French Revolution
From TLP
The Tennis Court Oath (1789).
The Execution of the French King Louis XVI in Paris, January 21, 1793.
During the French Revolution (French: La Révolution Française; 1789-1799) democracy and
republicanism replaced the absolute monarchy in France, and the French sector of the Roman Catholic
Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. While France would oscillate among republic,
empire, and monarchy for 75 years after the First Republic fell to a coup d'état by Napoléon Bonaparte,
the revolution nonetheless spelled a definitive end to the ancien régime, and eclipses both subsequent
revolutions in France in the popular imagination. It is widely seen as a major turning point in continental
European history, from the age of absolutism to that of the citizenry, and even of the masses, as the
dominant political force.
The Start of the French Revolution
The Tennis Court Oath. (French: serment du jeu de paume), was a pledge signed by 577
members of France's Third Estate 1 on June 20, 1789. It is often considered the start of the French
Revolution.
The relation of the French and Haitian Revolutions
The French and Haitian Revolutions are interconnected in many ways and one might say that it
was Toussaint Louverture's and Jean-Jacques Dessalines genius that enabled them to lead the
rebels in Saint-Domingue (later renamed Haiti) toward their final victory over France through
successful military, political and diplomatic navigation of the upheavals of the outgoing 18th
century, These upheavals of course were very much related to the emergence of capitalism as a
driving economic force and the revolutions in countries such as the United States and France.
Roume and Jean-Paul Marat
One example of the interconnectedness of these two important revolutions in the outgoing 18th
century, is the relationship between Roume one of the the French envoys - sent to SaintDomingue in November of 1791 just months after the events at Bois Caïman and the Boukman
Rebellion - and Jean-Paul Marat, a leading figure of the French Revolution. Roume did use his
influence in Spain, to obtain the directorship of the Academy of Sciences in Madrid for Marat.
(Belfort Bax chapter III) While Roume was ultimately expelled by Toussaint Louverture in 1800
after his second stint in the colony, he was an important representative of revolutionary France in
Saint-Domingue at the time and therefore sent to enforce the bourgeois ideals of France, that did
not coincide with the slaves wishes for freedom and equality.
Note 1: France, under the Ancien Régime (the monarchy before the French Revolution), divided
society into three estates: the First Estate or clergy; the Second Estate or nobility; and the Third
Estate or commoners.
See Also
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The Haitian Revolution:
o Timeline of the Haitian Revolution
o The Haitian Revolution in a Nutshell
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The French Revolution's Other Island: The Impact of Saint-Domingue on Revolutionary Politics
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French Republican Calendar A calendar proposed during the French Revolution, and used by the
French government for about twelve years from November 1793.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - A very important document, although it
was not meant to include slaves.
Glossary
Jacobins - The revolutionaries.
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Royalists - Supporters of absolute and constitutional monarchy, opposed to the French
Revolution.
Red Cockades - Supporters of the French Revolution.
White Cockades - Pro-Royalist counter-revolutionaries to the Jacobins.
References
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French Revolution. (2005, December 5). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:20,
December 5, 2005 [1].
Belfort Bax, Ernest. (1900) Jean-Paul Marat, The People’s Friend. London: Grant Richards.
(Available online at www.marxists.org)
James, C.L.R. (1989). The Black Jacobins. Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.
(2nd Ed., Revised) New York: Vintage Press. ISBN 0-679-72467-2.
Wikipedia contributors (2006). Estates of the realm. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
03:08, February 12, 2006 [2].
External links
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Musée de la Révolution Française - Museum of the French Revolution (French text).
The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 by F.A.M.
Mignet (1824) - full text of book on the French Revolution. (online publication).
Wikipedia: Glossary of the French Revolution
Retrieved from "http://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=French_Revolution"
Category: Glossary
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This page was last modified on 14 August 2007, at 23:51.
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