LibGuides: World History: The Impact the Enlightenment Had on the French Revolution: Main Guide

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VIDEO: What Caused the French Revolution?

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USEFUL WEBSITES: ENLIGHTENMENT & ITS IMPACT ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Background on Bossuet (Doc 1) & Locke (Doc 2)
Exploring the French Revolution: The Enlightenment & Human Rights
Discusses how the focus on human rights during the Enlightenment led to French writers and thinkers using those principles to help bring about the end of absolute monarchy in France.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Enlightenment
Describes the main principles of Enlightenment thought.
Encyclopedia Britannica: French Revolution
Describes the events and philosophies that led to the French Revolution in 1789.
Ideas & Ideologies: The French Revolution
Looks at the connection between the Enlightenment and the French Revolution
Carleton University Library Archives & Collections
Lots of information about the French Revolution
BYU Library - French Documents, 1789-1871
Links to many digital collections of the French Revolution

Secondary Source Websites to Support the Primary Source Documents

Document 1: Bossuet & Absolutism
Document 2: John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government"
Secondary source support for Primary Source Document #2.
Document 3: Jean Domat - On Social Order & Absolute Monarcy
Document 4: Rousseau's "The Social Contract"
Secondary source support from the British Library.

Rousseau & the French Revolution
Secondary source support: article from "The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science"
Rousseau & the Revolution
Secondary source support from a symposium of the North American Association for the Study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Document 5: Montesquieu's "Spirit of Laws"
Secondary source support from Stanford's Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Document 5: Declaration of the Rights of Man
Secondary source support from the British Library
Document 6: Voltaire's Quote
From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Within the entry on Voltaire, got to section 2.1 “liberty”, toward the end of the section
Document 7: Petition from the Women of the 3rd Estate
Secondary source about "The Petition of the Women of the Third Estate" from George Mason University
Document 7: Women in Revolutionary Paris 1789-1795
Document 8: Illustration "Les Trois Ordres"
Secondary source from University College, London's art museum, analyzing the three estates cartoon.
Document 9: "What is the 3rd Estate", Sieyes
Secondary source support from Encyclopedia Britannica
Document 9: Article about Abbe Sieyes
Secondary source article in St. Mary's University online student magazine
Document 10: "The Decree of August 4, 1789"
Brief information from George Mason University about the meaning of the Decree of Aug. 4, 1789
Document 10: Decree of August 4, 1789
Secondary source support for "The Decree of August 4, 1789", the abolition of feudalism
Document 11: "Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen"
Secondary source support from the British Library of the National Assembly's Declaration in 1789
"The Declaration of Rights of Man"
Secondary source support from George Mason University on the Aug. 26, 1789 declaration by the National Assembly
Document 12: The French Constitution of 1791
Secondary source support of this document from Encyclopedia Britannica

LIBRARY CATALOG

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TOPICAL LIBRARY BOOKS

The French Revolution by Don Nardo
Call Number: 944.04 FRE
Publication Date: 1998
Essays in this anthology explore the historical background leading up to the French Revolution, the social upheaval it created, & its lasting impact on France & the world.
French Revolution and Human Rights by Lynn Hunt
Call Number: 323.09 FRE
Publication Date: 1996
The Enlightenment by John M. Dunn
Call Number: 940.2 DUN
Publication Date: 1998
Discusses various aspects of the Enlightenment including its roots, philosophes, attacks on Christianity, revolt against reason, campaigns to reform society, and legacy.
The Age of Reason: The Eighteenth Century
Call Number: 940.25 NIC
Publication Date: 1961
The Enlightenment by Harold Maltz (Editor); Miriam Maltz (Editor)
Call Number: 940.2 ENL
Publication Date: 2005
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment by Peter H. Reill; Ellen J. Wilson
Call Number: R 940.2 WIL
Publication Date: 1996

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