Thesis: Enlightenment values streamed from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the French Revolution during the

period 1789 through the Reign of Terror in 1794, which could be seen through religious, government, and social reforms. Outline: Enlightenment Ideals

Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Equality - government is an evil necessity, direct demoncracy Smith's policy of laissez-faire (to let alone) - supply and demand = natural economic forces d'Holbach's System of Nature - humans were machines, God unnecessary for moral life (requires only reason) Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women - women have reason, therefore entitled to same rights as men reason, natural law, hope, progress; Kant's "Dare to Know!" - use own intelligence Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding - tabula rasa (a blank mind); evil is a product of environment Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws - natural laws governing social relationships; separation of powers, checks and balances Voltaire's Arouet - religious toleration, freedom of thought; "Crush the infamous thing" religious fanaticism, intolerance, and superstition; Candide - humor to attack religious intolerance Deism - built upon Newtonian world-machine, God had no direct involvement with world he created

French Revolution 1789-1794

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (natural rights) Parlement of Paris's (consisted of nobles of the robe) - advocated voting by order (separation of powers) Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (Wollstonecraft) Sieyes - "Third estate is everything, has been nothing thus far in political order, demands to become something" National Assembly - separation of third estate from first and second estates; Tennis Court Oath dechristianization: adoption of new republican calendar on October 5, 1793 - ended Christian calendar influence calendar - 5-6 days left over at end of year to celebrate the revolutionary values - virtue, intelligence, labor, opinion, rewards; later abandoned Notre Dame - November 1793, designated a Temple of Reason National Convention began an anti-Robespierre coalition - feared they were not safe while he was free to act

The French Revolution, from the beginning to the end of the Terror, sought to radically transform France from a feudal, aristocratic kingdom into a liberal, electoral republic. The extent to which the Revolutionaries wished to change France affected not just the government, but the social order, religion, economy, and even weights and measures! Based on enlightened ideals of inalienable rights, the purity of nature, and the belief in equality, French revolutionaries sought an overhaul of whole of French civilization. The Catholic Church was openly persecuted, and Christian worship was discouraged. Christianity was considered superstitious and a remnant of the Middle Ages that was holding France back. Education and healthcare, which was long dominated by the Church, was taken over by the State. Noble titles and Aristocratic priviledges were abolished, and all adult men were considered equal under the law. Old boders of Duchies and Counties were erased, and a new map of Dpartments was created to politically divide the country. Anything making reference to Royalty, or the Church was done away with, even playing cards and the Calendar were changed to reflect Republican, enlightened ideas. (No more Kings, Queens, and Jacks, and the names of months were changed to reflect the seasons rather than deities, and Roman Caesars). The Terror was the most radical period of reform. When the Revolutionary government was seized by Robespierre and other radical members of the Committe of Public Safety, the new leaders of France sought to completely erase the old order. Using the threat of foreing invasion and monarchist threats to destory the Revolution and the young republic, Robespierre began a series of persecutions and executions across France. Anyone who had been an aristocat, or bore any sympathy towards the old order, was viewed as an enemy of the State, and tens of thousands were executed. Many were executed on trumped-up or false accusations. When the Terror became out of control, the electorate and the Parisien populace revolted against the Committee and those responsible for instigating the Terror, including Robespierre were executed.