French Rev Documents

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Spring 1789: On the Eve of the Revolution

Documents for Journal Entry #1

Journal #1 - Spring 1789: On the Eve of the Revolution !

Source: Excerpt is adapted from Travels in France by Arthur Young, who traveled through France from 1787 to 1789.

In the south of France there is a taille [tax on the land and its produce]. There is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay. Lands held by the nobility are taxed very little. Lands held by commoners are taxed heavily...

September 5, 1788: The poor people seem very poor indeed. The children are terribly ragged. June 10, 1789: The lack of bread is terrible. Stories arrive every moment from the provinces of riots and disturbances, and calling in the military, to preserve the peace of the markets....The price of bread has risen above people’s ability to pay. This causes great misery.

July 1789: ....I was joined by a poor woman who complained of the hard times. “The tailles and feudal dues [rents owed the lords] are crushing us,” she said.


Source: These excerpts from cahiers (lists of grievances about the king, taxing, and voting in the Estates General) brought to the Estates General..

That the king be forced to reform the abuses and tyranny of letter de cachet.

That every tax.... Be granted [by the Estates General] only for a limited time.

That the taille [a tax on land] be borne equally by all classes....

The meetings of the Estates General.... Shall be scheduled for definite times....

In order to assure the third estate the influence it deserves because of its numbers... its votes in the assembly should be taken by head...


Source: Political Cartoon (1789)


Source: “King & Queen as a Two-Headed Monster” - Political Cartoon (1789)

October 1789: The Revolution Begins


Journal #2 - October 1789: The Revolution Begins !

Source: What is the Third Estate? Abbe de Sieyes (1789)

The plan of this pamphlet is very simple. We have three questions to ask: 1st. What is the third estate? Everything.

2nd. What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing.

3rd. What does it demand? To become something therein.

It is the strong and robust man whose one arm remains enchained, if the privileged order were abolished, the nation would not be something less but something more. Thus, what is the third estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed. What would it be without the privileged order? Everything; but an everything free and flourishing. Nothing can progress without it; everything would proceed infinitely better without the others. It is not sufficient to have demonstrated that the privileged classes, far from being useful to the nation, can only enfeeble and injure it; it is necessary, moreover, to prove that the nobility does not belong to the social organization at all; that, indeed, it may be a burden upon the nation, but that it would not know how to constitute a part thereof.

The third estate, then, comprises everything appertaining to the nation; and whatever is not the third estate may not be regarded as being of the nation. What is the third estate? Everything!


Source: “Tennis Court Oath” - Painting by Jacques Louis David (1791)


Source: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)

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 corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man....

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 natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of 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 the law.

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has the right to participate personally or through his representative, in its formation...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.

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.


Source: The Declaration of the Rights of Women (1791) Olympe de Gouges

Mothers, daughters, sisters, and representatives of the nation demand to be constituted into a national assembly. Believing that ignorance, omission, or scorn for the rights woman are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments, the women have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of woman in order that this declaration, constantly exposed before all the members of society, will ceaselessly remind them of their rights and duties.

1. Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights. Social distinctions can be based only on the common utility.

2. The purpose of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptable rights of woman and man; these rights are liberty, property, security, and especially resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially with the nation, which is nothing but the union of woman and man; no body and no individual can exercise any authority which does not come expressly from it [the nation].

6. The law must be the expression of the general will; all female and male citizens must contribute either personally or through their representatives to its formation; it must be the same for all: male and female citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, must be equally admitted to all honors, positions, and public employments according to their capacity and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents.

Women, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights. The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice, fanaticism, superstition, and lies. The flame of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation...


Source: The Fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) A Parisian Newspaper Account

