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<v Speaker 1>Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve. Episode four hundred and ninety,

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<v Speaker 1>The Storming of the Bass Deal. On June the twentieth,

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen eighty nine, a dramatic confrontation unfolded. The Deputies of

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<v Speaker 1>the Third Estate, who had already begun calling themselves the

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<v Speaker 1>National Assembly, arrived at their meeting hall at Versailles, only

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<v Speaker 1>to find it locked, ostensibly for preparations for a royal session.

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<v Speaker 1>To them, however, it felt like an insult, perhaps even

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<v Speaker 1>a plot to dissolve them. So they marched, as we know,

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<v Speaker 1>to a nearby indoor tennis court. They are in the

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<v Speaker 1>echoing space. Jean Silban Bailey, their president, stood before the deputies,

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<v Speaker 1>who pressed shoulder to shoulder with arms raised. They swore

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<v Speaker 1>a solemn collective vow. We will not separate, and we

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<v Speaker 1>will reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the

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<v Speaker 1>Kingdom is established and fixed upon solid foundations. This sermon

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<v Speaker 1>Depieum or tennis court oath, was immortalized by the painter

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<v Speaker 1>Jacques Louis da Vide, though in reality the deputies were

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<v Speaker 1>less statuesque and more weary, sweating men in rumpled coats. Still,

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<v Speaker 1>the significance was clear. They had declared themselves the sovereign

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<v Speaker 1>body of the nation. Count Mirebeau the fiery order captured

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<v Speaker 1>the mood when days later he resisted an order from

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<v Speaker 1>the King's envoy to disperse, saying, go tell those who

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<v Speaker 1>sent you that we are here by the will of

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<v Speaker 1>the people, and we will only be driven out by

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<v Speaker 1>the force of bayonets. The revolution, still fragile, had drawn

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<v Speaker 1>its first line in the sand. Sixteenth. Was no tyrant

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<v Speaker 1>by instinct, gentle, hesitant, fond of hunting and locks more

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<v Speaker 1>than politics, he was now thrust into a storm. On

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<v Speaker 1>June the twenty third, at the Seance Royal, he attempted

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<v Speaker 1>to reassert control. He annulled the National Assembly's decrees and

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<v Speaker 1>demanded that the states meet separately. Yet the tide had

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<v Speaker 1>already shifted. Even some clergy and nobles defied the king's

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<v Speaker 1>orders and joined the Assembly. Within days, Louis yielded, instructing

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<v Speaker 1>all the orders to unite. This concession, however, was accompanied

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<v Speaker 1>by ominous gestures. By early July, rumors spread that the

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<v Speaker 1>king was massing troops around Paris, perhaps twenty thousand soldiers

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<v Speaker 1>encamped nearby Camille des Muren, a young lawyer, later recalled

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<v Speaker 1>the feeling, why are all these groups if not to

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<v Speaker 1>disperse the National Assembly to crush liberty at its birth.

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<v Speaker 1>At the same time, red prices in Paris were soaring

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<v Speaker 1>a loaf cost as much as a laborer's daily wage.

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<v Speaker 1>Hunger sharpened political awareness, and the streets grew reckless. Jacques

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<v Speaker 1>Neckaire tried to ride to the rescue. He was the

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<v Speaker 1>popular finance minister who had long been seen as the

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<v Speaker 1>friend of reform. His dismissal back on July the eleventh,

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen eighty nine, by the King's conservative advisors was like

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<v Speaker 1>a spark in the tinder. The moment that he was

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<v Speaker 1>dismissed again, crowds gathered in the Palais Royale gardens, where

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<v Speaker 1>des Molent leapt into a cafe table and shouted citizens,

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<v Speaker 1>Nickaire is dismissed. The foreign regiments are advancing to massacre us.

