Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why Did the French Revolution Divide American Society?
History Hit ^ | 24 July 2019 | Ben Fellows

Posted on 07/13/2019 10:17:51 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

ENGLISH LIBERTY:
RELIGION, Loyalty, Obedience to the Laws, Independence, Personal Security, Justice, Inheritance, Protection, Property, Industry, National Prosperity, HAPPINESS.

FRENCH LIBERTY:
ATHEISM, Rebellion, Treason, Anarchy, Murder, Equality, Madness, Cruelty, Injustice, Treachery, Ingratitude, Idleness, Famine, National & Private Ruin, MISERY.

1 posted on 07/13/2019 10:17:51 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

That’s when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the supreme court and not everyone was happy.

2 posted on 07/13/2019 10:25:38 AM PDT by seawolf101 (Member LES DEPLORABLES)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

And the French Revolution was only the beginning of the sort of revolutions that culminated in communism. So it’s historically significant for that reason also.


3 posted on 07/13/2019 10:29:12 AM PDT by River Hawk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

There’s only one revolution in history that worked to the better: The American Revolution.


4 posted on 07/13/2019 10:33:17 AM PDT by youngidiot (Admiral Mike Rogers is a hero.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: seawolf101

America didn’t have a Republican Party during the Napoleonic wars.


5 posted on 07/13/2019 10:36:05 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (Freeper formerly known as WMarshal.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck

Right. Jefferson’s ‘Republicans’ became the Democrat Party.

Is the article intentionally misleading?


6 posted on 07/13/2019 10:38:47 AM PDT by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: jjotto
Right. Jefferson’s ‘Republicans’ became the Democrat Party.

Is the article intentionally misleading?

Of course it is intentional.

7 posted on 07/13/2019 10:50:10 AM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

It comes down to Locke or Rousseau. Locke held a view of the importance of individual rights and Rousseau believe in the general will which subsumed individuals. On top of that Rousseau had a view of society as corrupt that made the noble savage into the bourgeois and Locke basically believed in the benefits of society — society is better than the state of nature as proposed by Hobbes. Locke inspired the American Revolution and all the freedom and rights derived from it and Rousseau inspired the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that derived from it.

Rousseau will always be seen a a corrective to bourgeois society which later inspired communism. The ideal is to live in harmony with nature but bourgeois man can’t live in harmony because he is torn between his natural self (nature) and the morals of society that constrain him. This is why artists also hate the bourgeois and they would rather live by their natural impulses and urges. “Epater la bourgeois” was one of their favorite expressions. That’s like saying “kill the middle class” and today’s leftist elites and academic intellectuals are STILL all for it. They are part of a long tradition...


8 posted on 07/13/2019 11:02:55 AM PDT by BEJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck; jjotto
There was in fact a Republican Party in our early history. Here's how it happened.

During Washington's presidency, we had factions in the Cabinet and Congress but no organized political parties. This was because Washington opposed the establishment of British-style political parties with every fiber of his being. His body had been cold for at least a few weeks before the Federalist and Republican (formerly Anti-Federalist) factions organized themselves into parties.

The Federalists had Adams and Hamilton as leaders, two men who could agree on some issues but who had serious personality differences. The Jeffersonian Republicans had their own divisions based on regionalism. It was a chaotic time.

The French revolutionary government made it even more chaotic when it founded Democratic-Republican societies in the cities to tilt American foreign policy in the direction of France and against our largest trading partner, Britain. These were no different than the communist front societies founded in this country by the Soviet Union after 1917. Thanks to these societies there was open street warfare in some American cities. The Alien and Sedition Acts were popular because they put a quick stop to the street warfare and established a cold peace.

The Jeffersonians called their group the "Republican Party." The Federalists called them the "Democratic-Republican Party" to link them to the Democratic-Republican French front societies and the ongoing violence in France. Unfortunately, that name has stuck in some of the older history books.

