Speaker 1: Hello, and Welcome to Western CIV. Episode four hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety two, Bread and the Church. The year seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: was a year of both triumph and fracture in the
Speaker 1: French Revolution, a year that began with hungry voices of
Speaker 1: the people in the streets, surging forward with radical legislative reform,
Speaker 1: and ended with a bitter confrontation between the Church and
Speaker 1: the revolution, laying the groundwork for all the division and
Speaker 1: the violence that was to come. Before I talked about
Speaker 1: the events of that year, I need to talk about
Speaker 1: one of the guiding forces of the early Revolution, someone
Speaker 1: that I've mentioned a couple of times, but I really
Speaker 1: need to bring formally onto the board, and as Jean
Speaker 1: Paul Marat. Jean Paul Marat's life before seventeen ninety was
Speaker 1: one already of restless ambition, relentless struggle, and an almost
Speaker 1: prophetic sense of being destined to collide with the forces
Speaker 1: that will be the revolution. When the revolution opened in
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty nine, Maraut stepped into history not as a
Speaker 1: polished statesman or an eminent man of letters, but as
Speaker 1: an outsider, an immigrant intellectual, a doctor, a scientist, and
Speaker 1: a radical journalist. Who was determined to speak for those
Speaker 1: he believed had no voice. Jean Paul Moratt was born
Speaker 1: on the twenty fourth of May seventeen forty three in Baldris,
Speaker 1: a small village in the Prussian Principality of Nichelle, which
Speaker 1: today is actually part of Switzerland. His father, Giovanni Mara,
Speaker 1: was of Sardinian origin and worked as a teacher. His mother,
Speaker 1: Luis Cabral, was a Calvinist from Geneva. Marnt grew up
Speaker 1: in modest circumstances, but quickly distinguished himself through intelligence and determination.
Speaker 1: By his own account, he left home as a teenager
Speaker 1: to make his way in the world, A wandering scholar
Speaker 1: in search of opportunity, Marot studied in Geneva, then moved
Speaker 1: across Europe, briefly in Italy, Holland, and finally England, pursuing
Speaker 1: medicine and philosophy with equal fervor. He adopted the French
Speaker 1: form of his name Marat, seeking to blend more easily
Speaker 1: into the Francophone world. Marat spent more than a decade
Speaker 1: living in London, where he supported himself through a variety
Speaker 1: of means, tutoring, translating, and practicing medicine. He absorbed the
Speaker 1: ideas of the English radical thought, especially John Locke and
Speaker 1: the empiricists, but also the writings of David Hume and Voltaire.
Speaker 1: It was in England that he began to form his
Speaker 1: view of society as divided between a small, selfish elite
Speaker 1: and the oppressed many. He gained some modest success as
Speaker 1: a physician. His reputation was bolstered when he claimed to
Speaker 1: have cured cases of venereal disease and tuberculosis with unconventional methods,
Speaker 1: though his colleagues doubted his effectiveness. He cultivated aristocratic clients,
Speaker 1: but his sympathies increasingly drifted towards the disadvantaged poor. Marat
Speaker 1: also pursued science and philosophy. In seventeen seventy four he
Speaker 1: published an essay on the Human Soul, reflecting his interest
Speaker 1: and metaphysics and the mind. His ambition was to make
Speaker 1: his mark as a thinker of European renown. By the
Speaker 1: mid seventeen seventies, Maraunt returned to France and sought recognition
Speaker 1: as both a doctor and a scientist. In Paris, he
Speaker 1: secured a post as a physician to the personal guards
Speaker 1: of the Comte de Artois, the king's youngest brother and
Speaker 1: the future Charles the tenth. This gave him a degree
Speaker 1: of prestige and income. Though he never abandoned his outsider status.
Speaker 1: Marut threw himself into scientific experimentation. He published works on optics,
Speaker 1: light and electricity, including Discoveries on Fire in seventeen seventy
Speaker 1: nine and Memoir on the Theory of Light in seventeen eighty.
