to print and to publish, with the names of authors and publishers, all kinds of complaints and reflections upon public and private affairs, limited by the right of every citizen to seek in the established courts legal redress against author or publisher, in case of defamation or injury; limited also by all restrictions which the States General may see fit to impose in that which concerns morals and religion.

According to this principle, which has been solemnly recognized by the king, no tax, real or personal, direct or indirect, nor any contribution whatsoever, under whatsoever name or form, may be established except with the consent and free and voluntary approval of the nation. Nor may said power of consenting to a tax be transferred or delegated by the nation to any magistracy or other body, or exercised by the provincial estates nor by the provincial, city or communal assemblies: superior and inferior courts shall be especially charged to attend to the execution of this article, and to prosecute as exactors those who may undertake to levy a tax which has not received the proper sanction.

All public loans are, properly speaking, taxes in disguise, since the property of the kingdom is affected and hypothecated for the payment of capital and interest. Therefore no loan, under whatsoever form or denomination, may be effected without the consent and will of the nation assmembled.

Since the greater number of the taxes and imposts established up to this time have not received the sanction of the nation, the first business of the assembled estates will be to abolish all without exception; at the same time, in order to avoid the inconvenience resulting from an interruption in the payment of interest on the public debt and the expenses of government, the nation assembled, by virtue of the same authority, shall re-establish them, collecting them under a title of a free gift during the session of the States General and up to the time when they shall have established such other taxes as may seem to them desirable.

A tax is no other thing than a voluntary sacrifice which each person makes of his particular property in favor of the public power, which protects and guarantees all. It is therefore evident that the tax ought to be proportioned to the interest which each has in preserving his [Page 11] property, and consequently to the value of this property. In accordance with this principle the nobility of the bailliage of Blois believes itself in duty bound to lay at the feet of the nation all the pecuniary exemptions which it has enjoyed or might have enjoyed up to this time, and it offers to contribute to the public needs in proportion with other citizens, upon condition that the names of taille and corvee be suppressed and all direct taxes be comprised in a single land tax in money.

The nobility of the bailliage of Blois, in making this surrender of its ancient privileges, has been unable to suppress a sentiment of interest in favor of that portion of the nobility which a modest fortune confines to the rural districts. It believes that a proprietor, who fulfils the obligation of his heritage, spreads about him prosperity and happiness; that the efforts he makes to increase his revenues increase at the same time the mass of the agricultural products of the realm; that the country districts are covered with chateaux and manors, formerly inhabited by the French nobility, but to-day abandoned; that a great public interest would be subserved by inducing proprietors to seek again, so far as possible, their interests in the country.

Animated by these motives we believe that it is our duty to solicit the especial protection of the States General in favor of that respectable portion of the nation which divides its time between the culture of the fields and the defence of the state; and we hope that means will be found to reconcile that which is due to their interests and needs with the absolute renunciation which is about to be made of the pecuniary exemptions of nobility.

If, as has been said, a tax is the price paid for the protection which government accords to property, it follows that all property which the government protects ought to be subject to the tax; that the tax, as a necessary consequence, ought to affect incomes from bonds and interest upon the royal funds in the same proportion as land.

It is useless to urge that such an extension of the tax would be a violation of the public faith: property in bonds is no more sacred than property in land: and if the nation can consent to a tax upon one it can also tax the other. The same contribution should be exacted from the emoluments derived from all financial positions and from all lucrative employments.

The order of nobility has no doubt that the national assembly will concern itself with the examination and reformation of that mass of [Page 12] taxes, the collection of which, thanks to the financial spirit which necessity has imparted to the administration, has been rendered intolerable to the people; such as the gabelle, the aides and others.

While awaiting the suppression of these taxes, their simplification, condensation, conversion or assessment by provinces, we ask that at least their collection be made less burdensome; that lists be drawn up and given to the public, in order that each may know the amount of his obligation; that over-assessments be avoided and abuses reformed.

Of these taxes certain ones have drawn our especial attention, as pro- ducing a very moderate contribution to the public treasury, while the inconvenience, the outlay, the expense of collection which they entail are out of proportion to the pecuniary advantages derived from them.

Of such a nature is the tax upon leather, a substance susceptible of contraction and expansion, which has given rise to frequent contentions, to accusations of false marks and to criminal processes.

The provincial assembly of Orleans has already declared against the collection of this tax, and has established the possibility of its conversion. This body has shown that the tax involves the ruin of the leather trade in France, and that we shall not be able, if the tax be continued, to compete with English leathers, either in price or quality.

1. That legal forms accompanying actions arising from the seizure and sale of property, administrations and creditors' mandates, and other actions in which a large number of persons are interested, shall be abridged and simplified;

2. That the file of notarial records shall be sacred; that they shall be placed, after an interval of time has elapsed, in a public place, where all citizens may have access to them;

3. That there shall be established in each rural parish, a court of reconciliation, composed of the seigneur, the parish priest and certain elderly men, for the purpose of amicably settling disputes and preventing suits at law.

