Prejudices of the French Revolution

The Abbe Bergier, a Catholic critic of the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau — and an admitted foe of “tolerance” — criticizes Rousseau for preaching tolerance but actually advocating a society and a civil religion which would be intolerant towards Catholics, atheists, and women.

In this sense, Rousseau, the enlightened progressive, ends up looking horribly tyrannical and backwards, and Bergier, the inquisitorial medieval ultramontane Catholic, seems remarkably prescient and forward-looking, because his concerns were borne out by the Reign of Terror.

For all that the French Revolution seemed to celebrate women, worshipping goddesses of liberty and reason in the churches as part of their “Festival of Reason”, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (co-authored by Thomas Jefferson) included no mention of the rights of women.

The execution of Olympe de Gouges.

Olympe de Gouges took notice of this curious omission and published a rebuttal, the Declaration of the Rights of Women and of the Female Citizen. Rather than listening to these complaints and letting women form part of the social contract, the Revolutionaries promptly guillotined her and ignored all her protests.

Just because a revolution looks “progressive” doesn’t mean it actually is. The adoration of Lady Liberty didn’t lead to rights or liberty for actual ladies. Don’t be fooled by these kinds of cosmetics. The suspicion of reactionaries has more merit than most people want to admit.

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Photos: Pierre Herman; Tom Coe / Unsplash / PD-US

Brett Fawcett

Brett Fawcett

Brett Fawcett is a teacher and columnist. He has a Masters of Theological Studies and currently lives in China with his wife.

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2 thoughts on “Prejudices of the French Revolution”

  1. The French have always had a schizophrenic attitude about their revolution. They celebrate Bastille Day, an occasion of almost no significance, and attempt to ignore the Terror that followed for almost seven years until the revolution finally consumed its own. Even today there is a titular Count of Paris. French philosophers tend somewhat along these lines also. Proposing a line of thought, backing up to modify when the times (or governments, people, the hoi poloi) change as if to await the next directional change in the wind. Usually, their politics are dragged into the process to provide a new look in government. Don’t forget; this is the same country that produced a Petain and a de Gaulle in the same war.

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