1990. Gershoy, Leo. The French Revolution and Napoleon. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. 1933. Gildea, Robert.
This event shows how corrupt and money hungry the government had become, by letting anyone get high up in the political chain just by feeding the gluttonous king. The next king, Louis XVI saw that the majority of France (75%) was peasants and serfs. Consequently, to try to ensure their happiness (and prevent the Revolution), he had the Estates-General abolish the feudal system, in which they held no ranking.4 This made the nobility extremely unhappy. With no feudal system, they no longer were much higher up politicly than the commoners. The next noble atrocity came with Louis XVI making the nobles pay taxes.
The people of the revolution wanted France to establish a new political and social system where all people could enjoy equality, and pushed for government centralization, abolition of feudalism, religious tolerance and equality in the access to different careers. It was a struggle against inhumanity in a bid to create a favorable atmosphere where all human beings could exercise their rights and freedoms without any obstruction. Throughout the decade of the revolution, France did not have a centralized government and was stricken by a series of upheavals and instability. It wasn’t until after the revolution that Napoleon discovered the need for a strong centralized state in order to consolidate the revolutionary advances in a bid to build stability. Napoleon wanted to prosper with the benefits of the revolution and steer France to establish a stable foundation to institutionalize the gains of the revolution by enacting proper administrative framework.
San Diego, Claifornia: Lucent Books Inc., 1995. Dowd, David L. The French Revolution. New York, New York: Harper and Row, 1965. Durant, William and Ariel. Rousseau and Revolution.
New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003. Print. Doyle, William. Origins of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Works Cited 1. Doyle, W 1989, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, Oxford University Press, Walton Street Oxford, Great Britain. 2. Lefebvre, G 1967, The Coming of the French Revolution, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, United States. 3.
Three Deaths and Enlightenment Thought. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2001. Popkin, Jeremy D. Revolutionary News: The Press in France 1789-1799. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990. Scherr, Marie.
London, England. Butler and Tanner Ltd. 1989, 1st edition 5) The new Cambridge modern history - XII The era of violence 1898-1945. Cambridge University. Cambridge University Press. 1960, 1st edition
France in the Middle Ages 987-1460. Paris: Blackwell, 1987, 274. 6. "Hundred Years' War" 7. Barnie, John.
However, their work was obliterated once Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself dictator of France in 1799 (French Revolution 13). Not only did the Enlightenment cause the French Revolution by allowing the people to see how inferior France really was, making them question divine right, and opening their eyes to the injustice between estates occurring, but it also described the United States which is the epitome of an ideal society. While the Enlightenment criticized monarchy governments, it influenced democratic forms of government. Without the Enlightenment and the help of France, the United States wouldn’t be what it is today.