Speaker 1: He corresponded with leading scientists of the day and hoped
Speaker 1: to gain recognition from the academic des sciences, but he
Speaker 1: never broke into its inner His scientific ambitions often met
Speaker 1: with skepticism or outright dismissal. That sense of being rejected
Speaker 1: by the elites, convinced of his own brilliance yet denied
Speaker 1: entry into their institutions, would shape his incredible bitterness in
Speaker 1: later years, as we will see with consequences. Even before
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty nine, Murat wrote about politics, and he wrote
Speaker 1: about politics a lot. In seventeen seventy four he published
Speaker 1: Chains of Slavery, a fiery denunciation of tyranny which warned
Speaker 1: the rulers inevitably sought to reduce their people to servitude.
Speaker 1: He drew on examples from Rome and England, and his
Speaker 1: message was clear, liberty must be guarded with vigilance. This
Speaker 1: book anticipated the tone of his revolutionary journalism, apocalyptic, accusatory,
Speaker 1: and relentless in its suspicion of authority. Throughout the seventeen eighties,
Speaker 1: Maraaut continued to practice medicine in Paris, offering cheap treatment
Speaker 1: to the poor, which earned him a degree of affection
Speaker 1: in the city's working class districts. He lived simply, often
Speaker 1: in cramped lodgings, and cultivated a reputation as a doctor
Speaker 1: who would not refuse those who could not pay. When
Speaker 1: the Estates General was summoned in seventeen eighty nine, Marat
Speaker 1: was not a deputy. He was an outsider. He didn't
Speaker 1: have political office, and he certainly didn't have a noble rank.
Speaker 1: But he was drawn irresistibly, like the proverbial moth to
Speaker 1: the flame, right of to the unfolding revolution, to the
Speaker 1: simple speed and pace of events. The fall of the
Speaker 1: Bass Deal and the subsequent explosion of political debate convinced
Speaker 1: Marat that he had finally found the arena in which
Speaker 1: his voice could matter. In September of seventeen eighty nine,
Speaker 1: Marat began publishing a small journal, Publicite Parision, in which
Speaker 1: he soon renamed the Alimid the People the Friend of
Speaker 1: the people. With this paper, this is when Marat really
Speaker 1: forges his identity as the watchdog, the uncompromising watchdog of
Speaker 1: the revolution. The title was no accident. He cast himself
Speaker 1: as the lone defenders of the sans culottes, the poor
Speaker 1: artisans and workers who crowded Paris. Marat's style was unlike
Speaker 1: the measured tones of most deputies. His writing was raw, angry,
Speaker 1: and often violent. In its prescriptions, he accused ministers of
Speaker 1: true reason, denounced nobles's parasites, and warned constantly of conspiracies
Speaker 1: against the revolution. He had little patience for moderation, as
Speaker 1: he declared in one issue quote, five or six hundred
Speaker 1: heads cut off would have assured your repose, liberty and happiness.
Speaker 1: By the time seventeen ninety began, Maraut was already notorious.
Speaker 1: He had attacked Jacques Nequier, the popular finance minister, in January,
Speaker 1: accusing him of betrayal and incompetence. His ceaseless calls for
Speaker 1: vigilance and punishment alarmed authorities. On January the twenty second.
Speaker 1: The Paris municipal police attempted to arrest him for sedition,
Speaker 1: but a crowd of the Sans Culottes came to his defense,
Speaker 1: allowing him to escape. Pursued and threatened, he fled temporarily
Speaker 1: to London, where he continued to write and plan his return. Thus,
Speaker 1: on the eve of seventeen ninety, Marat stood as both
Speaker 1: fugitive and profit. He was no great man of birth
Speaker 1: or office, but a self made intellectual, physician and journalist
Speaker 1: who had fused personal resentment with revolutionary zeal. The revolution
Speaker 1: had given him the platform he had long sought, and
Speaker 1: his enemies would soon discover that Marot's pen was as
Speaker 1: dangerous as any sword, Which brings us back to the
Speaker 1: new year of seventeen ninety, a new year that opened
Speaker 1: with hunger. On January the seventh, a riot erupted in
Speaker 1: Versailles as crowds demanded lower bread prices. Bread had always
Speaker 1: been the measure of life in France. When prices rose
Speaker 1: beyond the reach of workers, rebellion was never far behind,
Speaker 1: and it was only days later when Jean Paul Morant,
Speaker 1: who I just introduced, turned his pen of the friend
Speaker 1: of the people against Jockncaire, the finance minister who had
Speaker 1: once been hailed as the savior of the King's finances.