The Federalists were destroyed during the War of 1812 when they openly discussed secession at the Hartford Convention. By the election of 1816 that party had disappeared.

Jefferson's Republicans splintered in 1824 into Democrats and Whigs. This was the two-party system until the slavery question splintered both parties, and the new Republican Party of Lincoln replaced the Whigs.

So yes, there was a Republican Party is our early history.

9 posted on 07/13/2019 11:04:23 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill & Publius available at Amazon.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: higgmeister

Post #9.


10 posted on 07/13/2019 11:04:48 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill & Publius available at Amazon.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck
America didn’t have a Republican Party during the Napoleonic wars.

Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party was officially named the Republican Party. It split in around 1825 into the Democratic Party, National Republican Party, and Anti-Masonic Party. The National Republican Party was absorbed by the Whig Party, which formed the basis for the Republican Party (GOP).

11 posted on 07/13/2019 11:28:54 AM PDT by IndispensableDestiny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

We only had to defeat the Brits and make them leave, then we could be free in our own land. We did not have to eradicate the British monarchy and it’s widespread aristocracy in order to achieve liberty. The French fight was going to be bitter, bloody, vengeful, brutal and merciless, and very personal from day one.

It would be like us trying to overthrow the establishment in America today. A revolution is very a different critter than a separatist revolt.


12 posted on 07/13/2019 12:25:02 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

Don’t get me going on the overrated French Revolution. Disgusting how often it is treated as some great moment in history instead of the horrid travesty it was.

And Frenchmen Jefferson. He had his good points, but he too is overrated.


13 posted on 07/13/2019 12:25:30 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius
Although I know your track record, I still did not want to accept your statement until I read it in Jefferson's own words.

To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 23 May 1792

I this letter just after George Washington announced his retirement he referred to the republican party several times. It was in lower case as probably there was not an incorporation at that time but the lines were already drawn and of course he would have used the name that fits the definition of what our government actually is.

Thanks for the redirect. Oh, and this is a good read on the early financial issues as Thomas Jefferson saw it of our young republic.

14 posted on 07/13/2019 1:39:20 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: DesertRhino

Well. Fasten your seatbelts. That is where we’re headed.


15 posted on 07/13/2019 1:48:18 PM PDT by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: higgmeister
At the time Jefferson wrote that letter, there was a "federalist party" and a "republican party" -- all lowercase -- because these were the names of the factions in the Cabinet and Congress. Had Hamilton or Jefferson attempted to form an actual political party in the British mold, Washington would have been forced to stifle his impulse to go to the stables, procure the stoutest horsewhip and apply it liberally to the backsides of both men. Washington was deadly serious when he spoke of "the baneful effects of political parties."

The letter captures a time when the factions still behaved with some sense of decorum. That would end with Washington's funeral.

16 posted on 07/13/2019 1:48:50 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill & Publius available at Amazon.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

The American Revolution led to liberty. The French Revolution led to tyranny.


17 posted on 07/13/2019 1:49:48 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege

Many here dont care but there is a massive difference between revolution and rebellion.

Revolution is uprising against genuinely unjust treatment/laws.

Rebellion is unjustly attempting to overthrow/usurp just and right powers that be.


18 posted on 07/13/2019 1:50:28 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius

Again, thank you for your wise guidance. You do live up to your name.


19 posted on 07/13/2019 1:57:53 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: CondoleezzaProtege
That ancient placard should be brought that up to date for the 21st century...

REPUBLICANS:
RELIGION, Loyalty, Obedience to the Laws, Independence, Personal Security, Justice, Inheritance, Protection, Property, Industry, National Prosperity, HAPPINESS.

DEMOCRATS:
ATHEISM, Rebellion, Treason, Anarchy, Murder, Equality, Madness, Cruelty, Injustice, Treachery, Ingratitude, Idleness, Famine, National & Private Ruin, MISERY.

20 posted on 07/13/2019 2:24:58 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson