social and political origins of the frencha nd english revolutions
a) The intellectual origins of the revolutions The “Age of Enlightenment” was one which valued the power of rationality. ... In articulating such a programme, the men of the Enlightenment were appointing themselves as the priesthood of a new social order. In their vision of their role as critics and reformers there emerged for the first time a social ideal of the generalized critical intellect. ... Abysmally ignorant of English Law and culture, the Scottish cousin of Elizabeth I, James I succeeded the throne of England. ... ”4 This notion implying total royal jurisdiction over the liberties, persons, and properties of English men and women, formed the basis of the Stuart concept of absolutism. Such a view ran directly counter to the long standing English idea that a person’s property could not be taken away without due process of law. In Leviathan, The English philosopher and political theorist Thomas Hobbes maintained that sovereignty is ultimately derived from the people, who transfer it to the monarchy by implicit contract. ... Recognizing the close relationship between economic and political freedom, Locke linked economic liberty and private property with political freedom. ... 5 b) The socio-economic and politico-religious factors that contributed to the occurrence of the revolutions FRANCE In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, by which his grandfather Henry IV had granted liberty of conscience to French Huguenots. ... Louis XIV was basically tolerant, but he insisted on religious unity not for religious but political reasons. ... 7 The essential problem was that the whole social and political structure of France stood in the way of tapping the wealth of the better-off, the only sure way of emerging from the financial impasse. Ever since the days of Louis XIV himself had proved impossible to levy a due weight of taxation on the wealthy without resorting to force, for the whole legal and social structure of France, its privileges, special immunities and prescriptive rights, blocked the way ahead. ... ”9 Thus a complex interplay of governmental impotence, social injustice, economic hardship and reforming aspiration brought about the French Revolution. ENGLAND The extraordinary success of Elizabeth I had rested on her political shrewdness and flexibility, her careful management of finances, her wise selection of ministers, her clever manipulation of Parliament, and her sense of royal dignity and devotion to hard work. ... ”10 In England, unlike France, there was no social stigma attached to paying taxes. ... In the early seventeenth century, increasing numbers of English people felt dissatisfied with the Church of England. ... For eleven years Charles I had ruled without Parliament, financing his government through extraordinary stopgap levies, considered illegal by most English people. ... Almost at once the worst English anti-Catholic fears, already aroused by Louis XIV revocation of the Edict of Nantes, were realized with the appointment of Catholics to positions in the army, universities, and local government, in direct violation of the Test Act. ... To the English a Catholic dynasty seemed assured. ... 15 c) The institutional transformations wrought by the revolutions There were many profound changes in England and France as a result of both Revolutions both in political structure and political thought; FRANCE In 1792 a Parisian insurrection overthrew the monarchy as a result of widespread famine and poverty and war with Austria. ... 18 d) An assessment of the historical significance of the two revolutions The new polarization which the Revolution brought to Europe’s politics promoted the new idea of revolution itself. ... The English revolution established a constitutional Monarchy; it also inaugurated an age of aristocratic government that lasted until 1832 and probably until 1914. ... The great majority of English people had no real say in their government. In light of this fact it is perhaps particularly ironic that the ideas of Locke, Hume and Burke which formed the basis of English constitutionalism were also the inspiration for a group of English citizenry in thirteen colonies to revolt and declare their independence from English hegemony and spark the American Revolution. ... ” 20 This example may help to show how it was that the revolutions could always, even now, speak more or less the language that every generation wanted to hear. What revolutionary humanism essentially believed was that violence could be legitimate if it was used to defend law, equality, social justice or the much loved “mother country”. ... A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH REVOLUTION 1 J.