French Revolution Journal Entries

by Jasper Huang 8-3

Transcript

1. The French Revolution Jasper Huang Wednesday, May 15, 13
2. Introduction to the French Revolution The French Revolution, a major turning point in France’s history, was when the government, and how they governed, was changed dramatically. It was known infamously as the bloodiest revolution, with tens of thousands people dying every day. After this moment, France was never the same. It all began with the people. They were unhappy with how their country was run, and since they saw that other countries were run in different ways that they saw to be better, they tried to change their country to model the others. France first decided to support the American Revolution, causing it to spend a lot of its money. This forced them to raise the taxes, causing the people of France to become angry. The people of France started to look at America, and wanted France to change for the better. My character is a rather poor peasant that is part of the Third Estate. He is a cheese maker, who survives on small and minuscule rations everyday. He supports the French Revolution, and wants France to change. He also despises King Louis the XVI. I have chosen what I have believed to be five of the most important and largest turning points in the French Revolution, and I have chosen to write narrative diary entries to help encapsulate what it was like to live during that time period. His name was Jérôme Pascal. Wednesday, May 15, 13
3. Jérôme Pascal June 20th, 1789 I, Jérôme Pascal, was a feeble cheese maker, a minuscule portion of the Third Estate. I was. Today, I surfaced a different man, a stronger man, part of a much stronger group. Today was the day we pledged to the great Tennis Court Oath, and changed absolutely everything. It all started when many of us, including our leaders, were late for one of the king’s summons. He summoned us to Versailles because he wanted to increase the taxes for the First and Second Estates. When we were late, we tried to get into the hall, but the doors were sealed shut. When this happened, we chose to hold our own meeting. I remember the horror of the people’s eyes, when our leader announced this would happen. We would surely be looked down upon. Our leaders announced to us that we had nothing to worry about. We crept past the building where the nobility were having their meeting, and went to a nearby tennis court, which was called the Jeu de Pomme. There, we swore an oath that would change all of our lives, and most likely change France itself. The Tennis Court Oath that we swore stated that our estate would only remain assembled until a constitution was written. With this, we all cheered, and a chant of great volume reverberated through the meeting hall’s walls. It seemed as if the entire world could hear it, from our allies in the west, to our enemies in the east. When everything seemed perfect, the other estates who were having their meeting came outside to see where all the sound came from. One of the nobles volunteered to come into the tennis court to see what the fuss was all about. When he and the others heard our chant, they were shocked. Many of the nobles joined into our chant, as they were furious at the king that he wanted their taxes to be increased. With this, the chant’s volumed grew tenfold. Our chant went onto the evening, and when we finished, we were sure that we had chanted it so many times that the king would be able to hear the echoes of it through his slumber. That day, when I went home, I felt myself bouncing up and down with my stride. Even though I was a mere cheese maker, who survived on mere rations everyday, something inside me made me feel more powerful and confident than the wealthier people of the other estates. Perhaps it was that we had made a difference today. Perhaps it was because today’s actions may actually pay off. The Third Estate with the Tennis Court Oath Wednesday, May 15, 13
4. Jérôme Pascal July 14th, 1789 We had had enough of that fool’s trickery. We had had enough of that coward’s greediness. We had had enough of that weakling’s lies. We had had enough of that king. The people of Paris had had enough. Today was the day we struck fear into the people’s hearts. Today was the day we gained more power. Today we showed the king what true leadership was. Today we stormed the Bastille. The Bastille, the king’s prison, was supposed to be a symbol of his absolute power and oppression. To us, it was a symbol of his greed and trickery. We needed weapons and gunpowder to instill fear into his small and cold heart, so we stormed the prison to get what we needed. When we killed the guards on the outer walls and stepped into the prison, an almost hellish aura gripped onto our hearts. A fiendish odor, so repulsive that it was almost corrosive, entered our noses. What we saw next, we weren’t ready for. It was actually much less than we thought it would be. There were only 7 prisoners, 3 being absolute lunatics and 4 being convicts. We freed them from King Louis’ grasp and continued onto the armory. When we broke down the door to enter the room, what we saw will never escape my memory. We saw enough bloodstained swords and halberds to satisfy the French Military, and enough gunpowder to satisfy the ludicrous tastes of the average Chinese firework maker. We took them all, and continued on to where the commander and mayor were located. We easily took out the handful of guards that were “protecting” them, and went on to go swiftly decapitate the commander and mayor. We snapped 2 of the halberds in half and stuck each of their heads on each of the ends. Satisfied that we had drained the prison of all it’s content, we left the prison, and marched back to Paris. When we were marching through the town’s walls, two types of people emerged. The nobles looked terrified, while a loud cheer erupted from the peasants. We marched with both of the heads of the mayor and commander in front, and already we could begin to feel the skin, brain and sensory organs decompose. It was almost as if the rule of the king was starting to rot away, the vines he had entangled us with were beginning to die. Storming the Bastille Wednesday, May 15, 13
