Prior to the revolution that would change the system of governance in France, the people had suffered under the mismanagement of King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, who, along with the aristocracy, refused to acknowledge the economic plight of the lower classes.

The first phase of the French Revolution started in 1789 when representatives of the noble, clergy, and common classes convened in a meeting of the Estates-General to address the economic duress of the population and institute reforms. King Louis XVI, under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council had banished the reformist finance ministers Turgot and Necker and generally neglected discussions of reform. He banned the crucial meeting of the Estates-General, forcing them to meet outside where they drafted the famous Oath of the Tennis Court on June 20, 1789. By July of 1789 the people of Paris were clamoring for change and began taking to the streets in protest. They stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789, tearing down what had been a symbol of monarchical and aristocratic abuse of power for years.
The slogan of the French Revolution was “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” and aimed to elevate the rights of the impoverished lower classes and mitigate the inequalities that had existed for centuries in the French feudal system.

Both political and socioeconomic factors contributed to the French Revolution as the ambitions of the rising bourgeoisie were allied with aggrieved peasants, wage-earners, and individuals of all classes. The influence of the ideas that rounded out the revolutionary movement, rooted in Enlightenment philosophies were also paramount to the desire for change in what was felt to be a stagnant system of government.

The poor economic situation, peaked by high national debt due to Louis XVI’s involvement in foreign causes and war on the North American continent, aggravated the inequality between the classes in France. The feudal peasants and the enlightened liberals resented royal absolutism and aspired for a republican government that would represent the rights of individuals. In the months before the revolution, high unemployment and high bread prices resulted in strife for the lower classes who could not afford to purchase food and led to a general dissatisfaction and upheaval among the population.

The King, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their children attempted to escape from Paris in 1791 after months of popular dissatisfaction and the increasing threat to the monarchy. The King and his family did not make it out of Paris and were instead captured and held in Paris and in 1792 the King was sent to the guillotine. For three years, between 1792 and 1795, a committee was established to rule the country headed by Georges-Jacques Denton, Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximilien Robespierre. They ruled in what became known as the Reign of Terror, sending thousands of Royalists to the guillotine including Marie Antoinette and other Royalists, dissidents of the Revolution, and even moderate thinkers who sought to mediate the excesses of the revolutionary movement. The Revolution succeeded in overturning generations of autocratic monarchic rule but became a symbol of excessive force and revolt without sufficient stabilizing elements to fundamentally change conditions for the French people. In 1799 a young General named Napoleon Bonaparte helped overthrow the government, called the Directory, and by 1804 had risen to such power that he etablished himself as “Napoleon I, Emperor of the French.”

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By the end of the 18th century, the French Revolution had made representatives of the British Empire ill at ease. In 1798, English viceroy Marquess Cornwallis reported to the Duke of Portland of attempts “to revolutionize Ireland on the principles of France.” At the same time, Irish nationalist Theobald Wolfe Tone was making waves with his public proclamations of an oncoming rebellion against English rule – one that would be supported by French military forces.

According to Cornwallis, Tone and his ilk were turning “the passions and prejudices of the different sects to the advancement of their horrible plot for the introduction of that most dreadful of all evil, a Jacobin revolution.” In the view of the English overlords, the worst of those offenders was Lord Edward FitzGerald, the younger brother of Ireland’s only Duke. Oft described as a “mischief maker” with grand romantic ideals of bloodless revolution, he had spent time fighting for the British in the American War for Independence and, inspired by a reading of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, set out for Paris at onset of the French Revolution.

Drunk on the notions becoming a populist renegade, he there married an illegitimate daughter of Phillipe Egalite, a former duc d’Orleans, and settled in to revolutionary circles - seemingly oblivious to the multitude of his fellow aristocrats being sacrificed to the guillotine daily. In 1792, FitzGerald was even said to have discussed the establishment of an independent Irish state with Common Sense pamphleteer and radical intellectual, Thomas Paine.

By 1798, he had returned to Ireland, the land of his birth, and, alongside Wolfe Tone, became one of the de facto heads of the Society of United Irishmen – a liberal political party that soon evolved into the guerilla-style revolutionary campaign that Cornallis had been anticipating. Standing 28,000 members strong, the United Irish, uprisings against the British soon spread from Dublin to far outlying counties – but FitzGerald was soon forced to the sidelines by a fever that left him bedridden and in hiding.

Despite his ambitions to go down in history as populist renegade – and a successful one at that – FitzGerald was discovered at his farmhouse hideout and transported to the prison at Newgate Gaol. There he would be fatally wounded after stabbing two of his captors – who had just offered him amnesty based on his aristocratic lineage. Fellow United Irishman Wolfe Tone would be less fortunate; following his capture month’s later, he cut his own his throat rather than meet the hangman’s noose.