First, the people tried to enter this fortress by the Rue St.-Antoine, this fortress, which no one has ever penetrated against the wishes of this frightful despotism and where the monster still resided. The treacherous governor had put out a flag of peace. So a confident advance was made; a detachment of French Guards, with perhaps five to six thousand armed bourgeois, penetrated the Bastille's outer courtyards, but as soon as some six hundred persons had passed over the first drawbridge, the bridge was raised and artillery fire mowed down several French Guards and some soldiers; the cannon fired on the town, and the people took fright; a large number of individuals were killed or wounded; but then they rallied and took shelter from the fire; ... meanwhile, they tried to locate some cannon; they attacked from the water's edge through the gardens of the arsenal, and from there made an orderly siege; they advanced from various directions, beneath a ceaseless round of fire. It was a terrible scene.... The fighting grew steadily more intense; the citizens had become hardened to the fire, from all directions they clambered onto the roofs or broke into the rooms; as soon as an enemy appeared among the turrets on the tower, he was fixed in the sights of a hundred guns and mown down in an instant; meanwhile cannon fire was hurriedly directed against the second drawbridge, which it pierced, breaking the chains; in vain did the cannon on the tower reply, for most people were sheltered from it; the fury was at its height; people bravely faced death and every danger; women, in their eagerness, helped us to the utmost; even the children, after the discharge of fire from the fortress, ran here and there picking up the bullets and shot; [and so the Bastille fell and the governor, De Launey, was captured].... Serene and blessed liberty, for the first time, has at last been introduced into this abode of horrors, this frightful refuge of monstrous despotism and its crimes.

Meanwhile, they get ready to march; they leave amidst an enormous crowd; the applause, the outbursts of joy, the insults, the oaths hurled at the treacherous prisoners of war; everything is confused; cries of vengeance and of pleasure issue from every heart; the conquerors, glorious and covered in honor, carry their arms and the spoils of the conquered, the flags of victory, the militia mingling with the soldiers of the fatherland, the victory laurels offered them from every side, all this created a frightening and splendid spectacle. On arriving at the square, the people, anxious to avenge themselves, allowed neither De Launey nor the other officers to reach the place of trial; they seized them from the hands of their conquerors, and trampled them underfoot one after the other. De Launey was struck by a thousand blows, his head was cut off and hoisted on the end of a pike with blood streaming down all sides.... This glorious day must amaze our enemies, and finally usher in for us the triumph of justice and liberty. In the evening, there were celebrations.


Source: Political Cartoon - Confiscation of Church Lands


Source: Decree Abolishing Feudalism, 1789

ARTICLE I. The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the feudal system. It decrees that, among the existing rights and dues, both feudal and censuel,all those originating in or representing real or personal serfdom shall be abolished without indemnification. All other dues are declared redeemable, the terms and mode of redemption to be fixed by the National Assembly. Those of the said dues which are not extinguished by this decree shall continue to be collected until indemnification shall take place.


Source: “A Versailles, A Versailles'', March of the Women on Versailles, Paris, 5th October 1789

January 1793: The End of the Monarchy


Journal #3 - January 1793: The End of the Monarchy !

Source: Louis XVI letter sent to the King of Prussia on December 3rd, 1791

!… I have just addressed myself to the [Holy Roman] Emperor, to the Empress of Russia, [and] to the Kings of Spain and Sweden, and have presented to them the idea of a congress of the principal powers of Europe, supported by an armed force, as the best method of checking the factious [turbulent or upsetting] influences here… and of preventing the evil which torments us from overcoming the other states of Europe. I hope your Majesty will approve my ideas [and] preserve the most absolute secrecy in the matter….


Source: The Brunswick Manifesto, July 28, 1792 (Duke of Brunswick). !The Brunswick Manifesto was a proclamation issued by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Allied Army (principally Austrian and Prussian), on August 1, 1792 to the population

of Paris, France during the War of the First Coalition.!

After having … committed against the sacred person of the King… outrages and violence… those who have usurped the reins of administration have finally filled the cup to overflowing by causing an unjust war to be declared against His Majesty the

Emperor, and by attacking his provinces situated in the Low Countries… To these noble interests [protecting the Germans] is added still another aim, equally important and very dear to the hearts of the two sovereigns’ to terminate anarchy in the interior of France, to check attacks on the Throne and the Church, to re-establish legal power, to give the King the security and liberty of which he is deprived, and to enable him to exercise the legitimate authority which is his due…. Inhabitants of the cities, towns, and villages who dare defend themselves against the troops of their Imperial and Royal Majesties, and fire on them either in the open country or through the windows, doors, or openings of their houses, shall be punished immediately, according to the rigor of the law of war, and their houses demolished or burned… The city of Paris and all its inhabitants… shall be required to submit at once and without delay to the King [of France]…


