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The 1789 Declaration of the
Rights of Man and the Citizen was inspired by the American
Declaration of Independence of 1776. The French Declaration
marked the end of the Ancien Régime and the dawn of a new era.
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By 1789 the Ancient Regime in France was ready to
crumble. This system was an absolute monarchy under which King Louis XVI
exercised complete control. At this time, France was riddled with debt,
and discontent among Louis XVI's subjects was growing rapidly.
Feudal chains still bound the peasants in France.
The seigniorial system that existed in France for most of its history
allowed for great differences in income levels and a total separation of
the classes. This often left the peasants isolated from the rest of
society.
Heavy taxes, inflated prices, and stagnant wages
made life unbearable for the urban working class in France as well. Even
the Bourgeoisie (middle class) was overburdened with financial
obligations to the crown. As these feelings of discontent began to grow
among the classes, rumors of revolt began to fly; the days of the
absolute power of the King were numbered.
As a last-ditch attempt to maintain peace in his
country, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General. This
organization consisted of three estates that met at irregular intervals
to contribute to the government of France. The last time such a meeting
had been called was 175 years before in 1614.
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This cartoon shows a peasant
carrying a nobleman and a clergy member upon his back. Before
the revolution, peasants (who made up the third Estate) were
required to pay taxes to support the two remaining Estates
(clergy and nobles).
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The First Estate was made up of two groups of clergy.
The bishops and abbots made up the first group. They were wealthy and
held great authority in the church. The other, lower group consisted of
the priests and monks who had modest incomes and little say in matters
of the church.
The Second Estate consisted of the wealthy,
land-owning nobility. These aristocrats were joined by formerly wealthy
bourgeois who had gained power through the purchasing of judgeships in
high courts. The members of this group wielded most of the political
power in France at this time.
The Third and largest Estate comprised the commoners
in French society. These delegates represented the bourgeois, artisans
and peasants. Even though they had twice as many delegates as the other
two estates combined, they did not carry much influence, because the
voting was not done by individuals but by entire estates instead.
The first two Estates were more prominent and
usually did not agree with the Third Estate on many issues. The Third
Estate wanted more power in the French government and in 1789 decided to
take action. They renamed their organization the National Assembly on
June 17, 1789, and, with the support of some members of the clergy in
the First Estate, invited the other estates to join them.
The formation of this organization led to the demise
of the Estates General and a shift in power from the privileged orders
to the leaders of the third estate. As a result of this shift, the
National Assembly began to gain the support of the general public of
France. In light of this new strength, their demands could no longer be
ignored and France would soon be changed forever!
On August 26th, the National Assembly passed the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. They expressed the
rights of "liberty, property, security, and resistance to
oppression," and established key rights such as freedom of the
press and freedom of religion. As time went on, the National Assembly
succeeded in transforming France into a constitutional monarchy and
forged the way for massive amounts of change in the years to come.