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<v Speaker 1>To arms to arms, witnesses remembered him seizing a greenleaf

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<v Speaker 1>to pin to his hat, crying that it would be

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<v Speaker 1>their badge of freedom. The city positively irerupted. Barricades were

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<v Speaker 1>thrown up, gun shops looted, bells rang alarm. The people

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<v Speaker 1>of Paris, fearing repression, sought weapons to defend themselves. The

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<v Speaker 1>Hotel de Valaides, a veterans hospital, was stormed on July

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<v Speaker 1>the fourteenth, yielding thousands of muskets but no powder. For that,

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<v Speaker 1>the new insurgents turned their eyes toward the Bastille, the

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<v Speaker 1>medieval fortress prison whose thick walls loomed over the eastern

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<v Speaker 1>quarter of the city. The Bastial was more symbolic than practical.

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<v Speaker 1>By seventeen eighty nine, it held only seven total prisoners.

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<v Speaker 1>Four were forgers, two were lunatics, and then there was

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<v Speaker 1>one nobleman who had been imprisoned by his family. To

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<v Speaker 1>the Parisian it embodied royal despotism, a place of arbitrary imprisonment.

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<v Speaker 1>As the crowds surged toward it, their shouts mingled with

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<v Speaker 1>a century's worth of resentment. Negotiations dragged on between the

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<v Speaker 1>governor of the Bastille, Bernard Renie de l'aunay, and the crowd.

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<v Speaker 1>Attentions quickly escalated, Shots rang out, and after hours of battle,

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<v Speaker 1>cannon fire, musket volleys and smoke, the Bastille fell to

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<v Speaker 1>the storming crowds of Paris de Lunae was dragged through

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<v Speaker 1>the streets and killed, his head paraded on a pike.

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<v Speaker 1>That evening, the Duke of le Roqueford approached Louis the

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<v Speaker 1>sixteenth at Versailles. The King, having been out hunting, reportedly asked,

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<v Speaker 1>it is it a revolt, to which the Duke replied, no, sire,

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<v Speaker 1>it is a revolution. In Paris, bells rang and the

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<v Speaker 1>crowds cheered. In the countryside, news spread like wildfire, sparking

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<v Speaker 1>both joy and fear. The Bastile's fall marked the end

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<v Speaker 1>of absolute monarchies aura for the people. It proved that

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<v Speaker 1>united action could topple even the king's most intimidating fortress. Thus,

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<v Speaker 1>within less than a month, the revolution had traveled from

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<v Speaker 1>the solemn words of the Tennis Code Oarth to the

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<v Speaker 1>bloody capture of the Bastile. The deputies had declared themselves

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<v Speaker 1>the nation. The people of Paris had armed themselves as

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<v Speaker 1>its defenders. France was now a nation in motion, a

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<v Speaker 1>nation moving toward an unknown future. Even as Paris rejoiced,

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<v Speaker 1>the countryside seethed bread Brice's sword, and harvest prospects remained poor.

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<v Speaker 1>Rumors swept through villages, wild stories that brigands hired by

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<v Speaker 1>nobles were destroying cromps, or that foreign armies would march

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<v Speaker 1>against the people. The wave of panic, known as le

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<v Speaker 1>grand Pierre the Grand Fear, spread in late July and

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<v Speaker 1>August like a fever. Peasants armed themselves, raided manor houses,

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<v Speaker 1>and torched feudal records. In the village of Lufec, a

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<v Speaker 1>report noted that peasants storms the lord's chateau, shouting, we

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<v Speaker 1>are no longer serfs, we are free men. Sometimes violence

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<v Speaker 1>spilled over. Noble families fled, adding to a sense of

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<v Speaker 1>a nation in upheaval. Back in Versailles, the deputies of

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<v Speaker 1>the National Assembly, as they were styling themselves, watched the

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<v Speaker 1>events with alarm. To restore home, they took a radical step.

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<v Speaker 1>On the night of August fourth, seventeen eighty nine. Noble deputies,

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<v Speaker 1>many with theatrical gestures, rose one after another to renounce

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<v Speaker 1>their feudal privileges, hunting rights, feudal dues, clerical tithes all

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<v Speaker 1>were cast aside. In a sweeping moment of revolutionary theater.

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<v Speaker 1>The Duke de Allen, one of the wealthiest nobles, declared,

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<v Speaker 1>quote the most effective means of establishing peace and public

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<v Speaker 1>order is to abolish feudal whites. Deputies cheered, many in tears.