Source: Indictment of King Louis XVI. December 11, 1792

Louis, the French people accuses you of having committed a multitude of crimes in order to establish your tyranny by destroying its liberty.!1. On 20 June, 1789, you attacked the sovereignty of the people by suspending the assemblies of its representatives and by driving them by violence from the place of their sessions. . . .!2. On 23 June you wished to dictate laws to the nation; you surrounded its representatives with troops; you presented them with two royal declarations, subversive of every liberty, and you ordered them to separate. Your declarations and the minutes of the Assembly establish these outrages undeniably.!3. You caused an army to march against the citizens of Paris; your satellites caused their blood to flow, and you withdrew this army only when the capture of the Bastille and the general insurrection apprised you that the people were victorious. . . .!6. For a long time you contemplated flight;. . . but on 21 June [1791] you made your escape with a false passport; you left a declaration against those same constitutional articles; you ordered the ministers not to sign any documents emanating from the National Assembly, and you forbade the Minister of Justice to deliver the Seals of State. The people’s money was wasted in achieving the success of this treason. . .!7. On 14 September you apparently accepted the Constitution; your speeches announced a desire to maintain it, and you worked to overthrow it before it even was achieved.!15. Your brothers, enemies of the state, have rallied the émigrés under their colors; they have raised regiments, borrowed money, and contracted alliances in your name; you disavowed them only when you were quite certain that you could not harm their plans. . . .!30. You tried to bribe, with considerable sums, several members of the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies.!31. You allowed the French nation to be disgraced in Germany, in Italy, and in Spain, since you did nothing to exact reparation for the ill treatment which the French experienced in those countries.!32. On 10 August you reviewed the Swiss Guards at five o’clock in the morning; and the Swiss Guards fired first on the citizens.!33. You caused the blood of Frenchmen to flow.


Source: "Execution of Louis XVI" – German copperplate engraving, 1793, by Georg Heinrich Sieveking


Source: Announcement from the National Convention. January 23, 1793 !

! Citizens, the tyrant is no more. For a long time the cries of the victims, whom war and domestic dissensions have spread over France and Europe, loudly protested his existence. He has paid his penalty, and only acclamations for the Republic and for liberty have been heard from the people… We are threatened with a general war; attempts are made to disseminate terror throughout the Republic… We have no allies in the courts of Europe; but it is up to free nations to save themselves… Let the entire nation arise…

February 1794: The Height of the Terror


Journal #4 - February 1794: The Height of the Terror !

Source: The Levée en Masse, August 23, 1793

1. From this moment until that in which the enemy shall have been driven from the soil of the Republic, all Frenchmen are in permanent requisition for the service of the armies. The young men shall go to battle; the married men shall forge arms and transport provisions; the women shall make tents and clothing and shall serve in the hospitals; the children shall turn old linen into lint; the aged shall betake themselves to the public places in order to arouse the courage of the warriors and preach the hatred of kings and the unity of the Republic. !2. The national buildings shall be converted into barracks, the public places into workshops for arms, the soil of the cellars shall be washed in order to extract there from the saltpeter. !3. The arms of the regulation caliber shall be reserved exclusively for those who shall march against the enemy; the service of the interior shall be performed with hunting pieces and side arms. !4. The saddle horses are put into requisition to complete the cavalry corps, the draft horses, other than those employed in agriculture, shall convey the artillery and the provisions. !5. The Committee of Public Safety is charged to take all necessary measures to set up without delay an extraordinary manufacture of arms of every sort which corresponds with the ardor and energy of the French people. It is, accordingly, authorized to form all the establishments, factories, workshops, and mills which shall be deemed necessary for the carrying on of these works, as well as to put in requisition, within the entire extent of the Republic, the artists and workingmen who can contribute to their success. !6. The representatives of the people sent out for the execution of the present law shall have the same authority in their respective districts, acting in concert with the Committee of Public Safety; they are invested with the unlimited powers assigned to the representatives of the people to the armies. !7. Nobody can get himself replaced in the service for which he shall have been requisitioned. The public functionaries shall remain at their posts.!


Source: Ca Ira (We Will Win) - Revolutionary Song

"We will win, we will win, we will win", The people of this day neverendingly sing

"We will win, we will win, we will win, In spite of the traitors, all will succeed" Our confused enemies are staying low

But we are going to sing "Alleluia!""We will win, we will win, we will win",

When Boileau once spoke about the clergy"Like a prophet he predicted as much.,

By singing my ditty,With pleasure I will say:

"We will win, we will win, we will win, In spite of the traitors, all will succeed""We will win, we will win, we will win,"

Punch and Judy sing at the show"We will win, we will win, we will win,"

Let us rejoices, for the good times are comingThe French people were once nobodies

But now the aristocrats say "we are guilty""We will win, we will win, we will win," The clergy now regrets all its wealth .