A great nation, and especially a maritime nation like France, ought to regard its timber areas as national property, precious for its defence, not to be withdrawn from the control of the sovereign. It is the general opinion that a greater advantage is derived from cutting the young timber than from allowing it to grow to maturity; that the longer this is delayed, the greater is the loss: the desire for enjoyment is a natural sentiment, and common to all mankind; no one will interest himself in a kind of wealth, which will have a real value only in the fifth generation [Page 16] Legal exemptions, government encouragement, possible means avail nothing against this instinct.

These reflections are sufficient to make it evident that it is necessary either to abandon the idea of protecting the old forests of France, or to put them under the safeguard of the nation. The nobility of the bailliage of Blois is of the opinion that all idea of selling or alienating the royal forests ought to be abandoned, and that every attempt of this nature is to be regarded as a public evil.

If then from the property which forms the body of the king's domain the forests, which form a considerable part, be withdrawn, together with that portion already alienated, of which it would perhaps be impossible to regain possession, or the resumption of which would be disadvantageous, the remaining portion subject to sale would afford only a meagre resource and would bear no proportion to the deficit which it is a question of reducing.

As a result of these considerations the nobility of the bailliage of Blois is persuaded that in case the States General determine to abandon the principle of the inalienability of the domain, it would be unnecessary to hasten the sale. A large portion of this property has not been brought up to its real value, and it is important, before it is sold, that an effort should be made to improve its condition. We shall limit ourselves then to the request, that at this first session of the States General transactions in respect to the king's domain be subjected to more rigorous conditions; that no disposition be made of the domain until the provincial estates have been consulted, and that final action be reserved for the approbation of the following session of the States General; and that in respect to financial operations and exchanges which have been begun, but not yet confirmed and legally completed, nor appraisement made, revision shall be reserved for the next States General. Moreover, in the matter of the forest of Russy, the complaint of the nobility of Belzois and the memorial in reply of Baron d'Espagnac, together with the documents relative thereto, shall be turned over to the deputies, with instructions to put them into the hands of the States General.

We shall also remark that, while awaiting a definite policy in regard to the alienation of the domain and the management of the forests, it is desirable that their control should be entrusted to a permanent administration, resident in the provinces, whose interests must be identical with the king's, and that all these qualifications are found eminently united in the provincial estates. This new form of administration would [Page 17] be more economical, insomuch at it would allow the suppression of the offices of inspector of waters and forests, and a part of the present dominical administration.

They should reduce expenditures, in each department, to that which is absolutely indispensable. They should demand the abolition of all useless offices, posts and places, especially those which require neither function nor residence; they should reduce all appointments, salaries, rewards, pensions and gratuities which they deem excessive. They should make public the list of pensions; they should inquire into the motives which have actuated their concession; finally, they should not attempt to reduce the deficit by increased taxation, until they have exhausted all means of restoring a balance by measures of economy.

They should adopt most stringent regulations, to the end that the sums voted for the expenses of each department shall in no case be exceeded; that accounts shall be promptly rendered; that all shall be subjected to the same rules and formalities, and that no expenditure shall be made upon the authority of a simple order in council.

In order to quiet still further the apprehension of national creditors, and to establish confidence upon an indestructible basis, the repayments of the capital and interest of the public debt should no longer be made from the royal treasury, but from the treasury of the nation: a portion of the public revenue should be set aside month by month, so that payments may never be deferred, and then it may be truly said that the national debt is consolidated.

They should cause to be printed lists of pensions, gratuities and special gifts, with details of the motives occasioning them. These lists should be revised every year and published as above, together with a general and detailed account of the finances, receipts and expenditures of the year.

The minister of finance should be held accountable, either to the States General, or to the court which this body may select, for the disbursement of all funds turned into the national treasury: the min- isters of other departments should be held equally responsible for funds received by them, and they should be held responsible to the States General for their administration, in all that relates to the laws of the kingdom.

The principal assistance which agriculture awaits at this moment from the representatives of the nation is as follows:

1. Absolute freedom in the sale and circulation of grain and produce;

2. A regulation favoring the redemption of socome and other burdensome taxes, the drainage of swamps, the division of communal lands;

3. Government encouragement in the production of better grades of wool and in the breeding of cattle;

[Page 20] 4. Abolition of sealers of weights and measures;

5. Establishments for weaving, for the manufacture of the coarser fabrics in the villages, to give employment to the country people during the idle period of the year;

6. Better facilities for the education of children; elementary, text-books, adapted to their capacity, where the rights of man and the social duties shall be clearly set forth;

7. More expert surgeons and experienced midwives, etc.

Art 7. The nobility of the bailliage of Blois, in commencing the composition of these instructions, had nothing further in view than the tracing of a plan of constitution most conformable to the principles of monarchy, and most likely to ensure to the nation the free exercise of its legitimate rights; we proposed, moreover, to confine ourselves to general considerations. The great number of suggestions and memorials, however, which have been sent in by various members of the order during the progress of our labors, has gradually diverted us from our earlier plan, and it seems to us desirable to include a number of felicitous ideas and important reflections, which do honor to the knowledge and patriotic spirit of their originators. Fearing, however, that they might lose somewhat of their original force or be inadequately developed in our presentation, we have determined that the original memorials themselves should be turned over to the deputies. The leading ideas which we have extracted from these writings, and which we have determined to incorporate in our demands, are the following:

1. The augmentation, out of the funds of the clergy, of the salary of parish priests with minimum dotation, the greater part of whom are in a state bordering so close upon poverty that they often share in the misery of the country people, without being able to relieve it.

