Flashcards: Revolution and Enlightenment in France — 18 cards

Subjectus — definition?

Legal person defined by submission to order.

Citoyen — role?

Rights-bearing individual after 1789, privileges abolished.

Sovereignty of the people — concept?

Political authority derives from the nation.

Rupture of 1789 — significance?

Shift from privilege-based society to individual legal order.

Sociability salons — purpose?

Elites discuss and critique system, remain monarchists.

Sociétés de pensée — function?

Organized debate venues like cafés and academies.

Académies de province — growth?

Expanded from 9 to 35 academies (1710-1789).

Loges maçonniques — role?

Spread values of philanthropy, equality, tolerance.

Encyclopédie — aim?

Organize secular knowledge of sciences and arts.

Rationalism — approach?

Judging by reason, not inherited authority.

Désacralisation — meaning?

Shift from theological to scientific explanations.

Contrat Social — Rousseau’s idea?

Legitimacy from the will of people.

Censorship workaround — method?

Cross-references (“renvois”) to evade censorship.

Sacred monarchy — key element?

Sainte Ampoule miracle and Reims sacre.

Louis XIV — absolutism?

Peak of royal power, “État c’est moi.”

Estates General — function?

Represent clergy, nobility, Third Estate; voting by order.

Louis XVI — assembly?

Last convened in 1789, amid crisis.

Demographic change — driver?

Mortality decline after 1750 causes population growth.