EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
The French Revolution
Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E 1789-91: Making the New Nation Notes taken on December 25, 2015 by Edward Tanguay |
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1789-1791: attempts by the National Assembly to remake the new France
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National Assembly
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May 1789, deptuties chosen to be the representatives of the three estates
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National Assembly is made up for these three estates had come together to be the National Assembly
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those who could not work with this body had resigned and left
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charged with implementing the revolutionary principles of 1789 monarchy
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regenerate a new France on very different principles
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blueprint
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1. absolute monarchy --> constitutional monarchy
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2. divine right --> popular sovereignty
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3. hierarchy of birth --> merit and talent
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demonstrated capacity rather than the claims of birth
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4. partial abolition of feudalism
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two immediate problems
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1. political power
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the Declaration of Rights of Man Citizen had claimed that all sovereignty resided in the nation
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the law was to be the expression of the general will
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what did "all citizens" actually mean?
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who should actually participate?
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what should the role of the king be?
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the king had originally called the Estates General together to advise him
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a few months later he is expected to behave as a constitutional monarchy
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various sections of the population are excluded
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women
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men who don't own sufficient property on which a certain level of taxes is paid
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distinction between active and passive citizens
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active citizens were about 60% of adult men
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Louis XVI will be given a suspensive veto
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a veto by which a law is merely suspended until reconsidered by the legislature and becomes a law if repassed by an ordinary majority
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2. bankruptcy
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Louis XVI had called the Estates General together to advise him on dealing with the fiscal crisis
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this crisis had not gone away
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seized church property
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6% sold off at auction
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used as the backing for a new revolutionary currency called the "assignat"
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this property was called "biens nationaux"
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on the bill was a picture of Louis XVI, "King of the French"
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no longer Louis the XVI "King of France" by the grace of God
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an enormous gulf for that man to cross in his understanding of his own role
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institutional arrangements of 18th century France
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large differences in taxes, particularly on salt
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internal custom houses as well as external ones
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differences in terms of weights and measures across the country
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law
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customary law of the north
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written law of the south
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sixty different provincial law codes
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privileged orders, clergy and nobility had their own systems of law
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language
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Breton, Catalan, Basque, and many other dialects
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France in the 18th century bears the imprint of centuries of state making
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land that is divided in terms of regions
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national assembly's goal
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rationalize and make simpler and more efficient the map of France
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create 83 departments of roughly the same size, 100 kilometers in diameter on average
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each with a capital
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still the basis of administrative life today
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in every one department
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one single set of administrative arrangements
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cathedral in every department
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taxation and the law will be the same in every one
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custom houses will be rolled back to the frontier
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uniform laws, rights and responsibilities
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equal citizens of a new order
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legal system
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abolished all privilege arrangements for privileged orders
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humanitarian reforms
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outlawed torture
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jury trials
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justices of the peace
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looked to the Netherlands and England
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replaced old seigneurial courts
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debate on capital punishment
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kept for a handful of the most serious crimes such as treason
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one way to put someone to death: the guillotine
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the most painless way of dispatching someone
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first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
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Champ-de-mars, July 14, 1790
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where Eiffel Tower is today
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turned into large, flat space
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suitable for celebrating this event
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seems as those every Parisian turns up to celebrate
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Alter of the Homeland
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Louis XVI takes oath
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Talleyrand reads prayers
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Lafayette, head of National Guard
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celebrated, united for the future
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played out across the kingdom
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alters of the homeland
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almost all have disappeared
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one left, in Thionville
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oaths of 1790