Jacques-Louis David

Caricature Paper

Jacques-Louis David: Gouvernement Anglois (The English Government)

Introduction:

As one can expect from the very nature of political and social revolutions, there were some very unhappy people during the French revolution. The question here is why the French citizens of this time so upset were and was their discontent so great that a revolution could be justified? Furthermore, who and what will be the ultimate vehicle to bring the necessary political, social and economic dreams to realization?

The French Revolution in began in 1789 and ended in 1799, this was a time in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to make drastic changes (Doyle, 1999). The French Revolution ended an archaic social and political system established in France characterised by a feudal system under the control of a powerful absolute monarchy and the unquestioned power of the Catholic Church (Slevin, 2003).

Those unhappy citizens who overthrew the absolute monarchy and the church belonged to a group known the bourgeoisie. This group was defined under the “Popular Movement” was constituted by angry peasants and wage-earners that had come under the influence of the rational ideas of the Enlightenment (Slevin, 2003). The bourgeoisie of this time was justifiably angered by many societal afflictions such as:

• Unequal taxation between classes (some in the form of labor, known at that time as seigneurial taxes) (Doyle, 1999).

• Famine

• The irrational concepts of absolutism and powers of the church as a result of Enlightenment thought

• The power of a privileged clergy and nobility

As you can see there were many reasons for the discontent of the French bourgeois at this time, not only were they unfairly taxed, but they had very little voice in the government that was allowing many of its citizens to starve to death; something had to be done.

The Birth of a Revolution:

The theme of the French Revolution was Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and came as a result of Enlightenment rationale. The bourgeoisie of the time believed in the freedom of the individual and wanted to see the actualization of real democracy and laissez-faire economy in France (Slevin, 2003). One man, by the name of Jacques-Louis David was a strong believer in these liberal and humanistic values. David was a not only an artist, but a social reform visionary with the courage to stand up for what he believed in and the ability to bring about a change for all of those suffering under the iniquities of the pre-Revolutionary French Government.