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<v Speaker 1>One chronicler would later label it quote a night of

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<v Speaker 1>patriotic drunkenness end quote. Within days, decrees went out formalizing

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<v Speaker 1>the abolition of feudalism. Though many details would take months

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<v Speaker 1>to resolve, the symbolic break that happened that night in

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<v Speaker 1>August of seventeen eighty nine was totally decisive. It was

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<v Speaker 1>clear that the at least the old regime's social hierarchy,

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<v Speaker 1>if nothing else, was dissolving. When from this fervor came

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<v Speaker 1>the Declaration of the Rights of Man as it's called,

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen,

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<v Speaker 1>which was adopted a couple weeks later, on August twenty sixth,

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen eighty nine. The declaration did not emerge in a vacuum.

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<v Speaker 1>By late spring seventeen eighty nine, France was convulsed by change.

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<v Speaker 1>The Bass Deal had fallen, feudal dues had been renounced,

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<v Speaker 1>and the National Assembly was already in the process of

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<v Speaker 1>dismantling the old regime. Yet the Deputies wanted not only

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<v Speaker 1>to sweep away the past, but to also set down

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<v Speaker 1>the foundations for a New Order Abbey Emmanuel Joseph Siez,

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<v Speaker 1>whose pamphlet What is the Third Estate had electrified France

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<v Speaker 1>earlier that year, arguing that a constitution must be anchored

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<v Speaker 1>by a declaration of principles. Others pointed to precedents abroad.

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<v Speaker 1>The American Revolution loomed Lard and Lafayette, fresh from fighting

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<v Speaker 1>with Washington, was eager to introduce something like Virginia's Bill

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<v Speaker 1>of Rights. In seventeen seventy six, even consulted with Thomas

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<v Speaker 1>Jefferson than the American minister in Paris, while drafting proposals.

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<v Speaker 1>And so, with that being said, let us now turn

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<v Speaker 1>for a moment to the figure who straddled two revolutions,

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<v Speaker 1>a young nobleman who styled himself the hero of two worlds,

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<v Speaker 1>Guilbert de Montier, Marquis de Lafayette. He wasn't yet thirty

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<v Speaker 1>two years old in July of seventeen eighty nine, but

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<v Speaker 1>already his life had carried him from the salons of

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<v Speaker 1>Paris to the battlefields of America, and now he sat

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<v Speaker 1>at the epicenter of France's own revolution. Mary Joseph Paul

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<v Speaker 1>Yves Roch de Guerbert Mimentier was born on September sixth,

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen fifty seven, into one of France's oldest aristocratic families

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<v Speaker 1>in the province of Avergnez. His father, a colonel in

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<v Speaker 1>the French army, was killed at the Battle of Menden

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<v Speaker 1>in seventeen fifty nine, when Lafayette wasn't quite two years old.

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<v Speaker 1>His mother died when he was twelve, leaving him an

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<v Speaker 1>orphan but the heir to the great wealth and title.

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<v Speaker 1>Educated at the College de preci in Paris, he was

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<v Speaker 1>groomed for service at court and in the military. In

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen seventy four, at the age of sixteen, he married

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<v Speaker 1>Adrianne Denis, daughter of one of France's most influential noble families,

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<v Speaker 1>tying him to the heart of Versailles aristocracy. Yet lafayette

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<v Speaker 1>restless spirit sought more than privilege. The American Revolution provided

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<v Speaker 1>the stage for his first great act in life. In

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen seventy six, as news of colonial resistance to Britain spread,

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette was inspired by the cause of liberty. Despite the

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<v Speaker 1>opposition of his family and the French crown, officially allied

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<v Speaker 1>with Britain at that time, he resolved that he would

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<v Speaker 1>fight for the Americans. In seventeen seventy seven, he secretly

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<v Speaker 1>purchased a ship, the Law Victory, the Victory, and sailed

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<v Speaker 1>for the New World. He was only nineteen years old

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<v Speaker 1>when he presented himself to the Continental Congress in America.