5. Jérôme Pascal 1791 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. 2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation. 4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law. 5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law. These are the first 5 of 17 articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen that I so painstakingly copied down before I and a group of men from the Third Estate were herded out from where they were being displayed. That was in 1791. Though the writing was messy and fast, I was sure that I would never let this document that I held leave my sight. I remember the day that it happened. We borrowed it from our good friends, the Americans. I, and the rest of the members of the three estates were invited to a meeting in the center of the town. This newer declaration published 2 years after the old one was published, was improved. Olympe de Gouges, one of the leading female playwrights, was surprised by how the old one was only addressed towards us men, and how it didn’t even say women once. Therefore, she decided to write a female part, for what she thought was missing from the old declaration. I remember her personality. We were close friends. Her original name was Marie Gouze. She was a very confident women who was very persuasive. Though we were both economically miles apart, we would still come together and talk about the revolution. She was very passionate about equal rights, and would sometimes openly complain to me about how the scales were always tipped towards men. With the new declaration, many things happened. First of all, it marked the end of feudalism and serfdom. Also, it let any citizen join the church, and stopped the church from taxing us. This was especially good for my brother Jacques, because he was always a devote follower. Also, my family and I could finally start to afford more food, which was especially good for my wife Adalene, as she has been feeling weak these past couple of days. Hurray to food! Hurray to equal rights! Hurray to the declaration! Declaration of the Rights of Citizen and Man Wednesday, May 15, 13
6. Jérôme Pascal July 27th, 1794 It has been three years since I last wrote, three years since there has been something to write about. Terror is a powerful tool that can bend people to their knees and make them confess to all of their sins. Other than the thousands of deaths by guillotine, and the countless leaders who have been beheaded, nothing has come up, until now. The Reign of Terror was about to end. I was ordered to meet at the Place de la Revolution, where Robespierre would be executed. A giant crowd gathered around what was Robespierre’s own weapon of doom. Even after seeing the brutal beheading of the man, I still laugh at the irony. I saw a cart being pulled by horses roll in. There, sitting in the hay was Maximillien de Robespierre. I inspected him more closely and noticed that he was holding a bloody handkerchief to his jaw. I saw him take it off and saw a gaping hole in his jaw, probably from his attempt to kill himself yesterday. I looked at his eyes, and all I saw was pure fear. Ha! A Jacobin showed fear! I saw his soul in his eyes, and I saw it cringe as a person was beheaded right in front of him. The blood squirted out from the person’s neck, and the lifeless and motionless head was shown to us. Robespierre put the bandage back on his jaw, and kept observing the executions. When his time came, the cheers from the crowd grew almost exponentially in volume. He walked up to the guillotine, and what used to be the confident frame of a man became the small and timid frame of a mouse. He lay face down on the plank, and set his head in the groove. He knew all too well how to use this device. The executioner ambled slowly, and ripped the bandage off of his jaw. With this, he screamed in agony. For a brief second I saw the hole where the bullet had entered his jaw and had smashed his jawbone. Then, the lever was pulled, and what used to be a leader just turned into a big slab of meat. His head was held to the audience, and the volume grew so loud that many people started to cower at the shear volume. Today was a day of revelation, a day of remembering. Today was a day that things also started to die down. With Robespierre’s death, the revolution slowly began to die down, and started to run in the background. People began to go back to their regular lives, and many of the heroic acts became just history. Even I went back to my cheese shop to make cheese. I just hope all of this wasn’t for nothing. Robespierre about to be guillotined Wednesday, May 15, 13
7. Jérôme Pascal Nov. 9th, 1799 Power can corrupt even the youngest and purest individuals. Even though it does infect, and people know it, they still try to seek it in many ways. It can make them become mad for it, it can make them become insane for it. Or, they could just earn it and misuse it. Napoleon Bonaparte, the poster boy of corruption. After Maximilian de Robespierre was guillotined, there was no one to run our country. Therefore, there was an election to decide who exactly would run this country. He, or shall they say it, began as a pure man, who wanted the better of his country. I remember the day it began, the coup d'état that he staged. The cause of this was because of the many military failures that Napoleon was handing to France at that time. Today was the day that he would become part of the French Consul, a group of 2 and half men that would govern our