Regression or Revolution

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One very influential writer, Abbe Sieyes pointed out that the third estate had no power and deserved to have all of the power since they had been the majority in his famous quote:

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(Sieyes)

This quote perfectly summarizes how people began to demand the respect and the representation they believed they deserved. Sieyes’ writings rallied the people together to fight for what they wanted. Similar to this, Olympe De Gouge wrote to inspire women to stand up for their rights. In “Declaration of the Rights of Women,” she criticized the French Revolution for not being revolutionary enough for the women of France and encouraged them to persist, saying “Women, wake up; the tocsin of reason sounds throughout the universe; recognize your rights.”(Gouge). According to historians James Carter and Richard Warren, “Olympe de Gouges advocated the application of Enlightenment principles across gender and racial lines, challenging laws denying women and black economic and political rights.”(Carter and Warren 156). Once women heard of others standing up for equality, they too joined the movement. Once this movement got started, it was truly an epidemic. Due to saloons, and the printing press these articles and the like information spread quickly but talking about it wasn’t enough and real changes had to be made.

In an attempt to instill the changes that need to be made, in 1791 a convention called the National Assembly met into order to draft a Constitution that embodied the thoughts form the Enlightenment: rights and equality for all men, and limitation of the monarchs power. This assembly was made up predominantly of the Third Estate, and subsequently was poorly composed. Only a short year later, the Constitution failed, but all hope was not lost. A new constitution was written that embodied more radical changes. The king was stripped of his power and soon riots erupted. Before long, Napoleon took power in hopes of returning order. Soon before long, all the work was undone and “France was again ruled by an autocrat.”(Carter and Warren 155).

Though the Code of Napoleon did establish some of the Enlightenment ideas into a code of behavior, reformation was short lived. Napoleon quickly restored the patriarchy, therefore diminishing any gender equality that had been established. Though social reforms were passed in legislature, there were not actually enforced in society. The Bourguoise did gain some power, but the common man that lacked money or wealth was still left out. Religious tolerance was non-existence and France remained catholic. For every gain there was a stipulation. Though the French revolution was definitely a step in the right direction for change, it did not establish any of the revolutionary ideas that were the original goals.