Speaker 1: In January the eighteenth, Mauraut accused Necare of weakness, compromise,
Speaker 1: and the betrayal of the revolution. Neckaire, once the darling
Speaker 1: of the people was starting to lose his sheen, his popularity,
Speaker 1: and his protection, as I mentioned, the Paris authorities quickly
Speaker 1: moved to silence Marut. On January the twenty second, the
Speaker 1: municipal police attempted to arrest him for his violent denunciations,
Speaker 1: but when they came for him, a crowd of Sansculeau gathered,
Speaker 1: their fists raised and their long sworn loyalty to the journalist,
Speaker 1: protecting the man who spoke their language. Moraunt managed to
Speaker 1: escape the authorities and fled across the channel to London.
Speaker 1: For now, his absence only heightened his legend now. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the National Assembly pressed ahead with sweeping reforms. On February
Speaker 1: the thirteenth, it suppressed the contemplative religious orders forbidding new
Speaker 1: monastic vows from being taken. The cloisters and abbeys that
Speaker 1: had stood for centuries as sanctuaries of prayer were declared
Speaker 1: obsolete in the new order of reason. Ten days later,
Speaker 1: on February the twenty third, the Assembly required coures, the
Speaker 1: humble parish priest scattered across France to read its decrees
Speaker 1: aloud from the pulpit. The revolution was carried not just
Speaker 1: in Paris, but into every village, every parish, every soul. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the nobility's last bastion of privilege was under assault. On
Speaker 1: February the twenty eighth, the Assembly abolished the requirement that
Speaker 1: army officers be of noble birth. The path of honor
Speaker 1: in the military, once a birthright of aristocrats, was now
Speaker 1: open to everyone. But in the colonies, liberty stopped short.
Speaker 1: Now the stakes were enormous. Francis Caribbean colonies San domini Ke,
Speaker 1: which is modern Haiti, Martinique, and Guadeloupe were among the
Speaker 1: richest territories in the world. Sanamini Ka alone produced about
Speaker 1: forty percent of Europe's sugar and more than half of
Speaker 1: its coffee. That wealth floated into the pockets of French
Speaker 1: planters and merchants and threw them into the coffers of
Speaker 1: the kingdom. The colonial economy, however, rested on the brutal
Speaker 1: labor of nearly half a million enslaved Africans ruled over
Speaker 1: the fewer than maybe forty thousand whites and thirty thousand
Speaker 1: free people of color. When the Revolution began, colonial planters
Speaker 1: feared that metropolitan reformers might extend the principles of the
Speaker 1: Declaration to the colonies. Planters and merchants in France quickly
Speaker 1: organized themselves into the Club Massaic, a powerful lobbying group
Speaker 1: in Paris. They insisted that colonial matters were a special case,
Speaker 1: bound by delicate balances that could not be disrupted without ruination.
Speaker 1: The Assembly ultimately took up this question in March of
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety. The issue was not abstract at all. Free
Speaker 1: people of color in San Dominique had already begun petitioning
Speaker 1: for the rights of citizenship. Citing the Declaration of the
Speaker 1: Rights of Man. They argued that, as property holders and
Speaker 1: often slave owners themselves, they were entitled to re presentation
Speaker 1: and equality before the law. Their petitions alarmed white planters,
Speaker 1: who saw them in a slippery slope that might eventually
Speaker 1: lead to emancipation. The planter's allies in the Assembly, men
Speaker 1: like Barnave and Moreau de Saint Marie insisted that the
Speaker 1: colonies were just too valuable to risk with rash reforms.
