In France, revolution was by all means stirring. The French empire grows, and inevitably tries to expand its influence far thinner than what would be acceptable to the people that lived within. King Louis XVI began to spend a gargantuan amount of money, emptying the treasury to the point where it was officially declared empty. Tax reform followed suit, and the third and bottom estate of France suffered the consequences that came as a result. Furthermore, the rest of Europe was still fresh out of an era of extreme liberty, of enlightenment era ideas which would lead to the transformation of aristocratic France into the beginnings of the republic society observes today. Along with it, came social reform inherent with enlightenment ideas. Women’s …show more content…
“On the Influence of the Revolution on Women” by Louis Marie Prudhomme in 1791 provided that, as a rule, “The liberty of the people has for its basis good morals and education, and you are it's guardians and first dispensers.” This was saying a lot for women, and showed that they were quite welcome in helping with the revolution. Not only that, but the entire letter is written with such energy that any reader of such a text could interpret that Prudhomme, a man, was trying to present he was excited about women taking part in the revolution. Furthermore, in the “Declaration of the Rights of Woman” by Olympe de Gouges in 1791 provided that women should “wake up,” and that “it is in our [women’s] power to overcome them; you only have to want it.” The quote is especially critical considering Olympe de Gouges is one of the most important figures fighting for women’s rights in the revolution. However, her perspective in this text in that regard may be also corrupted by her very womanhood. Women were not only under the foot of patriarchy for a long time, but were also oppressed in ways that would inevitably make anyone upset towards ways of the past. The opinions of de Gouges were by no means incorrect, however, it is clear that the bitterness to the empire may have contributed to a false view of French society and what they can make of it. Thirdly, the Archives nationales in 1795 provided that “women above all appeared angrier … women who in their turn communicate all their frenzy to men, heating them up … and stimulating the most violent effervescence.” It should go without saying that clearly, women played an important role in stirring up
The French Revolution is often seen as a bloody mess. Just like most other revolutions, in the in exchanged an authoritarian regime for an authoritarian regime. The ideas of the revolution changed the human history around the world. The French Revolution started on July 14,1789 the revolution had many flaws but it the end it was still successful. Before the revolution third 3rd estate was burdened with taxes while the 1st and 2nd didn’t have to do anything.
The revolution of women rights politicized millions of French men by transforming their statues from subjects to citizens, but revolutionaries of all political stripes displayed an extreme reluctance to incorporate women into the political body. She also wrote Pamphlets and plays that described a variety of issues, like slavery and in which she attacked as being founded on greed and blinded of the biases that surrounded her. In one of her most famous pamphlets, she describes the declaration of the women’s rights to the parallel of the one for men thus, criticizes the deputies for haven forgotten women. She also pointed out the pamphlet to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, though she also warned the Queen that she has to work with the Revolution or risk destroying the monarchy. In the postscript, she denounced the customary treatment of women as objects are easily abandoned and in which women should be treated equally because they are both people. Gouges appended to the declaration as a sample of a form of the marriage contract that called for communal sharing of
Between the years of 1776 and 1860, a change in the lives and status of Northern middle class women came about. Before these dates, women were seen as the property of their husbands, all their possessions, and land after marriage belonged to the man(Doc A). The American Revolution, Industrial Revolution, and the Second Great Awakening prove that the lives of women changed greatly and the status of women changed slightly between the years of 1776 and 1860.
France had already been dealing with government debt, harvesting issues, class distinction, and opposition to the king long before the American Revolution was in the picture. From this point of view, France was bound to have a revolution. King Louis XIV (Reigned 1643 – 1715) had gained lots of debt when building the Palace of Versailles, the debt then fell onto King Louis XV (Reigned 1715 – 1774), and not just that, the defeat in the Seven Years war against Britain left France ashamed and in a pile of debt, leading them to declare bankruptcy (French Revolution). By the time that King Louis XVI reigned, the country was on the brink of financial collapse, and aside from that, he did not try hard to restore the economic structure of France (French Revolution). Because of the way King Louis XVI handled monetary issues, the popularity of the royal family decreased and public complaints against the fiscal system increased, promoting revolutionary thoughts amongst the people of France (French Revolution).
Madame Defarge was an influential voice heard throughout all of France. However, due to the level of hatred, she displays throughout the book for the aristocrats, she was obviously mentally unstable due to the events that she had witnessed and survived earlier in her life. Madame Defarge’s hatred fueled her words to incite and influence many of her countryman who followed and acted on her words throughout the French revolution, which resulted in the deaths of many people who did not deserve to die.
