25 10 1079 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Citizen commissioners, the approaching elections impose important tasks upon you, and I am going to speak to you about them. The Republic majestically arose amid the rubble of the throne. All types of tyranny have been replaced by the Constitution of the Year III [1795], and the just empire of laws has replaced the unrest and upheaval of the Revolution. The European powers joined together in a futile effort to return us to slavery. Their combined efforts shattered against the bravery of our invincible armies. The deployment of all their means, of all their forces, only succeeded in underscoring the brilliance of our victories, which ensured our borders, demonstrated for our neighbors where the secret of their independence lies, and everywhere lighted the sacred flame of patriotism. It is no longer by the force of arms that our enemies hope to defeat us. Their indecision has made this evident. Why do they hesitate before attacking us directly? Do not doubt it, they expect the crisis to come from the elections. They have already followed the same plan for two years in a row. The royalist movement took the elections of the Year V in several departments, and anarchy took hold during the elections held last year. The Republic was saved from the horrible rifts that should have resulted from the choices made under such dire auspices as these, by the laws of 19 Fructidor of the Year V [5 September 1797], 12 Pluviôse and 22 Floréal of the Year VI [31 January and 11 May 1798], and the surveillance and activities of the government. But our enemies have not given up joining together and planning their Machiavellian strategies. They are busy on every front, taking on any shape in order to gain control of the elections of the Year VII, and once again are corrupting the source of public power. The maneuvers that they are resorting to are not limited to one department or another. Their movements are not isolated, partial, or interrupted. They have a central field of action that encompasses the entire Republic. Will the mass of good citizens let itself be shackled by this demeaning chain of intrigue and plots? Will they applaud the voices of those who call again for a throne or the scaffolds? And the terrible lesson of past ills, will it not be sufficient to warn them to the two reefs between which we must sail in order to arrive at the port where peace and quiet and happiness await them? It is up to you Citizens, you who are the guardians of the Government, to demonstrate the misfortunes to which they are exposing themselves should they allow themselves to be influenced by factions. Never stop telling them of the sacred clause in our basic laws, the clause that reminds them that it is the soundness of choice in the primary and electoral assemblies upon which the duration, preservation, and prosperity of the Republic primarily depends. . . . After [the coup of] 18 Fructidor [4 September 1797], a large number of weak minds, ever quick to change direction, allowed themselves to be fooled by the hypocritical joy that some skillful anarchists feign when taking credit for the useful fruit of victory, without ever having taken part in the fighting. These weak minds believed that this memorable day foretold of the return, not of the rule of law, but of the reign of terror. Six months of experience would disillusion them. They should have been convinced that their fears and their childishness were baseless. But in spite of the notices, the proclamations, the hurried and repeated invitations of the Executive Directory, this mob, lacking foresight and inconsistent in their fears, did not come out in number during the last election. They did not appear in the primary assemblies due to their apprehension of meeting anarchists there and of seeing themselves being taken over by them. Consequently, still more insane than pusillanimous, they were afraid of the anarchists, and they did absolutely everything that they needed to in order to facilitate their success. Republicans! The time has come. Stop betraying yourselves and allowing your shameful and ridiculous fears to cede an easy victory to the villains. If from 18 Fructidor, every good person had appreciated what had been done for them, if they had closed ranks around the Directory, if they had sought out the civil service, if they had competed to assume those tasks, then no subversive anarchist would have obtained those positions and all of the inroads open to the plotters would have been closed. Citizens, it is time to repair that weakness. . . . No more anarchy in France! This cry must be so unanimous and so strong that it strikes fear in our enemies. It is their turn to have their blood run cold and to be forever frozen in fear. . . . Citizens, what must be done to forever defeat this pair of thousand-headed hydras of odious royalism and vile terrorism? Here, in two words, is the answer: Every suggestion that is motivated by revenge, revolt, or blood must be met with the unanimous cry: "No more anarchy in France!" In this way, by the mere influence of law and the mere credibility of virtue, you will reduce this crime to impotence and silence. Oh Citizens! The Republic and your Government are based on that sacred charter [the Constitution of the Year III]. These are no doubt the only means of salvation for us all. Therefore embrace the Republic and uphold its constitutional laws. Therefore, finally, help your Government with all your willpower. Therefore, and you can be sure of this, the first of Prairial (for which your enemies were waiting for as a day of division, crisis and misery), the first of Prairial will come as a period of rest and peace, and this day will herald the affirmation of republican law. Sortable Date 1799-03-04 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau, "Circulaire du ministre de l'Intérieur aux Commissaires du Directoire exécutif près des Administrations centrales de Département," 14 Ventôse, Year VII [4 March 1799], Archives Nationales de la France F1A 58. Description An account of the resource A former playwright and old regime colonial official, Nicolas–Louis François de Neufchâteau, twice Minister of the Interior under the Directory, here outlines the importance of elections for the Directory. In this circular letter sent to the chief agent of the central government in each department, he highlights the threat that a negative outcome could have for the existence of the Republic and exhorts local officials to be more zealous. Despite such sentiments, the Directory overturned electoral results three years in a row, heightening disaffection and apathy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 460 Title A name given to the resource Circular on Elections Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/460/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 4, 1799 Provinces Public Opinion Text Event A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration. Sortable Date 1797-07-09 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 976 Title A name given to the resource Cisalpine republic set up at Milan by France. Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/976/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 9, 1797 Timeline Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Sirs, in the declaration that you believed you should put at the head of the French constitution you have established, consecrated, the rights of man and citizen. In the constitutional work that you have decreed relative to the organization of the municipalities, a work accepted by the King, you have fixed the conditions of eligibility that can be required of citizens. It would seem, Sirs, that there is nothing else left to do and that prejudices should be silent in the face of the language of the law; but an honorable member has explained to us that the non-Catholics of some provinces still experience harassment based on former laws, and seeing them excluded from the elections and public posts, another honorable member has protested against the effect of prejudice that persecutes some professions. This prejudice, these laws, force you to make your position clear. I have the honor to present you with the draft of a decree, and it is this draft that I defend here. I establish in it the principle that professions and religious creed can never become reasons for ineligibility. . . . The professions that the adversaries of my opinion claim to mark as infamous come down to two: the executioners and the actors who occupy our various theaters. I blush to compare the children of the arts with the instrument of the penal laws, but the objections force me to it. . . . What the law orders is inherently good; the law orders the death of a guilty person, the executioner only obeys the law. It is against all justice for the law to inflict upon him a legal punishment; it is against reason to tell him, do this and if you do it, you will be considered infamous. I pass to the discussion of actors, and I will certainly have less trouble disarming a prejudice that has been weakened for a long time by the influence of the Enlightenment, the love of the arts, and reason. I will not say to you, Sirs, all that they have been and all that they can be. Several causes have motivated the opinion that attacks them: the license of morals, and let us not forget, Sirs, that a government that never had another goal than to compel obedience often had to take measures to corrupt and that the plays, by their influence both on morals and on opinions, have been directed toward this goal by the police, one of the most corrupt branches of the former administration. . . . In any case, we should either forbid plays altogether or remove the dishonor associated with acting. Nothing infamous should endure in the eyes of the law, and nothing that the law permits is infamous. I have said enough about the professions; I come to the subject of religion, without doubt much more important. . . . There is no middle way possible: either you admit a national religion, subject all your laws to it, arm it with temporal power, exclude from your society the men who profess another creed and then, erase the article in your declaration of rights [freedom of religion]; or you permit everyone to have his own religious opinion, and do not exclude from public office those who make use of this permission. . . . Every creed has only one test to pass in regard to the social body: it has only one examination to which it must submit, that of its morals. It is here that the adversaries of the Jewish people attack me. This people, they say, is not sociable. They are commanded to loan at usurious rates; they cannot be joined with us either in marriage or by the bonds of social interchange; our food is forbidden to them; our tables prohibited; our armies will never have Jews serving in the defense of the fatherland. The worst of these reproaches is unjust; the others are only specious. Usury is not commanded by their laws; loans at interest are forbidden between them and permitted with foreigners. . . . This usury so justly censured is the effect of our own laws. Men who have nothing but money can only work with money: that is the evil. Let them have land and a country and they will loan no longer: that is the remedy. As for their unsociability, it is exaggerated. Does it exist? What do you conclude from it in principle? Is there a law that obliges me to marry your daughter? Is there a law that obliges me to eat hare [a kind of rabbit] and to eat it with you? No doubt these religious oddities will disappear; and if they do survive the impact of philosophy and the pleasure of finally being true citizens and sociable men, they are not infractions to which the law can or should pertain. But, they say to me, the Jews have their own judges and laws. I respond that is your fault and you should not allow it. We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals. We must withdraw recognition from their judges; they should only have our judges. We must refuse legal protection to the maintenance of the so-called laws of their Judaic organization; they should not be allowed to form in the state either a political body or an order. They must be citizens individually. But, some will say to me, they do not want to be citizens. Well then! If they do not want to be citizens, they should say so, and then, we should banish