Speaker 1: They advanced several arguments. Number one, pure economic necessity. The
Speaker 1: colony is worthy quote unquote jewel of France providing wealth,
Speaker 1: trade and jobs. Abolishing slavery or extending full rights to
Speaker 1: freemen of color would destabilize the plantation economy. Number two,
Speaker 1: special circumstances. The colonies, they argued, were different from France.
Speaker 1: The Declaration of Rights of Man might apply in principle,
Speaker 1: but in practice colonies this required exceptions. There was, also,
Speaker 1: of course, the third argument, the ever present fear of
Speaker 1: a slave uprising. Planters warned that even small reforms such
Speaker 1: as extending political rights to free people of color, would
Speaker 1: inflame racial tensions and risk massive uprisings among the enslaved majority.
Speaker 1: One deputy bluntly stated that without slavery quote, the colonies
Speaker 1: would be nothing more than a useless burden end quote. Now.
Speaker 1: Of course, on the other side of the argument, so
Speaker 1: the Society de mist Noirs Society of the Friends of
Speaker 1: the Blacks, led by figures like Jacques Pierre Brissau, at
Speaker 1: Tienne Cavier and Abbi Grenaire. They denounced the hypocrisy declaring
Speaker 1: universal rights while condoning slavery. Their arguments drew on moral, religious,
Speaker 1: and political grounds, arguing the universal of rights, declaring that
Speaker 1: the revolution couldn't stop on the shores of France, that
Speaker 1: the rights belonged to all men, regardless of color or birthplace.
Speaker 1: They argued Christian morality, the perpetuating slavery was a sin
Speaker 1: against God and against nature. They argued about the danger
Speaker 1: of delay. The friends of the Blacks warned that refusing
Speaker 1: reforms would only make rebellion more likely, as oppressed groups
Speaker 1: would eventually rise on their own oppressient that third argument
Speaker 1: would eventually seem still their voices were a minority. Many deputies,
Speaker 1: while sympathetic to the voices and ideals of equality, feared
Speaker 1: economic and political consequences of radical change, And so it
Speaker 1: was that on March the eighth, seventeen ninety, the National
Speaker 1: Assembly reached a compromise that revealed both the daring and
Speaker 1: timidity of the revolution. The Assembly voted to maintain slavery
Speaker 1: in the colonies, but to allow the establishment of colonial
Speaker 1: assemblies composed of white colonists to manage local affairs. This
Speaker 1: decision gave the planters greater autonomy while reaffirming the economic
Speaker 1: system that sustained their wealth. The decree effectively dodged the
Speaker 1: question of applying the rights of men to colonial society.
Speaker 1: Deputies argued that they were not denying universal rights, only
Speaker 1: acknowledging practical limits in far off distant territories. In truth,
Speaker 1: though it was of course a retreat, it was obvious
Speaker 1: that the language of liberty stopped at the plantation gates.
Speaker 1: For the friends of the Blacks, the March decree was
Speaker 1: a bitter disappointment. Brisseau wrote that France had betrayed its
Speaker 1: own revolution. Abbi rire lamented that the Assembly had bowed
Speaker 1: quote to and fear for the planters. That decision was
Speaker 1: a course of victory, but it was only temporary. The
Speaker 1: refusal to extend equality to freemen of color and the
Speaker 1: preservation of slavery would eventually plant the seeds of a
Speaker 1: deadly and vicious revolt and the colonies themselves. The news
Speaker 1: was received with tension. In San Dominique, free people of
Speaker 1: color continued to demand their rights. By June, biracial residents
Speaker 1: of Martinique staged in uprising, and only a year later,
Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety one, the enslaved of San Dominique would
Speaker 1: rise in what became the Haitian Revolution, proving that the
Speaker 1: assemblies compromise had only delayed, not preventing the reckoning to come.