In early October of 1789, over five thousand ordinary Parisian women formed one of the largest demonstrations of the French Revolution when they marched fifteen miles from Paris to the King’s palace in Versailles. Even people who were not directly involved in the march were caught up in the women’s fury. Madame de Ménerville, who had been renting a house in a town in between Paris and Versailles, recalled “the cries of cannibals who were streaming to Versailles by every route, those women drunk with brandy, avid for blood, who wanted to burn aristocrats’ houses on the way and drag along everyone who had been brought there by curiosity or by fear” (Yalom 27). The reason for these women’s fifteen mile march was in order to protest the rising
The thinking and ideas of the people of America severely changed. These social changes include the thinking of equality amongst women, and the hatred towards the British. The Declaration of Independence states that, "All men are created equal", this term did not apply to women, and this resulted in multiple groups in favor of women's rights. From the beginning of time in almost all societies women were treated as less than a man, and the education of women was very uncommon. After the revolution many women saw the new government as a time to receive their rights, and this ultimately resulted in a new image of women (Doc. A) "No one will pretend to deny, that we should be taught to read in the best manner." (Doc. J).
Nevertheless, it is important to possess a better understanding of Olympe de Gouges to comprehend the “Declaration of the Rights of Woman.” She was born into a lower middle-class family under the name Marie Gouze in 1748 in southwest France. As a child, she was under the impression that she was the illegitimate child to her father. This belief would later influence her and fuel her into being an advocate for illegitimate children. In 1765, de Gouges married a caterer from Paris named Louis Aubry. She claimed
To begin with, the French Revolution was partly caused by the economic crisis. The French Revolution began in 1787, but up until 1743, France, or at least the nobles of France, was in an extremely comfortable position. From 1713 to 1743, France was in the Thirty Years’ Peace, a period during which overseas trade was extremely profitable. However, after this period, the economy slowly began to crumble. At this
De Gouges expressed that women were born free and equal to men in their rights and that property belonged to both sexes. She felt it necessary for the nobility to realize the injustice of refusing to sit with the Third Estate, later writing a letter to the convention asking that the king's life be spared. De Gouges claimed the present king, Louis XVI, should not have to pay for the mistakes of his ancestors. Viewing France's situation from both sides she presented them with a compromising attitude and a level head, which was greatly needed in a country full of radicals. With these contributions she paved the way for other women idealists. Marie-Jean Roland was another visionary who combined political action with respect for gender norms. Her three main roles were "inciting revolutionary action, formulating policy, and informing other of revolutionary events." She believed that due to the restrictions placed by the male society, leading to a lack of education, women were frivolous and vain. Men, therefore inhibited women from achieving their intellectual potential, who in turn limited the contributions women could have made to society. Roland also declared what she felt was necessary conditions for the success of the revolution. These conditions were for the national assembly to be returned to Paris, the importance of
In France during the French Revolution, was a setback for women. They fought long and hard only to be rejected of full citizenship and the right to vote, which they didn’t even get until World War II. In France a lot of the men did agree with Rousseau, that women had no business in public affairs and belonged at home. Many of the women at the time formed clubs such as the Revolutionary Republic Women. The Declaration of the Rights of Man didn’t grant full citizenship to women, even though the fundamental statement of equality was for the revolution. Between the years 1789 and 1791, the National Assembly created the Constitution of 1791. It granted full citizenship to Jews and other religious minorities, recognized 83 departments, eliminated
THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND FEMINISM IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION The essay will depict what role women played in the French revolution, their feminist movements and the effects of their efforts. To begin the traditional role of women in pre-revolutionary France was very critical to the outbreak of the French Revolution and why women played the part they did in the 18th century. When the revolution started to mobilize women partook in many efforts to stand up and retaliate against the injustices and oppressors. These feminist movements created during the revolution were both militant and radical, the women population wanted to create a drastic change and their efforts were in line with that.
The French Revolution brought with it many sweeping changes in the realm of human rights both to France and eventually the rest of the world. Through Enlightenment ideas, groups previously viewed as second-class citizens, and even those viewed as hardly human, gained greatly enhanced rights and even citizenship with all that this entailed. Amazingly with all the rights and privileges that were being recognized as inherent to various social groups, half the population was left with little or no improvement in their station. This, of course, refers to women. While there were those who fought for women's rights, such as Condorcet, Etta Palm D'Aelders, and Olympe De Gouges; these
Many women were involved in the uncertainty of women's rights during the French Revolution between the years of 1789 and 1804. Exploration of the unfolding struggles of France managed to turn my head in the direction of woman's rights more than once in my discovery. Perhaps because of the persistence of the women during this time period and their straight forwardness in their mission, was I so determined to see a positive progression in the fulfillment of their needs. "Even during a revolutionary time like this, equal rights for women seemed out of reach. Women had to struggle for a position in the revolution" (Ajaibu 2001, 1).
During the time of the French Revolution, yet distinct from the political revolt against the Bourgeoise, the women of France took up a revolution of social nature against the established patriarchy. Olympe de Gouges, the author of a piece entitled "Declaration of the Rights of Women," applied the same claims to women as the National Assembly had claimed for themselves in "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen." Statements like "Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights.," and "The purpose of any political association is the conservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of woman and man; these rights are liberty property, security, and especially resistance to oppression." 5 exposed the irony of the French political revolution by demonstrating that while the National Assembly had claimed equality for men, they had not also effected it for