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<v Speaker 1>At first, skeptical Americans were wary of another European adventurer

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<v Speaker 1>seeking fortune, but Lafayette offered to serve without pay, and

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<v Speaker 1>his sincerity won them over General George Washington nearly twenty

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<v Speaker 1>five years his senior took a liking to the young Frenchman,

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<v Speaker 1>calling him quote my adopted son end quote. Lafayette quickly

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<v Speaker 1>distinguished himself at the Battle of Brandywine, where he was wounded,

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<v Speaker 1>but refused to quit the field. He fought at Monmouth

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<v Speaker 1>and helped secure the Franco American alliance at Yorktown in

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen eighty one. His command of division was instrumental in

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<v Speaker 1>cornering Lord Cornwallis and bringing the war to the end.

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<v Speaker 1>By the end of the Revolution, he was celebrated both

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<v Speaker 1>in America and France as a champion of liberty. Now

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<v Speaker 1>back in France, Lafayette's American service made him a very

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<v Speaker 1>popular figure. He corresponded with George Washington, John Adams, and Jefferson,

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<v Speaker 1>cultivating a reputation as a bridge between the old world

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<v Speaker 1>and the new. At court, however, he remained regarded as

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<v Speaker 1>a bit of an idea and something of an eccentric,

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<v Speaker 1>more devoted to the abstract concept of liberty than to

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<v Speaker 1>royal protocol. In seventeen eighty seven, as France entered its

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<v Speaker 1>financial and political crisis, Lafayette began to speak out. He

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<v Speaker 1>was a member of the Assembly of Notables convened by

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<v Speaker 1>Louis the sixteenth, and there he proposed a declaration of

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<v Speaker 1>rights modeled on America's example. His proposal was dismissed at

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<v Speaker 1>the time, but it foreshadowed his later rule. When the

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<v Speaker 1>Estates General was called in seventeen eighty nine, Lafayette was

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<v Speaker 1>elected as a representative of the nobility from Avarney, where

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<v Speaker 1>he was from. Though a nobleman, he sided with the reformers,

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<v Speaker 1>quickly supporting the National assemblies push for constitutional government. On

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<v Speaker 1>July the eleventh, when the Assembly considered a draft of

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<v Speaker 1>the Declaration of Rights of Man, Lafayette presented his own version,

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<v Speaker 1>written with the advice of Thomas Jefferson, declaring liberty, equality,

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<v Speaker 1>and the rights of man are the foundation of government.

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<v Speaker 1>As tensions in Paris mounted after the dismissal of the

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<v Speaker 1>Finance Minister Neckaer, Lafayette was chosen vice president of the Assembly.

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<v Speaker 1>On July the fifteenth, the day after storming the Bastille,

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<v Speaker 1>he was appointed commander of the newly formed National Guard.

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<v Speaker 1>To symbolize unity. It was he that designed the Tricolor cockade,

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<v Speaker 1>combining Paris's blue and red with the white of the monarchy,

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<v Speaker 1>which will, of course eventually be the French flag still

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<v Speaker 1>in use today. Lafayette woul ultimately be instrumental in the

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<v Speaker 1>early events of the revolution and drafting the Rights of Man.

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<v Speaker 1>In the words of Deputy Jean jove S Monier, a

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<v Speaker 1>declaration of rights is the only way to halt the

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<v Speaker 1>abuse of power and establish the foundations of liberty. So

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<v Speaker 1>with Lafayette introduced, let's turn back to that declaration of

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<v Speaker 1>Rights of Man. The drafting was neither simple nor unanimous.

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<v Speaker 1>In August of seventeen eighty nine, the Assembly debated line

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<v Speaker 1>by lane, sometimes word by word, should the declaration emphasize

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<v Speaker 1>natural rights or the sovereignty of the nation should property

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<v Speaker 1>be included as a sacred right or subordinated to public necessity.

