The Enlightenment's Influence On The French Revolution

The Enlightenment was a time of new concepts and theories that caused the people to think about the condition of their society. There were many events such as the American Revolution that promoted and encouraged the French Revolution. However, the ideas of the philosophers and scholars of the enlightenment proved to have made the biggest influence on the French Revolution. The ideas of the Enlightenment revealed to the people of France the corruption of the monarchy, new political leaders, and the poverty of the commoners to bring about beneficial changes and the French Revolution.

The corruption of the monarchy was a major cause of the French Revolution. Monarchy is a government in which a country is ruled and controlled by a single person,

the king. King Louis XIV was the reason why the monarchy was corrupt, because he paid very little attention to the well-being of his people. He and his wife, Marie Antoinette, helped cause the huge debt of France with the constant spending such as funding the American Revolution, putting other people before his own. Fearful powers and authority put in the hands of one man caused others to think about the idea of the Separation of powers. This was an Enlightenment idea of Baron de Montesquieu that separated the judicial powers from the legislative and executive powers. This basically split up the roles of a king thus removing the need for a king in France.
Another reason why the enlightenment had been able to influence the French Revolution was because of all the right people at the right time. The philosophers such as John Locke, Francis Bacon, Jean Jacques Rousseau and leaders such as Maximilien Robespierre and Napoleon Bonaparte all brought together ideas and led the people through the French Revolution. After the philosophers made the new theories Robespierre used their ideas to bring the people together to make new laws and a new government.
The final reason that ignited the Revolution was the poverty of the commoners who were also known as the Third Estate.

France consisted of three estates: the First Estate(the nobility), the Second Estate(the clergy), and finally the Third Estate(the commoners or everyone else). Before the French Revolution, the people of the First Estate suffered the most because of the burdens such as heavy taxes only put for the Third Estate. Many of them grew very tired of living in fear, hunger, and discrimination. These people thought and used the ideas of enlightenment such as the idea of equality, the right to rebel, and the natural rights by John Locke. John Locke and the people he influenced in the French Revolution believed that every man was the same and should be treated likewise. These people who were influenced by Locke despised this unfairness and used the idea of the right to rebel to overthrow the nobility and the government for taking away their “natural rights” (the rights to life, liberty, and property) which the government was actually supposed to protect for the people.

These three major factors: the hopeless leader and government, the revolutionary ideas and roles of the philosophers, and the starving people of France established and applied the ideas of Enlightenment to bring forth the French Revolution. This blood stained revolution was unavoidable because, as explained in Rousseau book of The Social Contract, the legitimate power comes from the people. That being said,

the outcome of the fated revolution depended heavily on the majority of the people. Although a lot of blood was shed and many sacrifices were made, the end result was a revolution for the benefit of the people.