The French Revolution was a major event in the history of Western societies, and has had a profound effect on the world today. Beginning in 1789, the French Revolution saw the French people overthrow their absolute monarchy and bring about a republic that was based on the principles of equality, liberty and fraternity. In general, historians agree on several different causes of the French Revolution, including: the history of the estates-system, resentment towards the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI, the impact of the Age of Enlightenment, the weather conditions before 1789 and the economic crisis that France faced under Louis XVI. The Enlightenment occurred during the 18th century, in the decades before the 1789 outbreak of the revolution and although the Enlightenment took place many years before the outbreak of the French Revolution, its ideas and achievements still had a profound effect on the French Revolution.
The ideals of liberty and equality, that were needed to overthrow Louis XVI, emerged first from the writings of important and influential thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Specifically, the writings of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron de Montesquieu greatly influenced the revolutionaries in France. Each of these three Enlightenment thinkers questioned the traditional authority of an absolute monarch and argued against the rigid class divisions of feudalism, or the estates-system, present in France. Their questioning of authority and the role of the government inspired the revolutionaries, and ordinary citizens, of France. In fact, the ideas of many Enlightenment thinkers were commonly discussed and debated in the salons of France, in which intellectuals and would gather to discuss the ideas of the day. For example, John Locke argued that a leader may only govern a society if he has the consent of those he is governing. This idea caused people to question the legitimacy of Louis XVI to rule when he did not have the support of many of the citizens within France. For his part, Rousseau argued against all class divisions in society, which caused French citizens to question the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI and the unequal nature of the estates-system. Finally, Montesquieu advocated for a system of government based on a separation of powers with three branches of government, including: executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. This model of government directly challenged the authority of the king because it involved his power being divided into three parts and others gaining more authority. Again, this idea caused French citizens to begin to question the authority of their own king and to begin to think of other ways of government.
The impact of the Enlightenment on the French Revolution can be seen in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The document was adopted by the National Assembly on August 26th, 1789. The declaration was vitally important to the French Revolution because it directly challenged the authority of Louis XVI. For example, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen set out a series of individual rights protected by law. The basic principles of the declaration can be seen in the ideas and arguments of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment.
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