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<v Speaker 1>The final text, adopted on August the twenty sixth, reflected compromise,

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<v Speaker 1>but also a clear spirit of Enlightenment thought philosophers such

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<v Speaker 1>as Rousseau, Montesquieu and Locke seemed to echo in its articles,

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<v Speaker 1>though refracted through the urgency of revolutionary France. Seventeen articles

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<v Speaker 1>laid out the framework of a new political and social order.

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<v Speaker 1>There would be natural rights. The very first article declared

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<v Speaker 1>quote men are born and remain free and equal in rights.

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<v Speaker 1>The sweeping statement struck at the very heart of aristocratic privilege,

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<v Speaker 1>again forcing to topple the old regime. And there were

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<v Speaker 1>concepts of sovereignty. Article three proclaim this principle of sovereignty

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<v Speaker 1>resides essentially in the nation. Hence power no longer flowed

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<v Speaker 1>from the king by divine right, but from the people

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<v Speaker 1>as a whole. In terms of law and equality, Article

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<v Speaker 1>six stated law is the expression of the general will.

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<v Speaker 1>Every citizen has a right to participate personally or through

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<v Speaker 1>his representative. In its formation, here was Rousseau's philosophy transmuted

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<v Speaker 1>into law. There were rights to liberty, property, and security,

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<v Speaker 1>Article two identified these as the natural and imprescriptible rights

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<v Speaker 1>of man. Article seventeen property is inviable and sacred those

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<v Speaker 1>subject of course to expropriation for public necessity, but with compensation,

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<v Speaker 1>and there were limits, for the first time placed on authority.

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<v Speaker 1>The declaration defined liberty not as absolute license, but as

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<v Speaker 1>bounded by law. Liberty consists in the freedom to do

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<v Speaker 1>everything which injures no one else. The language was deliberately universal.

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<v Speaker 1>It spoke of man and citizen, not a Frenchman, specifically

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<v Speaker 1>suggesting these were rights belonging to all humanity at once.

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<v Speaker 1>The declaration was hailed as a turning point. In Paris,

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<v Speaker 1>newspapers printed it in full, and copies spread to towns

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<v Speaker 1>and villages. Foreign observers, too, recognized its importance. Thomas Jefferson

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<v Speaker 1>wrote that it was the single best statement of the

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<v Speaker 1>rights of man ever produced. Man means something from Thomas Jefferson.

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<v Speaker 1>The Marquis de Concordette called it the Catechism of free men. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, have also drew some criticism. Some conservatives feared

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<v Speaker 1>it undermined monarchy and religion. Others pointed out its silences.

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<v Speaker 1>Olimpe de Use, the playwright famously perioded it in seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty nine with her Declaration of the Rights of Women

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<v Speaker 1>and Female citizens, asking why woman is born free but

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<v Speaker 1>denied citizenship and of course, in the French colonies enslaved

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<v Speaker 1>people in San domine K, which is modern da Haiti

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<v Speaker 1>invoked its principles to challenge slavery, though the Assembly initially

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<v Speaker 1>excluded them. While the Assembly debated lofty principles, other things

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<v Speaker 1>we weren't going so well. Paris was hung bread remained scarce,

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<v Speaker 1>and the king lingered at Versailles, seemingly distant from the

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<v Speaker 1>people's needs. Rumors spread that the court plotted to resist

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<v Speaker 1>the revolution, perhaps with foreign help. Matters got worse in

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<v Speaker 1>early October. On the first day of October, at Versailles,

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<v Speaker 1>the royal bodyguards hosted a banquet for the officers of

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<v Speaker 1>the Flanders Regiment. Accounts of the feast, exaggerated or not,

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<v Speaker 1>spread quickly to Paris that royalists had trampled the tricolor cockade,

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<v Speaker 1>toasted the white flag of the Bourbons, and cheered the

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<v Speaker 1>Queen Marie Antoinette with open scorn for the revolution. Camille

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<v Speaker 1>de Misien fumed in his pamphlet Revolutions de Paris at

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<v Speaker 1>Albrabant quote, they drink, they sing, They call for the

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<v Speaker 1>destruction of the National Assembly. While the people starve for bread.

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<v Speaker 1>Next week they'll just go get it.