Speaker 1: Just four days after the slavery vote, on March the twelfth,
Speaker 1: the Assembly authorized the sale of church lands, transferring vast
Speaker 1: wealth into the hands of the municipalities. Pope reacted in alarm.
Speaker 1: On March the twenty ninth, Pius the sixth, in secret
Speaker 1: condemned the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Speaker 1: as a heresy against devine order. The spring was a
Speaker 1: restless one. Between April the fifth and June the tenth,
Speaker 1: riots broke out across the provinces in France in Van's
Speaker 1: names to loose to Laan and Avignon. These were not
Speaker 1: riots for bread, but this time for God. Devout Catholics,
Speaker 1: outraged by the suppression of religious life, took to the
Speaker 1: streets to defend their faith. The revolution's political culture deepened.
Speaker 1: On April the seventeenth, the Cordiers Club was founded in
Speaker 1: a former convent, becoming a hotbed of radical democracy and
Speaker 1: popular politics. Meanwhile, the old Order was met with violence
Speaker 1: On April the thirtieth, riots shook Marseilles. Three forts fell
Speaker 1: to the insurgents, and the commander of Fort Saint Jean
Speaker 1: de Chevier de Cavalier was assassinated. New societies sprang up everywhere.
Speaker 1: May the twelfth, Lafayette and Bayi, seeking a more moderate path,
Speaker 1: founded the Society of seventeen eighty nine. On May fifteenth,
Speaker 1: the Assembly voted to redeem their feudal dues. Three days later,
Speaker 1: Marat Remember, who had been in exile in London, returned
Speaker 1: triumphant and resumed his fire republications. Then, on May the
Speaker 1: twenty second, the Assembly took a decisive step in foreign policy.
Speaker 1: It determined that once and for all, the people, acting
Speaker 1: through the National Assembly were the only ones that could
Speaker 1: decide issues of war and peace, though the king would
Speaker 1: retain a lie limited and often ceremonial role. Festivals erupted
Speaker 1: as a response on May the thirtieth in Lyon, on
Speaker 1: June the second in Lilie, in June the thirteenth in Strasbourg,
Speaker 1: and finally in June nineteenth in Rowan. FETs de Federacion
Speaker 1: celebrated the revolution with music, oaths and civic unity, but
Speaker 1: beyond the seas trouble stirred. On June the third, biracial
Speaker 1: residents of Martinique rose up against colonial authorities, and on
Speaker 1: June the nineteenth, the Assembly abolished noble titles entirely, stripping
Speaker 1: dukes and counts of their ancient styles. That same day,
Speaker 1: diplomats in Reichenbach, diplomats from England, Austria, Prussia, and the
Speaker 1: United Provinces of the Netherlands met to consider for the
Speaker 1: first time whether foreign powers should end against the revolution.
Speaker 1: The storm was gathering, though it would take some time
Speaker 1: to break. Meanwhile, back at home, domestic affairs continued to pace.
Speaker 1: On July the twelfth, the Assembly passed the civil Constitution
Speaker 1: of the clergy. The church was now to be reorganized,
Speaker 1: its bishops and priests elected by the people, and its
Speaker 1: allegiance owed not to Rome but to the French nation.
Speaker 1: On July the fourteenth, the first anniversary of the fall
Speaker 1: of the Bastille, the Fete de la Federacion on the
Speaker 1: Champ de Mars brought together the King, the Queen, Assembly
Speaker 1: and the people. Lafayette, standing before the vast crowd, swore
Speaker 1: quote to be ever faithful to the nation, to the law,
Speaker 1: and to the king for one day at least France
Speaker 1: stood un It would prove to be the last. The
Speaker 1: Pope was the first to move against the crushing tide.