[Page 21] 2. That the law exempting from the payment of taille each rural inhabitant who has twelve children be re-enacted, and in case of the total suppression of the taille some equivalent compensation be made.

3. Throughout the whole kingdom there should be but one code of laws, one system of weights and measures.

4. That a commission be established composed of the most eminent, men of letters of the capital and provinces, and citizens of all orders, to formulate a plan of national education for the benefit of all classes of society; and for the purpose of revising elementary text-book.

5. That all customs duties collected in the interior of the kingdom be abolished, and all custom-houses, offices and customs barriers be removed to the frontier.

6. That rank, power or credit shall not be permitted to avert the rigors of the law in the case of fraudulent bankruptcies, and that the custom of issuing writs of suspension be done away with, at least until they have been demanded by the creditors themselves.

7. That any bill signed by a nobleman be declared a bill of honor.

8. That the troops be employed upon the highways and public works.

9. That there be established in country parishes, at the expense of seigneurs who demand it, retreats for disabled soldiers, for which the king shall furnish only the clothing.

10. That the law prohibiting all persons not noble from carrying arms be put in force, and that precautions be taken to assure its execution.

11. That the mounted police be increased, and that projects which have been advanced looking to an establishment of foot brigades be considered.

With regard to all that concerns public charities, mendicancy, hospitals, foundling asylums and other benevolent institutions, the assembly of the nobility recognizes their importance, but considers itself not in duty bound to take them into consideration, since they are more especially within the jurisdiction of the provincial estates.

Art. 8. Up to this point we have merely indicated the abuses which have accumulated in France during a long succession of centuries; we have made it evident that the rights of citizens have been abridged by a multitude of laws which attack property, liberty and personal safety.

That the States General about to assemble shall be permanent and shall not be dissolved until the constitution be established; but in case the labors connected with the establishment of the constitution be prolonged beyond a space of two years, the assembly shall be reorganized with new deputies freely and regularly elected.

That a fundamental and constitutional law shall assure forever the periodical assembly of the States General at frequent intervals, in such manner that they may assemble and organize themselves at a fixed time and place, without the concurrence of any act emanating from the executive power.

That the legislative power shall reside exclusively in the assembly of the nation, under the sanction of the king, and shall not be exercised by any intermediate body during the recess of the States General.

That the king shall enjoy the full extent of executive power necessary to insure the execution of the laws; but that he shall not be able in any event to modify the laws without the consent of the nation.

That the form of the military oath shall be changed, and the troops promise obedience and fidelity to the king and the nation.

That taxes may not be imposed without the consent of the nation; that taxes may be granted only for a specified time, and for no longer than the next meeting of the States General.

CLERGY



After having observed that the clergy have never enjoyed other privileges in the imposition of taxes than those which were anciently common to all orders of the state, the clergy of the bailliage of Blois declare that for the future they desire to sustain the burden of taxation [Page 4] in common with.other subjects of the king. They believe that it will be necessary for the States General, in order to bring within reasonable limits the burden of taxation, which has become excessive, to ascertain accurately the state of finances, together with the amounts of income and expenditure, and that an effort should be made to restrict the expenses of the court and of all departments, in so far as the needs of the state and the splendor of the nation will permit, and to fix the interest upon the state debt at a moderate rate, which is just, since the nation itself guarantees the payment.

To render all ministers and other persons charged with the management of finances responsible with their persons and property for their administration; to confide this administration, in so far as possible, to councils, bureaux or associations, rather than to private individuals, who are more easily deceived and seduced; to fix the bases for gen- ew and special assessment; to simplify the collection of taxes, and to fix upon wise and patriotic means, which, while assuring the payment into the royal treasury of the last penny due, shall insure protection for the people against those persecutions which are ruinous to the Public welfare.

The reforms which we judge most necessary in the matter of taxes, and which we particularly recommend to His Majesty's attention, are the following:

1. In the gabelles and aides, which ought to be suppressed, or placed, if need be, with a tax less burdensome;

2. In customs duties, which we desire to see restricted to the frontier;

3. In registry fees, which have grown to an exorbitant figure. The irregularity of these charges subjects citizens to frequent contentions;

4. It is desirable to lessen the disadvantage under which poor country people labor in securing justice in the matter of over-taxation and malversations, on account of the considerable advances which they have to make in order to bring the matter to an issue;

5. The shifting of certain taxes might bring them to bear upon various articles of luxury, and especially upon unnecessary articles of domestic use.

