He opened their eyes to the ideals of democracy and the free world. He exhibited unbridled power and found that he too, like many before him, wanted to rule the world. B. Summary of Evidence • He was responsible for the spreading of the liberalizing ideas of the French Revolution throughout Europe, which help to bring an end to the remnants of feudal systems still existing in parts of Central and Eastern Europe. • Even though he was an Emperor, he actually started the demise of kingdoms and royalty.
This new set of laws meant that every French citizen had equal rights promoting the revolutionary idea of equality among all men. These codes secured property rights and also supported the revolutionary ideas subdivision of estates between male heirs. These codes also contained many revolutionary ideas of equality between all classes and trial in the public by the jury system. He also made it possible for the public to vote after they had passed a certain criteria which pleased the revolution as it promoted their ideas of power to the people. The concordat signed between the pope and Napoleon showed that Napoleon recognised the importance of the church.
France needed a leader who not only shared democratic ideals of the revolution, but had the sheer genius and iron hand to see them into reality. France needed a child of equality and sovereignty to sew its tattered flag, and Napoleon Bonaparte was exactly that child. His love for equality and sovereignty was displayed in both his attitudes and policies as a result of religious ideas, national equality, and social reforms. Napoleon maintained democratic ideals of the revolution in every sense of the word. Even if his actions seemed to undo the gains of the revolution, the purpose held and the results achieved say otherwise.
The Enlightenment ideas of equality for men, human rights and dignity are said to have inspired the Haitian revolutionaries. One slave in particular, Toussaint L’Ouverture a freed slave and slave owner is said to have been strongly influenced by Enlightenment ideas and modeled his new nation on French ideals of freedom and citizenship. Speaking of French ideals, before the revolution, France was ruled by an absolute monarchy, but the new ideas originating from the Enlightenment era included ideas about freedom, the common people’s right to govern, equality, and other democratic ideals such as religious tolerance and freedom of speech. The unrest among the classes was caused by these new ideas of government and their potential to improve society and the everyday lives of the people by eradicating poverty, unemployment, and hunger that was present in France before the Revolution. In 1789, the French people took matters into their own hands, ultimately ousting the king and launching a republic three years later.
After being elected as First Consul through an almost unanimous vote, Napoleon had to make sure he kept his promises to preserve the popularity he had gained through assurances that he would uphold the ideals of the French Revolution, which were the following: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. The Revolution had sought greater equalization between classes, the rule of law and the end of religious and secular privilege. Firstly, he introduced France’s first actual legal system to be followed throughout the Consulate, known as the Napoleonic Code. It established equality before the law, freedom of religion and the abolition of feudalism. Furthermore, serfdom was abolished and property rights made absolute, in addition to the individual choice
John Locke was a great philosopher and the father of Classical Liberalism. In his work “Second Treatise of Civil Government” many of his values. His ideas had the intention of making all men free and equal, the foundation of the law in Virginia Declaration of Rights, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Constitution of the United States was directly influenced by Locke’s work in that he believed that when people give up complete freedom and some rights to form a government and elect people in authority to act in this government. Whoever refuses to follow these laws will be punished accordingly.
Maximillien Robespierre was a man with drastic reformatory aspirations. He considered the general will to be a necessity and resorted to the Terror because he wished to create a temporary dictatorship in order to save the Republic. He praised the revolution and disguised the gruesomeness of his actions and intentions by reasoning that the Terror was virtuous since it defended the Republic. The Jacobins were liberal radicalists who wished for a central government, control over the economy, and universal suffrage. With the replacement of the Girondins faction in 1793, the Jacobins had complete control of the National Convention, and France as a nation.
The legalists believed that having an efficient and strong government would bring social order. An ideal ruler in the legalists mind was someone who used law to keep order and rewarded those who carried out their roles in society correctly. Also the ruler should punish those who were noncompliant. One distinguished leader of the Qin and legalist rule was Shi Huangdi who defeated all the opposition that came his way. He stopped anyone who wished to invade China and subsequently doubled the size of China.
In Democracy in America (1840), Tocqueville stated that “every citizen must be put in possession of his rights, or rights must be granted to no one” (Tocqueville, Marxists Internet Archive). These rights include “the right to enjoy the same pleasures, to engage in the same professions, and to meet in the same places – in a word, to live in the same manner and seek wealth by the same means,” (Tocqueville, 503). This concept of equal rights for all continues to hold high value in today’s society because the moment a person or group is not treated equally, there are petitions, media reports, and protests for equal treatment. Equality always wins. The biggest contemporary example would be same-sex marriage which had to be legalized to allow for equality among same-sex couples.
The third estate now held the majority in France under the new constitution. The revolutionary boldness of the third estate therefore was a contributing factor to the French revolution and without the Enlight¬enment; the third estate might not have had as much courage and boldness. The “Declarations of the rights of man and the citizen” was issued in the 26th of August 1789, which was not long after the Tennis Court Oath. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was set of individual rights and col-lective rights, of all of the estates as one. It was influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, these rights were universal; they were supposed to be valid in all times and places, pertaining to human