them. It is repugnant to have in the state an association of non-citizens, and a nation within the nation. . . . In short, Sirs, the presumed status of every man resident in a country is to be a citizen. Sortable Date 1789-12-23 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The materials listed below appeared originally in The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, translated, edited, and with an introduction by Lynn Hunt (Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996), 86–88. Description An account of the resource On 21 December 1789, a deputy raised the question of the status of non–Catholics under the new regime; his intervention started a long debate that quickly expanded to cover Jews, actors, and executioners, all of them excluded from various rights before 1789. Jews enjoyed certain rights within their own religious communities but were largely excluded from broader political and civil rights and in fact faced great restrictions on their choice of occupation, ability to own property, and the like. Actors and executioners both exercised professions that were considered "infamous"; actors took someone else’s role on the stage and were reputed to be immoral in their behavior, and executioners killed people, an act considered murder under other circumstances. As a consequence, neither actors nor executioners could vote or hold local offices before 1789, and they were often shunned. This first debate shows that declaring "the rights of man" raised as many questions as it answered. Once the question of Protestants had been raised, other excluded groups soon came up, beginning with actors. Since Brunet de Latuque had proposed a law covering "non–Catholics," it was inevitable that someone would ask if this included the Jews, who were also non–Catholics but whom many deputies regarded as another nation altogether. Count Stanislas–Marie–Adélaide de Clermont–Tonnerre (1757–92) gave a long speech on the subject. A deputy from the nobility of Paris and generally aligned with the liberal nobles, Clermont–Tonnerre argued for an inclusive interpretation of the declaration of rights, but he rejected any separate or different legal status for Jewish communities. In his view, citizens were citizens as individuals, not as members of different social or ethnic groups. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 284 Title A name given to the resource Clermont–Tonnerre, "Speech on Religious Minorities and Questionable Professions" (23 December 1789) Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/284/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 23, 1789 Middle Classes – Bourgeoisie Nobility Peasants Popular Politics Text https://revolution.chnm.org/files/original/07924730fea09a7efca9dd241f9e9292.jpg 99c868b05060a2b4d59ec2a74c47141b Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Sortable Date 1789-00-00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived mfr 87.78-85 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 40 Title A name given to the resource Clock Faces Relation A related resource http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/40/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1789-1799 Image Popular Politics Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Jacques’ little stall is situated almost across from the house of the Jacobins in the Rue St.-Honoré. He has noticed the crowds of people who arrive there around dusk. He asked what everyone was doing in that house, and at that particular time, three or four times a week. This is what he was told: Three or four times a week, twelve to fifteen hundred citizens make a point of meeting in the library of the former convent. There, for four or five hours, they discuss, think, absorb sound principles, and take precautions against pseudo-patriots. . .in a word they make themselves worthy of the liberty which we have won. Jacques, who has both spirit and good sense, then said to himself, "How fortunate they are in there, to be able to set aside three or four hours out of their day to better themselves! What have I done that I should be condemned to a job which takes up all my time? I feel that I could become, like anyone else, not a better patriot (for I am as good a patriot as any of them) but more enlightened, less easily fooled. Alas! I can’t think about that. My first duty is to my children. Looking after them is the chain which binds me to this wall. I must waste my talents on a monotonous and thankless task. My whole life will thus pass in the shadow of ignorance while every day I see the light of education pass before my eyes without ever shining upon me. When I hear about the events that trouble my country I become excited and impassioned. Taken in by rumors and exaggerated stories I take the side of this or that person because I have neither the time nor the guidance necessary to amend my ideas and channel my patriotism. I must blindly follow those who represent me, and for this reason they get their own way with their constituents, three-quarters of whom are no better educated than I am. How cruel it is not to be able to fruitfully enjoy the blessing of liberty without taking advantage of it. That liberty in which I played no small role on 14 July!". . . We need clubs for the people. Let every street in every town, let every hamlet have one. The primary assemblies are too formal and too infrequent to take their place. The people need clubs that are fixed and free, where there are not too many people, and where they can be at ease. These clubs should be without regulations or titled officials, because such things detract from liberty in a way, waste too much time, and engender the feeling that the group comes before the country. . . . The Jacobin club is already very useful. Clubs for the people’s use, simply organized and unpretentious, would be of the greatest benefit. Let an honest artisan call together some of his neighbors to his house. Let him read the decrees of the National Assembly by the light of a lamp paid for by all those present. Let him add his own reflections to the reading, or those of some of his attentive neighbors. At the end of the meeting listen as he cheers up his audience, startled by one of Marat's articles, by a reading spiced with the patriotic swear-words of the Père Duchesne. . . . It is most surprising that some wealthy citizens cannot be found who are good enough patriots to offer their houses as a place to which the people of the district could come on Sundays and holidays, instead of wasting their time in taverns. In this way they could catch up on events and make themselves familiar with the principles of the Constitution. If private houses are not available, couldn't the people take over some of these churches that the suppression of the religious orders and canons have made vacant? It is said that a working-class club has already been formed in the house of the Capucins in the Rue St.