The best interests of the kingdom, which His Majesty will never cease to regard, seem to us to demand the following:

1. That no tax shall be laid without the consent of the nation;

2. That the king shall resume possession of all portions of the [Page 5] domain which have been illegally alienated, and even of those portions whose alienation, although accompanied with the forms of law, has nevertheless worked a manifest injury to the royal interests;

3. That the domain shall be declared inalienable for the future;

4. That the collectors of the tax of the centieme denier, due upon collateral successions, donations, etc., shall be obliged to give notice gratis for at least a month before the expiration of the term of payment;

5. That franc-fiefs shall be suppressed as useless and burdensome;

6. That the taxes approved by the States General shall be laid for a limited time only, subject to whatever arrangement may be made for the convocation of future States General.

Justice

1. To divide the too extensive jurisdiction of the sovereign courts;

2. To complete the number of judges in each bailliage, in order that sessions may be held with greater regularity;

3. To suppress all judges of exceptional courts;

4. To suppress all seignorial courts in cases where a justice and necessary officials have not been retained and salaried by the seigneurs;

5. To authorize vassals to refuse the jurisdiction of their seigneurs in suits against the said seigneurs;

6. To establish in the principal rural places justices of the peace for the trial of minor cases;

7. To do away with the sale of judicial and magisterial offices;

8. To ordain that these offices shall not be conferred except with the consent of that portion of the nation over which these judges and magistrates are to be placed;

9. To simplify the forms of justice by reducing costs, by accelerating procedure and by suppressing judges' fees;

10. To reform the civil and criminal codes and to diminish the number of customary codes which prevail in various parts of the kingdom, in order to hasten the day, if possible, when there shall be but one national code;

[Page 6] To ordain that authorization shall not be given by the bureau of mortgages until two months after the notice of foreclosure, which notice shall be given at the close of the parish mass, as well at the place where the property is situated, as at the residence of the vendor, and that the bailiff be compelled to obtain the signatures of two residents of each parish upon his proof of service;

11. To abolish the offices of appraiser, vendor of chattels, receivers of consignment, etc., as involving useless costs.

Nobility

1. The great number of serious abuses which the right of the chase entails upon agriculturists, and the annoyances caused them by game keepers;

2. The evils which result from the right of open warren;

3. The importance of the regulations concerning pigeon-houses, which have almost ceased to be observed;

4. The injustice of depriving the inhabitants of lands adjacent to forests, as has been done in many localities, of the right of pasture, and other rights, which have been accorded them on various accounts.

Commerce

1. To take the most effectual means of preventing bankruptcies;

2. To fix a term, after which prisoners for debt may recover their liberty;

3. To interest himself in ameliorating the condition of negroes in the colonies.

Education

1. That public instruction shall be absolutely gratuitous, as well in the universities as in the provincial schools;

2. That the provincial colleges shall be entrusted by preference to the corporations of the regular clergy;

3. That many corporations of the regular clergy, which at present are not occupied with the instruction of youth, shall apply themselves to this work, and thereby render themselves more useful to the state;

4. That in towns too small to support a college there shall be at least one or more masters, according to the importance of the place, who shall be able to teach the principles of Latinity or the humanities, and that their salaries shall be sufficient to allow of absolutely gratuitous instruction;

5. That this instruction shall be under the supervision of the parish priests and municipal officers;

6. That each candidate seeking permission to teach shall be obliged to produce proofs of correct life and habits, and give evidence of his capacity in an examination before the principal and professors of the nearest college.

7. That masters of schools shall not employ as assistants persons from other localities, unless such persons shall have pursued the same vocation for at least two years in the place where they have studied, and shall be furnished with references and recognized as competent by means of an examination, as above indicated; That, for the purpose of facilitating the education of girls, communities of religious women, whatever may be their institution, shall be obliged to open free public schools for girls under the supervision of the parish priests.

Reform Ideas:

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:

Articles:

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.

14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.

15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.

Problems Facing France:

1. Wealth and power are distributed unequally. (Social/Political) The nobility and clergy together owned 30% of the land even though they were 2% of the population. The king was an absolute monarch. Civil rights do not exist.

2. Severe economic problems exist. (Economic) The tax system allowed the Church to collect the tithe from everyone. Nobles collected taxes in money and kind from their estate workers. Tax farming was practiced. The nobles and clergy paid very few taxes. The vast majority of tax money came from the peasants and middle class. Commoners paid the salt tax and the corvee. France was bankrupt because of extravagant court spending. For three years before the revolution there were bad harvests resulting in inflation and food shortages.

3. A group of intellectuals criticizes the government (opposing sides) The philosophers of the Enlightenment criticized the government of France. They wanted advancement based on merit, civil liberties, and a democratic constitution.

