Yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo! What is up everyone? To ruin your weekend and remind you that school is tomorrow, I decided to post in the blog.
For the in-class essay on Friday, which side did you take? Also, include a small statement or thesis to your argument just to explain why.
I chose the Glorious Rev. The French Rev. was fighting for purer Enlightenment ideals. Although their society was changed drastically by the revolution, they were still under the control of a supreme leader who ruled without their consent. Representational government was perhaps the most important Enlightenment ideal. Government's power must come from the people and be used to protect the people. This was not the case with Napoleon. He crowned himself Emperor and limited people's liberties to maintain control. Although England's constitutional monarchy did not derive from the consent of all English citizens, it was a good start in creating an Enlightenment based society.
ReplyDeleteI chose the French Revolution because the Enlightenment ideals were about natural rights and the natural law. I felt that the Glorious Rev. did not fully embody these ideals as well as the French Rev. The French went from a monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, and then to a republic, and then to Directory, and then to a 3 man consul, and then to a military dictator, and then back to a monarchy, etc. Even though the French Revolution was very chaotic, violent, and not always organized, the goal and what they fighting for was clear, and that was "liberty, equality, and fraternity." Even though they didn't get it completely right, they put a lot of effort into giving natural rights not just to the French, but all of Europe. They were also able to end feudalism in France. The Glorious Rev. really only benefited the Parliament and was also mainly a religious war, not about rights. And if you look at the two countries today, England still has a monarchy while France has a semi-presidential government (according to Wikipedia). This shows that the Enlightenment ideals took a deeper and longer lasting hold on France.
ReplyDeleteLike Lindsey, I chose to argue the French Revolution because that was the rev. that displayed Liberté, égalité, and fraternité (liberty, life, fraternity). Those three words was the "motto" of the French Revolution because the people were fighting and defending their Natural Rights and showing that they took their Enlightenment ideals seriously. I agree with Lindsey when she said that the GR mainly benefitted Parliament. The Bill of Rights, that William and Mary had to sign, decreased the king and queen's power and increased Parliaments power. It also restricted any Catholics to ruling or voting, which does not show equality between the people. I also argued that the GR was a religious revolution, not a political rev. because most of the GR was fighting between Protestants and Catholics, not between the people and their government. Following this further, the Enlightenment ideals have very little to do with religion; they are mainly about the government and the people. I also discussed how Napoleon created the Napoleonic Code which France and many other countries still use today. My thesis for the essay was: Although the Glorious Revolution resulted with new and ultimately successful rulers who wanted to provide the majority of the people with their appropriate rights, in fact, the French Revolution embodied stronger Enlightenment ideals that still influence France today.
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