Q&A Flashcards
What was the scope of the French Revolution?
The result of the 1879 French Revolution was not the destruction of this or that government, but of all public authority. It was a revolution against an entire system.
What are the resemblances between the French Revolution and Religious Revolutions?
The French Revolution, though political, assumed the guise and tactics of a religious revolution. Religious commonly affect mankind in the abstract, without allowance for additions or changes effected by laws, customs, or national tradition. Therefore, the more abstract the character of a revolution, the wider they have spread, in spite of differences of laws, climate and race.
What is the resemblance between political systems in England, France and Germany in the Middle Ages?
” As I advanced in the work, I have been filled with amazement at the wonderful similarity of the laws established by races so far apart and so widely different. They vary constantly and infinitely, it is true, in matters of detail, but in the main they are identical everywhere. In all three the government was carried in accordance with the same principles; the political assemblies were constituted from the same materials, and armed with the same powers; society was divided into the same classes, on the same sliding scale; the nobles occupied the same rank, enjoyed the same privileges, were marked by the same natural characteristics - in short, the men were, properly speaking, identically the same in all.”
What was the purpose of the French Revolution?
The purpose of the French Revolution was to abolish those institutions which had held undivided sway over Europe for several centuries, and which are usually known as the feudal system; in order to substitute therefore a social and political organization marked by more uniformity and more simplicity, and resting on the basis of the equality of all ranks.
How did the institutions of society evolved from the Middle Ages up to the time of the French Revolution?
At a first blush it would appear that the old constitution of Europe was still in force; but on a closer view, this illusion is dispelled. Forget old names, pass over old forms, and you will find the feudal system substantially abolished there as early as the seventeenth century.
Did the French Revolution occur in states where the political system was the most oppressive?
A paradox meets us at the threshold of the inquiry. The revolution was designed to abolish the remains of the institutions of the Middle Ages: yet it did not break out in countries where those institutions were in full vitality and practically oppressive, but on the contrary, in a country where they were hardly felt at all.
What were the rights and obligations of German peasants in Germany?
They should not leave their seignory. If they did, they should be brought back by force. They could not marry without leave from their master. Corvees were rigorously exacted, and absorbed, in some places, three days of the week. The peasants rebuilt and kept in repair his seignior’s house, took his produce to the market. served him as coachman and messenger. Many years of his youth were spent in domestic service on the manor. A serf might obtain a farm, but his rights of property always remained inchoate. He could neither alienate nor mortgage it without leave. His estate did not wholly pass to his children, a portion went to his seignior.
What were the rights of peasants in France?
Peasant came and went, bought and sold, wrought and contracted without let or hindrance. The most important of all changes was that peasants were enabled to become freeholders.
What was the situation of the property of peasants in France before the revolution?
Peasants held one half of the landed property in the French kingdom. After the revolution, no great increase in the number of landowners can have taken place.
What were the obligations of the nobility in France before the French Revolution broke out?
It has often been remarked that, long after the nobility had ceased to participate in the government of the kingdom, the rural administration remained in their hands, and the seigniors still governed the peasantry. This too is a misconception. In the eighteenth century, all parochial business was transacted by functionaries who were not seigniorial agents, and who instead of being chosen by the seigniors, were either appointed by the intendant of the province or elected by the peasantry.
It devolved upon these officers to distribute the taxes, to repair the churches, to build schools, to administer and superintend the expenditure of the funds of the commune. The seigniors had not only lost the management, but even the supervision of these petty local matters. All parish officers were subject to the government or the central power.
The execution of the laws, the assembling of the militia, the levying of the taxes, the promulgation of the king’s commands were no longer entrusted to the seignior. They devolved upon new functionaries. The seignior was nothing more than a simple individual, isolated from his fellows by the enjoyment of peculiar immunities and privileges.
The only public department in which the nobles still had a hand was the administration of justice. Leading noblemen still preserved a right of jurisdiction over certain cases, but their jurisdiction has been so limited and overridden by the royal courts, that the seigniors who still enjoyed it viewed it rather as a source of income than as a source of power.
Even though peasants in France held more rights than any other country, why was it that they ignited the French Revolution?
The phenomenon is due party to the fact that the French peasant was a landholder, and partly to his emancipation from the government of his seignior. Had the peasantry not been landholders, they would have paid no attention to many of the burdens laid by the feudal system.
What does blunder mean?
a stupid or careless mistake
What does constituency mean?
a group of voters in a specified area who elect a representative to a legislative body
What does aide mean?
An assistant to an important person, especially a political leader
What does outcry mean?
an exclamation or shout
What does moratorium mean?
A temporary prohibition of an activity
What does exchequer mean?
a royal or national treasury
What does brush-off mean?
a rejection or dismissal of someone by treating them as unimportant
What does attune mean?
Make harmonious
What does barnstorming mean?
flamboyantly energetic and successful
What does garner mean?
to gather or to collect
What does genteel mean?
characterized by exaggerated or affected politeness, refinement, or respectability
What does alight mean?
descend from a train, bur or other form of transport
What does garb mean?
clothing
What does spearhead mean?
an individual or group chosen to lead an attack or movement
What does purported mean?
Alleged, appearing to be true
What does dainty mean?
delicately small and pretty
What does pundit mean?
An expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called upon to giver their opinion to the public.
What does shrewd mean?
Having or showing sharp powers of judgement