4. The government uses its power to maintain things as they are and repress dissents such as protect action and literature. The"lettre do cachet"was used to arrest people without a charge.

5. The classes of people are in conflict, and the most ambitious are blocked from gaining power. The middle class intellectuals who believed in the ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers wanted a voice in running the country. They resented nobility because of taxation. Only members of the nobility could hold high government, military, or church offices.

6. Different groups may want different changes. Many intellectuals wanted France to be a constitutional representative monarch as England was. Other intellectual leaders wanted to get rid of the king and the nobility.

7. The people are able to obtain weapons in fairly large amounts. The mobs of Paris attacked the Hospital of the Invalids and obtained weapons.

8. There are ideals in which the people can believe that are worth fight. These ideals often stated in very simple terms such as slogan or war cry.

France was stricken by financial problems for over a century. The wars of Louis XIV caused debts who grew when wars were fought in the 18th century. These debts were not exceptional as Great Britain had the same debts. Why did these debts cause a bankruptcy in France but not in Great Britain? The cause laid in the tax system. In Britain everyone, clergy, nobles and citizens paid taxes. In France, where society was dominated by status, clergy and nobility were exempted from taxation. Because of this system government couldn't levy enough taxes to fill up the deficit. Citizens were upset because they were the thriving spirit of the nation. The nobles did nothing but were exempted. Peasants who had pieces of land just enough to feed themselves had the heaviest tax weight of all.

The second problem was food scarcity. Different crop failures in the 1780s caused these shortages, which of course led to high prices for bread. The peasants were double stricken by the economical and agricultural problems.

Under the reign of Louis XV and Louis XVI different ministers tried to tax the nobles. This measures encoutered much resistance from the parliaments (law courts), which were dominated by the nobility. When in 1788 all attempts were failed, the King decided to summon the Estates-General, the first since 1614, which would meet in May 1789. The King tried to make the Estates meet in a modern way but the parliaments decided that the Estates-General would meet in the same way as it met in 1614: in different chambers for every class. But society had changed. The bourgoisie had grown in the last 200 years and were the persons who had the money. Now they had the chance to seize the power they wanted to have.

This great city [Paris] appears to be in many respects the most ineligible and inconvenient for the residence of a person of small fortune of any that I have seen, and vastly inferior to London. The streets are very narrow, and many of them crowded, nine tenths dirty, and all without foot pavements. Walking, which in London is so pleasant and so clean that ladies do it every day, is here a toil and a fatigue to a man, and an impossibility to a well-dressed woman. The coaches are numerous, and, what is much worse, there are an infinity of one-horse cabriolets, which are driven by young men of fashion and their imitators, alike fools, with such rapidity as to be real nuisances, and render the streets exceedingly dangerous, without an incessant caution. I saw a poor child run over and probably killed, and have been myself many times blackened with the mud of the kennels. This beggarly practice, of driving a one-horse booby hutch about the streets of a great capital, flows either from poverty or wretched and despicable economy; nor is it possible to speak of it with too much severity. If young noblemen at London were to drive their chaises in streets without footways, as their brethren do at Paris, they would speedily and justly get very well threshed or rolled in the kennel. This circumstance renders Paris an [Page 375] ineligible residence for persons, particularly families that cannot afford to keep a coach, - a convenience which is as dear as at London. The fiacres - hackney coaches - are much worse than at that city; and chairs there are none, for they would be driven down in the streets. To this circumstance also it is owing that all persons of small or moderate fortune are forced to dress in black, with black stockings.

[July 12.]

Walking up a long hill to ease my mare, I was joined by a poor woman, who complained of the times, and that it was a sad country. Demanding her reasons, she said her husband had but a morsel of land, one cow, and a poor little horse, yet they had a franchar (forty-two pounds) of wheat and three chickens to pay as a quitrent to one seigneur; and four franchar of oats, one chicken, and one franc, to pay to another, besides very heavy tailles and other taxes. She had seven children, and the cow's milk helped to make the soup. ?But why, instead of a horse, do not you no keep another cow?" Oh, her husband could not carry his produce so well without a horse; and asses are little used in the country. It was said, at present, that something was to be done by some great folks for such poor ones, but she did not know who nor how, but God send us better, car les tailles et les droits nous ecrasent.



I have seen eighty, ninety, a hundred pieces of cotton or woollen stuff cut up, and completely destroyed. I have witnessed similar scenes every week for a number of years. I have seen manufactured goods confiscated; heavy fines laid on the manufacturers; some pieces of fabric were burnt in public places, and at the hours of market: others were fixed to the pillory, with the name of the manufacturer inscribed upon them, and he himself was threatened with the pillory, in case of a second offence. All this was done under my eyes, at Rouen, in conformity with existing regulations, or ministerial orders. What crime deserved so cruel a punishment? Some defects in the materials employed, or in the texture of the fabric, or even in some of the threads of the warp. I have frequently seen manufacturers visited by a band of satellites who put all in confusion in their establishments, spread terror in their families, cut the stuffs from the frames, tore off the warp from the looms, and carried them away as proofs of infringement; the manufacturers were summoned, tried, and condemned: their goods confiscated; copies of their judgment of confiscation posted up in every public place; fortune, reputation, credit, all was lost and destroyed. And for what offence? Because they had made of worsted, a kind of cloth called shag, such as the English used to manufacture, and even sell in France, while the French regulations stated that that kind of cloth should be made with mohair.