Speaker 1: On July the twenty third, he secretly assured Louis the
Speaker 1: sixteenth of his support against these new laws. Days later,
Speaker 1: Maraut escalated the confrontation, publishing a call on the twenty
Speaker 1: sixth of July for the execution seemingly indiscriminately hundreds of aristocrats.
Speaker 1: The Assembly, alarmed, attempted to rein him in. On July
Speaker 1: the thirty first, it initiated legal proceedings against Marnt and
Speaker 1: Camille des Moyenes for their incitements to violence. The Assembly
Speaker 1: now desperately moved to try to restore order. On August
Speaker 1: the sixteenth, it created Justices of the Peace to replace
Speaker 1: old signiorial courts, while also calling for renewed scipline in
Speaker 1: the army. But on August the thirty first, a mutiny
Speaker 1: in Nancia exploded into violence between rebellious soldiers and members
Speaker 1: of the National Guard. It seemed everywhere now discipline was collapsing.
Speaker 1: Finance followed. On September the fourth, Jacques de Caire was
Speaker 1: finally in I guess refreshingly from his perspective, dismissed, and
Speaker 1: the Assembly assumed control over the treasury. The revolutionaries had
Speaker 1: now seized the purse strings of France, only to discover
Speaker 1: the purse was empty. Days later, on September the sixteenth,
Speaker 1: sailors mutinied at Brest, echoing the unrest in the army.
Speaker 1: The King's confidence and the revolution now started to crumble.
Speaker 1: On October the sixth, he wrote to his cousin, Charles
Speaker 1: the fourth of Spain, expressing his hostility to these new
Speaker 1: ecclesiastical rules. On twelfth, the Assembly dissolved the colonial Assembly
Speaker 1: of San Dominek, reaffirming slavery. Nine days later, on the
Speaker 1: October twenty first, it decreed that the tricolor flag was
Speaker 1: now the new national emblem, permanent, re replacing the white
Speaker 1: banner of the Bourbons. And it was the colonies now
Speaker 1: that started to burn. On November fourth, there was an
Speaker 1: insurrection on the Eele de France, which is present day Mauritius.
Speaker 1: On November the twenty fifth, enslaved people on San demini
Speaker 1: Que rose up in defiance. This is the first spark
Speaker 1: of what is eventually going to become the Haitian Revolution,
Speaker 1: which to a large extent, is going to run on
Speaker 1: a parallel track to what's going on in France. But
Speaker 1: the biggest fracture came in late November of seventeen ninety.
Speaker 1: On that day, in November the twenty seventh, the Assembly
Speaker 1: decreed that all clergy had to s where an oath
Speaker 1: of loyalty to the nation, the law, and the King.
Speaker 1: For many priests this was a rubicon, a line they
Speaker 1: could not cross. To swear it meant betraying their oath
Speaker 1: to the Pope in Rome. To refuse meant to betray France.
Speaker 1: They didn't know what to do. They weren't alone. Louis
Speaker 1: the sixteenth hesitated, but on December third he was writing
Speaker 1: secretly to King Frederick Wilhelm the Second of Prussia, pleading
Speaker 1: for armed intervention to restore his authority. On December the
Speaker 1: twenty seventh, thirty nine clerical deputies in the Assembly took
Speaker 1: the oath that had been requested to him, but everyone
Speaker 1: else refused, and so now the schism between the Revolution
Speaker 1: and the Church was forever complete. The year seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: began with riots for bread and ended with secret royal
Speaker 1: pleas for foreign armies. It saw the people in the streets,
Speaker 1: Marah in exile, and then once more in triumph, the
Speaker 1: nobility stripped of its privileges, the church split from the state,
Speaker 1: and the Tricolor now raised as the emblem of a
Speaker 1: new France. It was a year of festivals and of mutinies,
Speaker 1: of oaths taken and oaths refused. Above all, it was
Speaker 1: the year when the revolution truly ceased to be a
Speaker 1: reform of the monarchy, an attempt to change the old system,
Speaker 1: and instead became a true revolution, a struggle for the
Speaker 1: soul of France.