Through justice the nation will have it all,Through the wise LaFayetteAll trouble will be quieted,

"We will win, we will win, we will win, In spite of the traitors, all will succeed""We will win, we will win, we will win,"

The weak as well as the strong are soldiers in their souls

"We will win, we will win, we will win," During the war, not one will be a traitor.

With their hearts, all good Frenchmen will fight,And when he sees a slacker,

he will boldly speak up"We will win, we will win, we will win,"

Lafayette says, "Let he who will follow me!"And patriotism will respond,Without fear of fire or flame.

The French will always conquer"We will win, we will win, we will win,

In spite of the traitors, all will succeed""We will win, we will win, we will win,"

Let's string up the aristocrats on the lampposts!"We will win, we will win, we will win,"

We'll string up the aristocrats!Despotism will die,Liberty will triumph

"We will win, we will win, we will win," And we will no longer have nobles or priests

"We will win, we will win, we will win,""Equality will reign throughout the land/world

And the Austrian slave will follow it."We will win, we will win, we will win,"

And their hellish cliquewill be sent to the devil.


Source: Circular from the Paris Jacobin Club to local branches.

!

Friends, we are betrayed! To arms! To arms!… Your greatest enemies are in your midst, they direct your operation… Let us rise! Yes, let us all rise! Let us arrest all the enemies of our revolution, and all suspected persons. Let us exterminate, without pity, all conspirators, unless we wish to be exterminated ourselves.


Source: Robespierre Speech - The Virtue of Terror

“If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the springs of popular government in

revolution are at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is

powerless. Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible…”


Source: Jacobin Quote about the Reign of Terror

“We must suspend free speech and liberty so we can win the war. Otherwise, there will be nothing left to defend.”


Source: Jane Shuter, ed., Helen Williams and the French Revolution, Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers

. . . After two months in our new prison, we were released. A young Frenchman, who has since married my sister, managed to get us released by haunting all the officials he could find and finally by begging the release from Chaumette, the procurer of the Paris Commune, and a tyrant. So we were free but were watched. We could see very few people and went out little, and yet it was a sort of liberty. We feared to go out, in case, without realizing it, we committed some transgression [offense] that would lead to being arrested again. We hardly spoke to anyone, for there were spies everywhere, and we jumped at each knock at the door, fearing arrest. For the prisons were growing more crowded daily, and more and more were going to the scaffold as the Reign of Terror tightened its hold. “Suspicion” was now a warrant for imprisonment, and conspiracy and murder were in the air. One man was arrested because he “looked” noble, another because a total stranger swore that he supported monarchy. Some were arrested for having been rich, others for being clever. Many who were arrested asked for the reason in vain. And the numbers of executions rose, and the horrors increased, and the stories of both courage and cowardice were passed from home to home. Yet it seemed to me that there was more courage than cowardice to be found, which gave us hope for humanity even in these dark days.

Soon after our release from prison, we decided to move from the center of the town to a house in the most remote part of the faubourg [suburb], Saint Germain. Our new home was but a few moments walk from the countryside. But although we were close, we did not dare to walk there. The parks and woods that surrounded us and had once belonged to royalty were now haunted by revolutionaries, despots, police spies, even the conspirators themselves on occasion. So we walked in the common fields near our house, where people put their animals to graze. I have no words to describe how reluctantly we returned from our walks to Paris, that den of carnage, that slaughterhouse of man. The guillotine was claiming both the innocent and the guilty alike, and at such a rate that the gutters seemed to stream with blood. And just when it seemed that things could get no worse, when you thought it was not possible to increase the stream of people flowing to the scaffold, you were proved wrong, and the pace of the flow quickened even more. . . .


Source: The Death of Marat - Jacques-Louis David (1793)


Source: The Cult of the Supreme Being (1794)

1795: The Revolution Ends


Journal #5 - 1795: The Revolution Ends !

Source: The Arrest of Robespierre


Source: The Constitution of the Year III (1795)

EXECUTIVE POWER The Executive Power shall be delegated to a Directory of f ive members appointed by the Legislative Body, which for such purpose performs the functions of an electoral body, in the name of the nation. The Council of Five-Hundred shall prepare, by secret ballot, a l ist of ten t imes the number of members of the Directory to be appointed, and shall present it to the Council of Elders, which shall choose, also by secret ballot, from said l ist. The members of the Directory must be at least for ty years of age. They may be chosen only from among cit izens who have been ministers or members of the Legislative Body.


Source: Napoleon

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