French Revolution

Essential Questions:

1. Which members of a society might be likely to support a revolution?

2. Why might a government threatened with revolution refuse to meet demands for change?

3. Why does conflict between citizens and their government sometimes lead to revolution rather than peaceful resolution of tension?

Instructional Objectives:

1. Students will be able to describe the problems faced by France in the late 1700's.

2. Students will be able to explain how the people of France pushed for reforms.

3. Students will know how to research a topic utilizing primary sources.

4. Students will be able to define terms related to the French Revolution.

5. Students will be able to interpret political cartoons of the French Revolution.

This great city [Paris] appears to be in many respects the most ineligible and inconvenient for the residence of a person of small fortune of any that I have seen, and vastly inferior to London. The streets are very narrow, and many of them crowded, nine tenths dirty, and all without foot pavements. Walking, which in London is so pleasant and so clean that ladies do it every day, is here a toil and a fatigue to a man, and an impossibility to a well-dressed woman. The coaches are numerous, and, what is much worse, there are an infinity of one-horse cabriolets, which are driven by young men of fashion and their imitators, alike fools, with such rapidity as to be real nuisances, and render the streets exceedingly dangerous, without an incessant caution. I saw a poor child run over and probably killed, and have been myself many times blackened with the mud of the kennels. This beggarly practice, of driving a one-horse booby hutch about the streets of a great capital, flows either from poverty or wretched and despicable economy; nor is it possible to speak of it with too much severity. If young noblemen at London were to drive their chaises in streets without footways, as their brethren do at Paris, they would speedily and justly get very well threshed or rolled in the kennel. This circumstance renders Paris an [Page 375] ineligible residence for persons, particularly families that cannot afford to keep a coach, - a convenience which is as dear as at London. The fiacres - hackney coaches - are much worse than at that city; and chairs there are none, for they would be driven down in the streets. To this circumstance also it is owing that all persons of small or moderate fortune are forced to dress in black, with black stockings.

[July 12.] Walking up a long hill to ease my mare, I was joined by a poor woman, who complained of the times, and that it was a sad country. Demanding her reasons, she said her husband had but a morsel of land, one cow, and a poor little horse, yet they had a franchar (forty-two pounds) of wheat and three chickens to pay as a quitrent to one seigneur; and four franchar of oats, one chicken, and one franc, to pay to another, besides very heavy tailles and other taxes. She had seven children, and the cow's milk helped to make the soup. ?But why, instead of a horse, do not you no keep another cow?" Oh, her husband could not carry his produce so well without a horse; and asses are little used in the country. It was said, at present, that something was to be done by some great folks for such poor ones, but she did not know who nor how, but God send us better, car les tailles et les droits nous ecrasent.

I have seen eighty, ninety, a hundred pieces of cotton or woollen stuff cut up, and completely destroyed. I have witnessed similar scenes every week for a number of years. I have seen manufactured goods confiscated; heavy fines laid on the manufacturers; some pieces of fabric were burnt in public places, and at the hours of market: others were fixed to the pillory, with the name of the manufacturer inscribed upon them, and he himself was threatened with the pillory, in case of a second offence. All this was done under my eyes, at Rouen, in conformity with existing regulations, or ministerial orders. What crime deserved so cruel a punishment? Some defects in the materials employed, or in the texture of the fabric, or even in some of the threads of the warp. I have frequently seen manufacturers visited by a band of satellites who put all in confusion in their establishments, spread terror in their families, cut the stuffs from the frames, tore off the warp from the looms, and carried them away as proofs of infringement; the manufacturers were summoned, tried, and condemned: their goods confiscated; copies of their judgment of confiscation posted up in every public place; fortune, reputation, credit, all was lost and destroyed. And for what offence? Because they had made of worsted, a kind of cloth called shag, such as the English used to manufacture, and even sell in France, while the French regulations stated that that kind of cloth should be made with mohair.

Annotated List of Works Cited



Sophocles. Antigone. Great Britain: The Chaucer Press, 1947. A daughter of an incestuous couple defends the burial of her traitorous brother against the king of Thebes.

For centuries mankind has argued whether the laws of God (or the gods) or the government matter more, but few literary works debate it as well as Sophocles’ Antigone. The daughter of an incestuous couple vehemently defends the burial of her brother against her uncle, the king, Creon. In the midst of drama and dialogue, Sophocles reveals the pitfalls of pride and the powerful will of unseen forces.

