French Revolution

"What is the end of our revolution? The tranquil enjoyment of liberty and equality; the reign of

that eternal justice, the laws of which are graven, not on marble or stone, but in the hearts of men, even

in the heart of the slave who has forgotten them, and in that of the tyrant who disowns them."

(Robespiere, On the Principles of Political Morality)



"... to put an end to the anarchy in the interior of France, to check the attacks upon the throne

and the altar, to reestablish the legal power, to restore to the king the security and the liberty of which he

is now deprived and to place him in a position to exercise once more the legitimate authority which

belongs to him." ( Duke of Brunswick, Proclamation)



"The poor man is superior to government and the powers of the world; he should address them

as a master." (Saint-Just, Republican Institutes)





The French Revolution was essentially the pivotal culmination of a rising conflict

between two opposing conceptions as to the source by which a governing state derived its

authority. During the late eighteenth century an ideology accentuating reason, freedom,

and the sovereignty of the common man grew in direct opposition to the accepted dogmas

of absolutism and divine right of the monarchy. As illustrated within the three

aforementioned quotes, the divergent depth between these two philosophies of

government created a void, one which would ultimately lead to the French Revolution

and alter the course of Western culture.

Within Robespiere's quote one is able to observe the aspirations of the

Bourgeoisie and peasant revolutionaries; an ideal society of liberty and equality wherein

one is as much a subject of the state as the state is a subject of thee. This converging

movement towards reasoning and justice grew from the theories of such revolutionary

thinkers as Voltaire, Rousseau, and the Encyclopedists, who presented a vision of a

liberal community with equal rights and responsibilities,... [continues]

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