country. After having won the election, Napoleon Bonaparte, the dwarf he was, stepped outside to deliver his victory speech. I could see in the background the people who had lost the election to the midget. Of them was Antoine Archibeque, who seemed particularly angry for losing to half a man. Napoleon’s victory speech sounded like he wanted to aggravate and anger the people. He sounded very proud and arrogant, and it seemed as if he was trying to anger the entire city. He spoke with a tone that said that he was better than you and that he knew that you knew it. He was being so obnoxious that the people who had lost started leaving the scene. He began to talk about how he believed that France was a fragile vase that was on the very edge of a table that was about to collapse, a disaster waiting to happen. Then, he began to talk about how he would rebuild and imbue France with newfound strength. I was surprised by how such a large brain capable of giving such a direct speech could fit into such a small frame. Suddenly, Napoleon removed both of his gloves and threw them onto the floor, then preceding to snap his fingers. As this happened, a group of the military riding on horseback appeared almost out of nowhere, and held us all at gunpoint. They shot the directory without even hesitating, and with that, Napoleon was our new leader. I was impressed by how such a small man would be able to handle so much power, but he did it, and he bent the military to his benefit. Napoleon Bonaparte was our new leader, and there was no denying it. Napoleon Bonaparte, our new leader Wednesday, May 15, 13
8. Conclusion to the French Revolution The French Revolution, the series of events that have made France what it is today. There were many short and long term effects from this revolution. The first thing that has changed since this revolution for a short time was the government. During the revolution, the government went through different phases that caused it to change in many ways. France went from a monarchy to a republic, and some years after the revolution, back to a monarchy. The way a country was run has changed 3 times in 10 years. The economy, for one, had to be managed better, because any sudden change would cause the chaos and revolts. Also, socially, the Three Estates were open to all individuals, and they would gain merit through talent. A thing that has changed France in the long term from this revolution was the fact that public schools were built. Also, Napoleon’s codes were a huge long term change for France. In fact, many of them are still used today in Europe. Overall, I believe that the French Revolution was a time of realization for the entire world, not just France. Revolutions are all about change, and the French Revolution was no different. The change that happened during the French Revolution can usually be categorized into three groups: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. With Liberty, Napoleon began to censor and monitor France. He did this to prevent any opposition and revolts. With Equality, the poor people of France could not receive any education. Moreover, careers and jobs were now not limited to socio-economic level. They were now limited to skill and talent level. Finally, a deep sense of patriarchy erupted around France, and this deeply affected all women. With Fraternity, there was no attempt at improving the lives of the poor, and it was also nearly impossible for females to get a divorce with an abusive husband. Though revolutions are major changes in a country’s or society’s history, things can still stay the same when they occur. The French Revolution was a time of great change, but one thing hasn’t changed since the revolution, and that was the poor people. Though they began to be treated as equals with the First Estate and the Second Estate, the Third Estate was still very poor, and most of the stronger and healthier men were sent off to war to help with Napoleon’s conquests. Moreover, they were still poor, and 90% of France’s population at that time was considered impoverished. It is impossible to look at only the past. France at that time was very similar and different to the France we all know today. France changed in many ways. France changed identity-wise. It went from being a country that used privilege to a country that used and followed rights. Also, France has changed government-wise. it went from being a monarchy at the beginning of the revolution to being a republic after the revolution. It still is a republic today. The huge change in France also influenced people like Karl Marx and Mao Ze Dong’s decisions on the countries of both Russia and China respectively. Overall, the French Revolution has changed our world for the better, allowing leaders from all around the world to observe what happened and not make the same mistakes. Some things that weren’t altered during the revolution and are still the same today are the wants and needs of the people. The people of France back then wanted equality, good leadership, and food, and the people of France today want the same. Wednesday, May 15, 13
9. Sources Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the past. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000. Print. Dickinson, Martin. French Revolution: History in Depth. Walton-on-Thames: Nelson, 1992. Print. Lacey, Robert. The French Revolution. Amawalk, NY: Jackdaw Publications, 1993. Print. Mantin, Peter. The French Revolution. Oxford: Heinemann Educational, 1992. Print. Millard, Anne, and Joseph McEwan. The Age of Revolutions: From AD 1750 to AD 1914. London: Usborne, 1990. Print. Perry, Marvin. History of the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Print. Scott, Marvin. Of Many times and Cultures: Fascinating Facts and Stories from World History. Portland, Me: J. Weston Walch, 1993. Print. Wednesday, May 15, 13