Creon, on the side of the government, refuses to allow Polynices to be buried because the boy threatened to seize control of the Thebes and destroy its temples and people. He abuses his power to the point of saying to one of his own loyal sentries, “…either you find / The perpetrator of this burial / And bring him here to my sight, or death— / …You shall be racked and tortured till you tell” (134). Though the sentry commits no crime, and the crime in question is minor, Creon is enraged that anyone would disobey him and will use any method to capture the criminal. He also becomes deaf to the advice of his son and the chorus, as well as the sorrow of the city. When Teiresias tells him that all mortals sin, especially those governed by self-will, and warns Creon that his actions anger the gods, the king blatantly ignores the prophet’s words. Rather than see the folly of his obsession with neglecting Polynices’ burial, he becomes preoccupied with keeping his absolute power as king undiluted and his pride intact.

Antigone, on the side of the gods, breaks the law and gives her brother a humble, decent burial. During her trial, when Creon inquires about her action since the punishment is death, she declares, “I did not think your edicts strong enough / To overrule the unwritten unalterable laws / Of God and heaven, you being only a man” (138). She refuses to accept the implausible regulation Creon places over the city of Thebes, which forbids the sacred burial of her beloved sibling. Antigone, like many of the Greeks, believes that without the proper funeral rites, her brother’s soul will wander outside Hades for eternity or suffer a worse fate and the gods will unleash their wrath upon the city. However, despite her good intentions, pride consumes her and she all-too-willingly becomes a martyr, happily sacrificing herself, which will only lead to the death and despair of others.

Thanks to the arrogant actions of the ruler and the zealot, the gods become furious and the people close to the pair are affected horribly. The city loses the blessing of the gods as Teiresias forewarns Creon, “And why? The blight upon us is your doing. / …Our fires, our sacrifices, and our prayers / The gods abominate. How should the birds / Give any other than ill-omened voices, / Gorged with the dregs of blood that man has shed?” (153). If Creon only heeded the words of the blind prophet and others, he could have simply allowed the burial of Polynices and avoid the tragedies that befall him. If Antigone had only listened to the words of Ismene, to “At least be in secret. Do not breathe a word” (129), she might have avoided a miserable death in a godforsaken tomb. The pride of Creon and Antigone leads to the suicides of Haemon and Eurydice, guilt and loneliness gnawing away at Ismene, and the loss of the city’s faith in its king. Sophocles demonstrates that if the two had abandoned their arrogance, the gods and fate would not have so mercilessly destroyed the family and Thebes.

In his play, Antigone, Sophocles provides his own answer to the age-old question: should human obey God (or the gods) or the government? Through the actions of Antigone and Creon, Sophocles shows people should give respect towards both, but that they should also remember that the rule of immortals is greater than any mortal. Written with such deep thought from a man that lived before even Christ, Antigone has survived over two thousand years to continue to have its content debated upon in classrooms today.

II. Areas of Change

Radical Religion

During the time of the Enlightenment, the Catholic Church disbanded the Jesuits, who the philosophes regarded as too superstitious and had too much power in politics. Different forms of Christianity became tolerated in certain countries such as English and Austria, though usually for political gain and peace rather than moralistic appeal. Joseph II, the ruler of Austria, even allowed Jews—much hated at that time—to live without harsh taxes and have more employment opportunities. New forms of Christianity, such as Pietism and Methodism, arose in Germany, England, and other nations.

The most dynamic shift in religious attitude came in the form of Deism. Believers such as Voltaire and Denis Diderot explained that while God had constructed the universe and Jesus was a “good guy”, God turned a blind eye to people’s prayers and they didn’t put much faith in the idea of miracles. They didn’t accept the idea of original sin, thinking it conflicted with the idea of a benevolent deity and simplified it to the idea that there was a perfect God and an imperfect world. Any and all religions, Deists stated, could be reduced to worshipping a God and obeying a code of ethics.

Innovative Instruction

Philosophes wanted schools to teach more modern education (everyday vernacular, science, etc.) rather than ancient studies (Greek and Latin tongues, theology, etc.). Universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and other prestigious schools were under clerical control, but new academies like Leidan and Edinburgh based some of their education on philosophe viewpoints.

The most dedicated reformer for education was Rousseau with his novel, Emile, which emphasized experience over books. In the story, the boy learned such things as agriculture by working as a farm’s hand and geography by finding his way through the woods. The book was considered impractical, as no teacher could remain with any single student twenty-four/seven and Emile required his teacher even after he was married. However, teachers such as Johann Pestalozzi incorporated Rousseau’s ideas into areas like geography and the arts in experimental schools, and agreed with Rousseau that repetition and punishment shouldn’t be used to teach students.

Ecological Economics

Lead by Francois Quesnay, a group of nature-adoring philosophes called Physiocrats focused on the wealth of the land, not on bullion like mercantilists. They believed mercantilism was too excessive, as it placed extremely strict regulations on the economy. They believed that the state should not disrupt the natural flow of the economy, tax private property, have more than one tax, or levy high tariffs in their laissez-faire economics.

Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations, written by Adam Smith, went further into the fight against mercantilism. It stated that protecting home industries by decreasing number of imports was wrong. Rather than the government or the soil (as Physiocrats believed), Smith said that the health of the economy depended on the work of millers, farmers, and artisans. More lenience from the state would allow people to gain greater riches, which would in turn gain riches for their society. The government should only watch from a distance and act only if disagreements between industries broke out into vicious disputes.

Lenient Laws

Philosophes wanted justice to be efficient, but found the current punishments given to criminals appalling and cruel. While aristocrats simply faced a beheading, lower-class criminals were executed in far more brutal manners, such as being broken on the wheel (criminal would be placed on a wheel spread-eagled and have his limbs smashed by a club between the spokes) or drawn and quartered (criminal was hanged, disemboweled, beheaded, and had his limbs torn off by four horses tugging in different directions).

Essay on Crimes and Punishment, written by the Italian philosophe Cesare Beccaria, stated that there were three natural laws concerning justice. First, the punishment should make the criminal hesitant to commit another. Next, judges and juries should dole out justice swiftly after the criminal’s capture. Finally, punishments should be made certain, rather than severe. From his and others’ writings, society began to abandon capital punishment and use tactics such as lifetime imprisonment and rehabilitation for convicted criminals.

III. Main Enlightenment Leaders

Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)

In his younger years, he was famous for his talent as a playwright, especially for his personal favorite work, Henriade. However, one of his plays offended Chevalier de Rohan, forcing him to flee France. He traveled to England, where he became astounded by the freedoms displayed in religion, politics, and the press. He documented his observances in Philosophic Letters on the English, which contrasted the tolerance in Britain to the prejudices in France.

When he returned to his home country, he continued to argue against the religious intolerance in France, having become far more direct in his letters than he’d ever been in his plays. The most prominent case surrounding his influence was the trial of a Protestant man, Jean Calas, whom authorities claimed murdered his Catholic son. After the courts forced a confession from him through inhumane torture, he was executed. Voltaire complained about the flawed investigation, causing a public upheaval and the discovery that the boy had committed suicide. The man’s name was cleared and his family received a substantial amount of money. Voltaire continued to play a part in many other areas of religious intolerance in the French community.

Charles de Secondat (Montesquieu)

The philosophe wrote The Persian Letters, a work of fiction that recorded the travels of three Persians as they journey throughout Europe and ponder over its odd culture. They compared such people as the king to a magician and the pope to an idol, and said that the way to reach noble status was to have distinguished ancestors and sit on a chair. Through the book’s wit and humor, comparable to the modern day film Borat, the author criticized the civilization of France and pointed out that it required change through virtue and justice.

Later in life, he published The Spirit of the Laws that explained his idea on how each individual government was created by men’s physical needs and their social culture. It studied human adaptation for change and categorized governments, identified dominant virtues, and identified the need for a balance of power, as already established in England through the relationship between the monarch and Parliament. These studies would later take further effect in America as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others produced the U.S. Constitution.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Rousseau)

After being raised in the strict society of Calvinistic Geneva, Rousseau expressed his opinions in Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind. He speculated that before society existed, humans lived in peaceful harmony with nature, reaping only what they required from the land and understanding that the earth belonged to no one. That changed when a few humans established private property from others and formed laws and governors to protect their claims. However, instead of reverting back to the innocence of the wild, Rousseau said that government had become a necessary evil.

He later wrote two other books, one that hoped to connect human liberties to government authority and the other bringing about a new form of education. In The Social Contract, he believed that society itself was governed by the will of the people, so that people generally adhered to laws formatted by them in the first place. Emile stated that children should be taught through experience rather than books and Rousseau hoped to balance out reason and sentiment, which would later influence Romanticism.

What Is Enlightenment?



The word itself means, “to reach a state of intellectual or spiritual insight”, from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Beneath that statement, the dictionary applies it to a period in the 18th century when philosophers—loosely termed this—emphasized the use of reason to learn more about the world around them in area such as science. They rearranged the way people view and manage leadership, economics, justice, religion, and politics.



How Did a French Linguist Lead the Limited Minds?



Cultural leadership took on a new route during the Age of Enlightenment, under the wing of the French philosophe, Denis Diderot. He wrote and published a novel aptly titled Encyclopedie, which provided finely detailed prints of the construction and instructions of innovative machines processed by industries in that time period. It also elaborated on Diderot’s thoughts on acquiring knowledge, that people should gain it through scientific experimentation and reason.

However, it stirred controversy as parts of it attacked Christianity, as well as certain political ideas, which Diderot believed promoted senseless superstition and disparity. Church and aristocratic authorities attempted to have it banned from existence. Even the publishers tried to censor the ideas within its pages, understanding how easily the atheist’s ideas could offend the greater powers in France.



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