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The latter’s prediction of French backup for the Irish insurgency came true – but far too late. Two months after the suppression of United Irish forces, 1,000 French solidiers landed on the beach at Kilcummin in the northwest of the island. Though joined by 5,000 supportive locals, the British soon laid waste to the French forces, with many choosing to surrender rather than continue the fight. The sole benefit of the failed Irish Rebellion of 1798? The French prisoners of wars were traded back to France for British prisoners of war. In the end, hundreds of supporters of the United Irish, mostly peasants, were hung for their involvement in the affair.

At the end of the 18th century in pre-revolutionary America as well as in the reforming political climate of Europe, a dispersion in fashion trends appeared for a short period of time that would mirror the greater ideological changes of the century. In France, the disappearance of the court at Versailles suppressed extravagant fashion for a period, and the flare and flaunt of King Louis XIV’s noble class was replaced by the Republic’s simplification in style: mens fashions looked to the proletarian class somewhat and womens fashions sought the appeal of a Classical, Antiquity-inspired, aesthetic. Fashion in France also had strong implications for fashion elsewhere.

In England, there was a temporary shift away from the flare and excess luxury of the Georgian period and styles for both men and women were tempered in their tailoring for various reasons. Social class was less bound by costume than before and England, too, was adjusting its taste in fashion to a general cultural shift that applauded the country lifestyle over the aristocratic lifestyle. In both France and England, wigs fell out of fashion and a general sobriety dictated the cut and color of men’s and women’s clothing.

The change to a more comfortable attire for both men and women during this period was a culmination of periods of successive unrest in the political and cultural realms of 18th century Europe (and by extension, the 18th century American colonies). Although there were fitful bursts of extravagance in fashion circles, such as the style of the Macaronis in England, and the fad for women’s panniers (the undergarments women wore to amplify their skirts) towards the late 1700’s, there was a general tendency towards a universalism in clothing that expressed itself in simple lines and comfortable fabrics as well as in the manufacture of garments en masse. The lines of distinction between the classes and the political and economic hierarchies began to meld and fashion confirmed itself as the mirror of these changes, as it continues to do today.

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image: Print, women’s fashion’s in the style of Antiquity, c. 1800
image: Painting by Gerard of Mme Barbier-Walbonne, 1796

In Western Society, we have grown accustomed to democratic government models managed by common citizens and have bought into the premise that the power of the collective good governs wisely. To understand the western democratic model of today, it helps to examine how the Greek City States, and notably the Ancient Athenians first devised the notion of a democratic government in their time. The Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato first defined Democracy as a system of “rule by the governed”. The origins of democracy first developed in the form of an Assembly which entitled all Athenian citizens to attend and participate. The Reform of Solon in 594 BC permitted the Assembly to either approve or reject legislation introduced by the Council. But it was not until after 508 BC, that the Council was chosen in a democratic fashion.

Real power, however still remained with the Athenian nobility, who excercised their control in the Assembly through their council, known as the ‘Aeropagus’. Through this council, the nobles elected the Archons who would govern the city. By 488 BC, the Archons were also chosen in a democratic fashion, thereby eliminating a source of power from the nobility. Magistrates were elected by freemen, jurors in trials were paid fees. Though, Athenian democracy did not bring equality, it did provide for the right of all citizens to be involved in governing their city in some form.

Since 508 BC, examples of democratic rule and governance can be found in the societies of the ancient Phoenicians, and the ancient Sumerian City States. It is interesting to note that even though the Roman Republic contributed significantly into certain aspects of democracy, such as Laws, Rome itself never became a true democracy. During the Middle Ages, only a minority of the populations of the societies of the time exercised some form of democratic rule. These limited forms of democracy are illustrated in certain medieval Italian city states, such as Venice and the Veche in Novgorod and Pskov Republics of medieval Russia. With the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 AD, which restricted the power of English kings, a new form of limited democratic rule was established and was an important milestone in the development of English parliamentary rule with De Montfort’s first elected parliament in England in 1265. However only a small minority of the population actually had a voice.

In 1788 with the signing of the United States Constitution, the founding fathers shared a commitment to the principle of natural freedom and equality and provided for an elected government and protected civil rights and liberties. Nevertheless, the United States Constitution only guaranteed these liberties and a vote for the adult white male property owners. During the French Revolution in 1789, the revolutionary government adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which resulted in a short-lived National Convention elected by all males.

The political upheaval resulting from wars, revolutions, decolonization, and religious and economic turmoil of the late 19th and 20th Centuries has transformed the political landscape throughout the world, prompting many countries to adopt some form of democracy. During this time the democratic form of government in western societies has matured to include many demographic groups once disenfranchised by society including women and minorities, while other more nascent forms of democracy still struggle to represent these important demographic sectors. And so, as the United

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States reaches an important milestone with its election of Barack Obama as its first African American President, we can only hope that this event will signal a new dawn for democracy and serve as an important example to other nations still struggling to establish a government for the people, by the people.