French Revolution Absolutism

Members of France’s Third Estate implemented what historians call the “liberal revolution” to grant common rights to citizens and allow the people to have representation in the political system. During this time, 1789 - 1791, the people of France abandoned the idea of an absolute monarchy, organized themselves into the National Assembly, and established constitutional monarchy to promote new form of government that included the views and needs of the citizens. In 1793, another change took place, in which the radical jacobins took control and shifted the government to a Republic, and subsequently executed the king Louis XVI. The main ideology of the two revolutions were the same, but the main goal of the Republic was to grant freedom and power

These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”(6). The idea presented in the document was that the government would ensure the protection of all citizens’ rights, and all citizens could express these rights within the boundaries of the law. This freedom was one of the ideas of the Liberal Revolution, in the sense that this is what they wanted citizens to have unalienable rights, and that citizens should not be oppressed by the ruling power. Another portion of the Declaration included the idea that, “No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions”(6) thus guaranteeing that people would not be punished for expressing true feelings or opinions. As further example of this desire for free expression, the Declaration also declared “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”(6). This idea once again stated that citizens had the right to free communication of their ideas and opinions. These are examples of how Liberal revolutionary ideas were similar in 1791 and 1793, for they wanted freedom of expression in both constitutions. This ideal was suspended, and then

The Committee of Public Safety (Committee), was created in April of 1793, and was meant to protect the Republic against any threats. When referring to “Public”, it is not “people as a whole”, it is just those who are pro-terror and pro-republicans. The Terror was the name for a period in France from September of 1793 to the middle of 1794, during which the National Convention, which was the Radical governing body of radical revolutionary France, executed many suspected “counter-revolutionaries” to ensure political stability, and the preservation of the republic and its radical ideals. The Terror was enforced by the committee to eradicate any counter revolutionary forces or ideas. The period was dubbed the “Terror” because of the immense amount of massacres of normal citizens, which invoked a sense of fear in the French Population. The National Convention issued a document called “The Law of Suspects” in September of 1793, which helped the prevention of suspected counter-revolutionaries. It stated “The following are considered suspect persons: first, those who by their conduct, their connections, their remarks, or their writings show themselves partisans of tyranny or federalism and the enemies of liberty”(46). People who were suspected of being against the Republic were determined by their remarks, writings, or