-Honoré. It is a club such as this that should be set up in every section of the big cities. In the country, the porches of the parish churches, or even the churches themselves, could be devoted to this. These buildings could only become more respectable. Sortable Date 1790-11-27 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Les Révolutions de Paris, no. 73 (27 November–4 December 1790), 401–6. Description An account of the resource By creating a fictional man named Jacques who must go to his workshop every day so he can support his family, yet who also wants to do his patriotic duty by following political events, the Révolutions de Paris, in this article that appeared in late 1790, calls upon the government to create and to support popular political clubs. The purpose is to ensure that the most patriotic elements of the "people" (and not just wealthy and well–educated professionals) can have their say in the course of the Revolution. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 398 Title A name given to the resource Clubs for the People Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/398/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 27, 1790 Clubs Popular Politics Public Opinion Sans-culottes Text https://revolution.chnm.org/files/original/edd7260f14e3c1091a35a1dbb6419369.jpg 3a24e400a0a9d7067b13394fa61f4b93 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived mfr 86.182 Description An account of the resource The execution scene appeared on a plate. Even were this simply a souvenir that no one intended to actually eat from, this piece of china reveals fantastic revolutionary anger. Having a picture in crockery of an execution, even in a society where public executions were still occurring, still appears as bloodthirsty. But the use of this plate would seem to be a symbolic eating of one’s enemies. Is this a reverse communion, in which strength is drawn from the blood of the victim? Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 104 Title A name given to the resource Commemorating the Revolution on Chinaware Relation A related resource http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/104/ Image Monarchy Popular Politics https://revolution.chnm.org/files/original/ae828ded7965e9aba47af3f6e0507f0b.jpg 3a24e400a0a9d7067b13394fa61f4b93 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived mfr 86.182 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 649 Title A name given to the resource Commemorating the Revolution on Chinaware Relation A related resource http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/649/ Image Monarchy Popular Politics Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Agent of the central government to local administrations. Each municipality, district, and department had a locally elected agent who was to represent and report to the central state. Under the Directory (see Council of Five Hundred and Directory), these agents were named by the central state rather than locally. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1070 Title A name given to the resource Commissaire Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/1070/ Glossary Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document This provisional group was created by the Legislative Assembly after the fall of the monarchy on 15 August 1792. Composed of government ministers, this council was given executive power. After the start of the war in April 1792 and the initial series of reverses, a Committee of General Defense was created on 1 January 1793, to coordinate military matters. In March 1793 this committee formalized the older committee, the Committee of Public Safety, which was dominated by moderates and Girondins named by the National Convention. From 10 July 1793 to 27 July 1794, the Committee of Public Safety had a stable membership of twelve deputies and was delegated the authority to conduct the war and govern France. Working together and sharing responsibility, the so-called Great Committee initiated a number of radical measures to ensure France’s survival ranging from the institution of “Maximums” on wages and prices to a systematic use of Terror to cow opponents. The most notable members of the committee were Maximillien Robespierre, Georges Couthon, Louis-Antoine Saint-Just, and Lazare Carnot, the “organizer of victory.” Ultimately, fears of the continuing Terror, and of Robespierre’s personal power, led to a coup on 9 Thermidor (27 July), which broke the power of the Great Committee. The institution lasted another seventeen months until November 1795, but its powers were restricted to war and diplomacy. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1071 Title A name given to the resource Committee of Public Safety Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/1071/ Glossary Event A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration. Sortable Date 1793-04-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 808 Title A name given to the resource Committee of Public Safety created by the Convention, attempting to deal with the radical movements of the Enragés, food shortages and riots, the revolt in the Vendée and in Brittany, recent defeats of its armies, and the desertion of its commanding general. This committee is charged with carrying out a policy of "terrorizing" all of France’s enemies within and without. Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/808/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 6, 1793 Timeline