Parisian Petitions to Dethrone the King (3 August 1792)
Just after the Festival of 14 July, leaders of some of the more radical Parisian sections drafted, on behalf of the French nation, a petition calling on the Legislative Assembly to take emergency measures to ensure "the salvation of the people" by dethroning the King. This petition was presented to the assembly on 3 December by the mayor of Paris, Jérôme Pétion, and then printed as a pamphlet.
<i>Le Moniteur,</i> no. 218 (5 August 1792), 916–17.
August 3, 1792
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The Attack on the Tuileries (10 August 1792)
In early August, the Legislative Assembly was deadlocked, unable to decide what to do about the King, the constitution, the ongoing war, and above all the political uprisings in Paris. On 4 August, the most radical Parisian section, "the section of the 300," issued an "ultimatum" to the Legislative Assembly, threatening an uprising if no action was taken by midnight 9 August. On the appointed evening, the tocsin sounded from the bell tower and a crowd gathered before the City Hall and headed toward the Tuileries Palace. As the King’s bodyguards prepared to defend him, Louis recognized that it would be more prudent to flee. He and his family escaped through a secret passage and placed themselves under the protection of the Legislative Assembly, which arrested him. A deputy, Michel Azema, describes in this letter the dramatic events that came to be referred to as the "second French Revolution."
Camille Bloch, ed., <i>La Révolution Française,</i> no. 27 (1894), 177–82.
August 10, 1792
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Roster of Membership in the Society of Friends of Blacks, 1789
Jacques Brissot founded the Society of the Friends of Blacks in 1788 to agitate against the slave trade and slavery itself. Brissot modeled the Society on the London Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade established in 1787. He hoped that the groups might cooperate in an international effort to eliminate the slave trade. The French society, knowing that the colonial and commercial interests invested in slavery still exercised great power, cautiously advanced its proposals. This caution was well–founded, since some deputies faced personal attacks in the streets of Paris for their unpopular views. As the roster shows, the society included many leading intellectuals, politicians, and even aristocrats.
Jacques-Pierre Brissot, <i>Tableau des Membres de la Société des Amis des Noirs</i> (Paris: 1789), 1–8.
1789
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Beware the Wealthy Bourgeoisie
The term "bourgeoisie" had many meanings in eighteenth–century France, from the most literal sense of "citizens of a city" to a more sociological meaning of talented and cultivated members of the Third Estate. Some eighteenth–century writers also used the term to refer to merchants. However, it did not yet connote upper–middle–class status or adherence to certain dominant social norms, as the term would suggest today. In this passage, from the newspaper <i>Révolutions de Paris</i>, the journalist distinguishes between the "bonne bourgeoisie," who he says are "aristocratic" and "monarchist by instinct" and who fear that any political change will cost money, and the "petite bourgeoisie," who are allied with "the people" and have shown themselves to be patriotic supporters of the Revolution.
<i>Révolutions de Paris,</i> no. 87 (12 March 1791), 453–60.
March 12, 1791
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Populace Awake
In the view of the most radical commentators, such as those writing for the newspaper <i>Révolutions de Paris</i>, the Revolution had to be the work of more than just the deputies of the National Assembly; it had to be an effort of the common people. To encourage that effort, the newspaper here calls upon all good patriots to form groups in their towns and villages whose purpose will be to debate the major issues of the day, form opinions on them, and, most important, hold demonstratations so as to make certain that the National Assembly will hear of the input of the "good people" of France and not merely that of the "aristocrats."
<i>Révolutions de Paris,</i> no. 68 (23 October 1790), 116.
October 23, 1790
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<i>Père Duchesne</i> Idealizes the <i>Sans–culottes</i>
The<i> sans–culotte </i>[without the breeches of the wealthy] became the symbol of the committed, patriotic revolutionary everyman. This newspaper article describes the ideal<i> sans–culotte, </i>emphasizing his industriousness as a handicraft worker, his honesty, his simplicity, his willingness to act directly, and above all his commitment to sacrifice for the Revolutionary cause. This description is from a radical newspaper, "Father Duchesne" was, like the <i>sans–culotte</i>, a figure drawn from popular culture: a good–hearted, honest–speaking, hard–working stove repairman who would report to his companions in layman’s terms the strange doings of the wealthy he overheard while in their homes to fix stoves, a luxury item in the eighteenth century.
