2. Second Short Paper Assignment -- Topics

The second short paper assignment is based on the documents contained Jack Censer and Lynn Hunt, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. The paper should be at least 1000 words in length. Please deposit your paper electronically in Vericite, which you can do by clicking on the box below, and bring a paper print-out to class on the due date, Thursday, December 1.

The assignment for the second essay is to use these documents to analyze one of the following ten aspects of the Revolution. You need not use all the documents catalogued under the heading: you’ll find that some of these categories contain more material than you will need to make your case. The important thing is to analyze the documents you do use carefully and to construct a balanced argument around them. (Of course you can also use the documents found at the end of each chapter of the book).

• Clubs: Ever since Rousseau, much anxiety had surrounded idea that the very existence of “particular wills” inside a nation would impede the formation of the “general will.” And yet one of the most distinctive contributions of the French Revolution to the history of politics was the political “club”. What role did clubs play in the French Revolution, and how did their members view themselves in relation to the “general will”?
• Enlightenment: To what extent was the French Revolution a product of the Enlightenment? Use the documents under the heading “Enlightenment” to make your case. With this question, you will need to focus your analysis on some particular aspect of the Enlightenment, such as the concept of natural rights, rationalism, or secularism.
• Middle-Classes/Bourgeoisie: Many historians have argued that the French Revolution expressed the common economic and social interests of the eighteenth-century middle class, or bourgeoisie. Do you find this to be a persuasive explanation for the French Revolution? Why or why not? Use the documents under this heading to make your case.
• Monarchy: Was the downfall of monarchy the inevitable outcome of the French Revolution? Almost nobody wanted to overthrow the monarchy in 1789, and yet by 1792 many believed that the Revolution could not survive as long as Louis XVI remained alive. What do you think? Based on your analysis of the documents under this heading, do you think that the downfall of monarchy was inevitable?
• Nobility: Alexis de Tocqueville thought that the French nobility had been rash to embrace the norms and values of Enlightenment so eagerly. And yet large numbers of the French noblility joined the cause of Revolution, at least in its initial phases. How do you explain their behavior? What do the documents on the nobility suggest to you about hopes and expectations of nobles in the early phases of the Revolution?
• Peasants: What do the documents contained under the heading “Peasants” suggest to you about the role of peasants in the Revolution, their experience of the Revolution, their hopes and expectations, the impact of the Revolution on their lives?
• Popular Politics: The eighteenth-century gave birth to a new force in politics, “public opinion,” and many historians have argued that the course of the French Revolution was set by the people, intervening en masse. But who were “The People”? How did ideas about who “the People” were change over the course of the Revolution?
• Religion: Why did religion prove to be such an important source of division in revolutionary France? Use the documents under this heading to analyze the relationship between church and state after 1789 and show how conflicts over religion influenced the course of revolution in France.
• Terror: Do you think that the Terror was inevitable? Many have argued that it was the necessary outcome of Rousseau's political theory, flaws in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, and circumstances in which France found itself in 1792 and 1793. Do you agree or disagree?
• Women: Few issues exposed so clearly the limits of Enlightenment universalism as the question of political rights for women. Most revolutionaries rejected the idea that women should have a share in politics equal to that of men, but not all did. Does this mean that the French Revolution was of, by, and for men? Use the documents under this heading to analyze the relationship between the French Revolution and gender.

1) First, the Revolution is not a block. The Revolution of 1790 is not the Revolution of 1795. This was a period of great flux; the changes were dramatic and rapid. So it is wise to pay careful attention to the dates of the documents.

2) Second, remember that the Revolution was divisive. There were not only the divisions between those who were for and against the Revolution. Those who were for the Revolution often disagreed amongst themselves over exactly what they wanted, and much the same can be said of the Revolution’s opponents.

To get to the documents. There are two possibilities.

1) CD: First, you need a computer with the software (the TK3 Reader). This software can be found on the cd-rom and downloaded. Second, I have found that if I open the “book” and click under “File” on “getting start,” the table of contents will appear. From the table of contents, you want to look under “Resources,” on the left, and click on “Resource Index.” This will bring up the twenty categories. Click on any of these and you will first get a list of contents for the heading. Click on any of these titles and either a text or an image will appear.

2) Internet: You can also get access to these documents on the internet at the following web address: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution. Once you've found the website, click on “Search” and the twenty categories mentioned above will appear. Click on the category and the type of document you would like to view, and you'll get a list of materials that you can print out or download to your computer.

A note on citations: This paper raises some difficult problems for citation. If you directly cite a document (either by name or a direct quotation), you should give the author (where appropriate - note that some authors are collective or corporate in nature), the complete title of the document, and its date. For direct quotations you should also try to give the page number where it can be found on the cd-rom. The easiest way to do this is by using footnotes - nearly every computer today formats them automatically. Note that once you have given a complete reference for a document in a first note, all subsequent references to the same piece need only use a shortened version of the author and title. You may also refer to images using the same method.