Liberty And Freedom According To The French Revolution (Liberty Lite)
Liberty Lite: Exploring the differences and similarities between liberty and freedom
My fellow Patriots,
Let us now look at a different, less successful revolution to see the French perspective of liberty and freedom.
Now in this Liberty Lite series, let us take a look at some people of a philosophy different from that of the founding fathers, and let us take a look at their understanding of freedom and liberty. Today we will look at some of the leaders and famous people involved in the French Revolution, which lasted between 1789 and 1799. Is their understanding of liberty and freedom the same to the American founding fathers or is it different?
The first person we are going to look at is Jean-Paul Marat, who was one of the most famous French journalists during the French Revolution. In a newspaper called L’Ami du Peuple Newspaper, he wrote concerning liberty and freedom: “No, liberty is not made for us: we are too ignorant, too vain, too presumptious, too cowardly, too vile, too corrupt, too attached to rest and to pleasure, too much slaves to fortune to ever know the true price of liberty. We boast of being free! To show how much we have become slaves, it is enough just to cast a glance on the capital and examine the morals of its inhabitants.” Marat seems to understand liberty and freedom in similar likes as the American founding fathers understood liberty and freedom. He understands that liberty is bound by virtue, while freedom means no restrictions upon people with no virtue involved.
What about other leaders involved in the French Revolution? How about one of the less radical leaders? Jacques Pierre Brissot was in favor of the French Revolution, but as the more radical leaders took control and started to execute anyone who hinted at order, Brissot and others broke away and advocated for common sense order. While not speaking directly about liberty compared to freedom, he said “We must institute a coup d’etat, a third revolution, which must beat down anarchy. Dissolve the Paris Commune and destroy its sections! Dissolve the clubs, which preach disorder and equality! Close the Jacobin Club and seal up its papers! … The triumvirate of Robespierre, Danton and Marat, all the ‘levellers’, all the anarchists. Then a new Convention will be elected.” The anarchy that ensued during the French Revolution after the monarchy was torn down, scared and angered Brissot. He understood that anarchy and total freedom were no ways to run a nation. There had to be some restrictions upon people for a society to be able to function without total and constant bloodshed. This also echos the sentiment of America’s founding fathers and the idea that liberty involves virtue, while freedom is totally without restraints.
What about the most famous leader of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre? Known as one of the most fierce leaders of the French Revolution, he was responsible for the execution of hundreds of people, both leaders of the old French monarchy as well as those who questioned the violence that continued after the fall of the government. On liberty and freedom Robespierre said in his book, Oeuvres, “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.” While not comparing liberty to freedom, Robespierre simply only speaks of freedom, possibly seeing the two words as one concept; similar to how liberty and freedom are spoken of today. Robespierre does speak of the importance of educated people in the role of freedom, although his actions would suggest he means educated anarchy is true freedom.
When looking at the idea of liberty and freedom as pertaining to the French Revolution, they seemingly have a very similar idea of the two as America’s founding fathers. Although, while America choose liberty as their guide, many leaders of the French Revolution, especially those who had the larger impact, seemingly chose freedom. It still seems that historically, both America’s founding fathers and the leaders of the French Revolution, agree with the Bible’s understanding of virtue being important to liberty while anarchy is seen in freedom.