<i>Père Duchesne,</i> no. 313 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1794), 3–6. Translated by <i>Exploring the French Revolution </i>project staff from original documents in French found in John Hardman, <i>French Revolution Documents 1792–95</i>, vol. 2 (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1973), 218–19.
1794
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The Massacre of the <i>Champ de Mars</i> [Parade ground], in the<i> Révolutions de Paris</i>
On 15 July 1791, the Jacobins held a demonstration on the Champ de Mars in Paris to gain signatures for their petition. A contingent of National Guard soldiers, led by General Lafayette, fired on the crowd, killing at least fifty, in what became known as "the massacre of the Champ de Mars." To some observers, such as the radical newspaper writer whose account is reproduced here, the massacre proved definitively the counterrevolutionary desires of the royalists, the need for good patriots to mobilize on behalf of the more radical elements of the Parisian municipal council and the National Assembly, and the importance of taking direct action in defense of the "fatherland."
<i>Les Révolutions de Paris</i>, no. 106, (16–23 July 1791), 53–55, 63, 65–66.
July 15, 1791
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<i>Champ de Mars</i>: Petitions of the Cordelier and Jacobin Clubs
In the aftermath of the King’s failed flight in June 1791, the more radical clubs circulated petitions calling on the National Assembly to depose the King rather than grant him executive power as a constitutional monarch, under the new constitution. Below are excerpts from two such petitions, from the Cordeliers and Jacobin clubs, respectively; note that these efforts technically violated a law passed the previous 10 May, which had proscribed the circulation of petitions by clubs.
Albert Mathiez,<i> Le Club des Cordeliers pendant la crise de Varennes et le massacre du Champ de Mars</i> (Geneva: Slatkine, 1975), 45–47, 135–36.
July 14, 1791
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The "Second Revolution" of 10 August 1792
The popular demonstration of 10 August 1792, occurred because the Legislative Assembly could not decide what to do about the King, the constitution, the ongoing war, and above all the political uprisings in Paris. On 4 August, the most radical Parisian section, "the Section of the 300s," issued an "ultimatum" to the Legislative Assembly, threatening an uprising if no action was taken by midnight August 9th. On the appointed evening, the tocsin (alarm) sounded from the bell tower, and a crowd gathered before the City Hall and headed toward the Tuileries Palace. The crowd overran the Swiss Guards defending the Tuileries Palace, from which the royal family fled. Here a member of the Paris municipality, Pierre–Louis Roederer, describes the scene. In Roederer’s account, it is the mob’s action rather than the vote of the assembly that deposes the King.
Pierre-Louis Roederer, <i>Chronique de 50 jours, du 20 juin au 10 août 1792</i> (Paris, 1832), 352–79.
August 10, 1792
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The September Massacres
In late summer 1792, news reached Paris that the Prussian army had invaded France and was advancing quickly toward the capital. Moreover, rumors circulated that the Prussians would find ready support from Parisians who secretly opposed the Revolution, especially refractory priests. On September 3 and 4, inflamed by radical propaganda, ongoing food shortages, and fear of the invasion, crowds broke into the prisons where they attacked the prisoners, including refractory clergy, who were feared to be counterrevolutionaries who would aid the invading Prussians. The writer Nicolas–Edme Restif de la Bretonne here describes what he saw on the second day of the massacres. This outbreak of violence in the name of defending an imperiled Revolution from its enemies within France has been cited by some historians as evidence of an inherent tendency toward bloodshed on the part of the Jacobins. To others, the event suggests the unfortunate excesses to which well–meaning and sincerely frightened revolutionaries were willing to go to advance the cause of social and political change, in the face of difficult wartime circumstances.
Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne, <i>Les nuits de Paris</i> (Paris: Hachette, [1793] 1960), 247–53.
September 3, 1792
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