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The Destruction Of The Monarchy During The French Revolution

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The destruction of the monarchy during the French Revolution symbolized the Enlightened opinion that people shared fundamental rights. Questions about what it truly meant to be a citizen, especially in respect to political responsibilities such as voting and holding offices, were passionately contemplated and defined. However, prejudices quickly created controversies over whom, exactly, these rights and privileges belonged to. Craftily referred to as “citizenesses”, women were one such deliberated group during the French Revolution. In an era when absolute religious rule was renounced, opposing opinions tried to justify the inclusion or exclusion of women in this civil rights revolution using their own interpretation of what “nature” intended.
After the collapse of a monarchy, which was so closely tied to the Catholic Church, the revolutionary government was adamant to isolate itself from religious influence. A new calendar system was put into place, which rejected the traditional religious holidays and eliminated the biblical seven-day week and Sunday Sabbath (1793 Republican Calendar, p.1-2). Instead, a new emphasis and respect was attributed to nature. For example, the months in the Republican calendar were named for seasonal and agricultural phenomenon such as “Vendemiaire”, translated to “Harvest”, and “Brumaire”, “Fog” (1793 Republican Calendar, p.2). Nature also played an important role in peoples’ understanding of human rights. In the Declaration of the

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