The revolutions of the Modern Age

René Descartes (1596–1650)

Was the father of modern rationalist philosophy and marked a “Copernican Revolution” in the way of thinking: the whole of reality is constituted by the human subject (“I think, therefore I am!”).

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)

Was the protagonist of the new empirical-mathematical natural science,
which was the basis for the technological and industrial revolution that reached its first climax in the 19th Century.

Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642)

Was the mastermind and practitioner of a new understanding of the State and of politics: what counts is not the confessional or religious-moral point of view but rather practical politics in pursuit of national interests. The State is the natural product of a contract between the people and their rulers and is thus autonomous in relation to the Church.

Chronology of the French Revolution (1789)

From the 1770's on, France suffered under run-away inflation leading to increasingly burdensome taxation, widespread famine and malnutrition, massive unemployment, and mass misery.

1 May 1789: In the face of state bankruptcy, the King was forced to convene the Estates-General, a national parliament consisting of three orders: the First Estate representing the clergy, the Second Estate representing the nobility, and the Third Estate representing the middle class and the peasantry, each estate exercising but one common vote despite the disparity of the portion of the population represented.

17 June 1789: The Third Estate, representing 98% of the population, declared itself to be a National Assembly, thus repudiating the traditional division into estates, and on 20 June in the so-called "Tennis Court Oath" (named after the place of meeting) they proclaimed their intention not to disperse until they had given France a constitution.

On 23 June, the Assembly resisted the royal order to dissolve with the claim that the assembled nation need not take orders from anyone.

On 9 July, the Assembly assumed legislative power and began drafting a  constitution.

14 July: Parisian citizens took up arms and stormed the Bastille, the symbol of royal power in the city. In the aftermath, the king was forced to recognize the sovereignity of the National Assembly.

4/5 August: Feudalism was abolished. The nobility, the clergy, the towns, companies, and provinces were deprived of their special privileges.

25 August: The Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. ...
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and unalterable rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. ....
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else. ...
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it.

The French Revolution

In the wake of runaway inflation and mass misery, the Estates-General convened in May 1789. In June, the Third Estate, representing 98 % of the population over against clergy and nobility, proclaimed itself to be the “National Assembly” and challenged the power of the king. On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris took up arms (“Storm of the Bastille”). On August 4, the National Assembly abolished feudalism, putting an end to the “Ancien Régime”, and on August 26, it proclaimed the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”.