History 159

The French Revolution

Note: This syllabus is subject to change during the semester

T, Th 3:00-4:15 PM, Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room

Professor Elizabeth Foster
Office: East Hall 106 and CHAT (48 Professors Row) 105
Office hours: East Hall: M 1:30-3:00, CHAT: W 9:30-11:00 and by appointment
[email protected] (email is the best way to reach me)

Course Description

This course examines the French Revolution, one of the most extraordinary upheavals in
European history. Topics include the intellectual, social and political landscape of eighteenth
century France, the crisis of the Old Regime, revolutionary politics and culture, the radicalization
of the revolution, revolution in Saint-Domingue (Haiti), as well as legacies and historical
interpretations of the revolution. The course draws on both primary source readings and the
wealth of imaginative historical inquiry that the revolution has prompted.

Structure

This class meets twice a week and combines lecture and discussion of the readings. Students are
expected to come prepared to participate in class every day. Readings are due on the day they
are listed on the syllabus. Students will also write three essays drawing on the primary sources
assigned for the class.

Requirements

• Class participation
• Three short quizzes on revolutionary events/terminology
• Two 5-7 page essays
• Take-home Final

Note: Requirements will differ for graduate students—please see the instructor.

Students will receive an A in participation if they attend class regularly, are on time for the
start of class, contribute actively and thoughtfully to class discussion based on a
demonstrated familiarity with the readings, ask informed questions, treat other students and
the professor with courtesy and respect, stay awake in class, and avoid texting, emailing, or
surfing the internet during class.
Things that are guaranteed to bring your participation grade down: (1) Repeated absences
from class. Two absences will be forgiven—after that they will affect the participation grade
(2) Tardiness (3) Lack of participation. I realize that many students are shy about talking in
class; please visit me in office hours early in the semester for strategies if you feel you fall
into this category (4) Participating without having read the assigned materials and/or talking

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for the sake of talking (5) Sleeping (6) A disrespectful attitude towards peers or the
professor, (7) Using electronic devices for anything besides class materials.
All students are expected to do their own work. Any plagiarism or academic dishonesty will
result in a zero on the assignment, possible failure of the course, and disciplinary action. I
am required to report all possible cases of academic dishonesty to the Dean of Student
Affairs. If you are unsure of the expectations for a particular assignment, please ask for
clarification. Late assignments will be docked 1/3 grade (i.e., B+ becomes B) per 24 hours
late, NO EXCEPTIONS. There will not be opportunities for extra credit. Extensions will
only be granted in extraordinary circumstances, and preferably in advance.

Students requesting an accommodation as a result of a documented disability must register

with Student Accessibility Services at the beginning of the semester. To do so, arrange an
appointment with Linda Sullivan, Director of Student Accessibility Services. I cannot make
accommodations without notification from SAS.

Grading

• Active and informed participation in class discussion and activities 20%

• Three Short quizzes 15%
• Two 5-7 page essays 40%
• Take-home Final 25%

Readings

The assigned books are available at the bookstore and on reserve at Tisch library. All other class
readings are available on the course Trunk site.

Books available for purchase (all are in paperback):

• Keith Baker, ed. University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization: The Old Regime and the
French Revolution Vol. 7. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
• Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Penguin Books, 1968)
• William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, 2e (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2003) THIS IS AN **OPTIONAL** REFERENCE TEXT
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract G. D. H. Cole, trans. (Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, Inc., 2003)
• Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution Stuart Gilbert, trans. (New
York: Anchor Books, 1983)

Readings available on Trunk:

• Robert Darnton, “Reading, Writing and Publishing” in The Literary Underground of the Old
Regime (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), 167-208
• François Furet, ed. Marx and the French Revolution Deborah Kan Furet, trans. (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1988), 178-180; 189-192

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• David Geggus, ed. and trans. The Haitian Revolution: A Documentary History (Indianapolis:
Hackett, 2014), selections
• Lynn Hunt, “The Imagery of Radicalism” in Politics, Culture, and Class in the French
Revolution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 87-119
• Lynn Hunt, ed., The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History
(Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 1996), 119-121; 132-139
• Timothy Tackett, “Paths to Revolution: The Old Regime Correspondence of Five
Future Revolutionaries” in French Historical Studies 32 (2009): 531-554

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Schedule of Readings and Assignments

Week 1: Old Regime Institutions and Society

9/8: Introduction

9/10: Society, Politics and Privilege Under the Old Regime

Read: Loyseau, “A Treatise on Orders” and Bossuet “Politics Derived from the Words
of Holy Scripture” in Baker, UCRWC, 13-47;

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 1-43

Week 2: The Enlightenment & Political Thought in 18th Century France

9/15: Enlightenment and Public Opinion

Read: Rousseau, On the Social Contract, Books 1 & 2

9/17: New Trends in Political Thought

Read: Rousseau, On the Social Contract, Books 3 & 4

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 44-65

Week 3: The Literary World of the Old Regime

9/22: Beyond the Philosophes

Read: Darnton, “Reading, Writing and Publishing”

9/24: Do books cause Revolutions?

***Quiz on the Old Regime in class 9/24/15 (2 Vendémiaire, CCXXIV)***

Week 4: The Crisis of the Old Regime

9/29: A Royal Mess

Read: “Protests of the Parlement of Paris”, “Proceedings of the Assembly of Notables”
and “Parliamentary Opposition” in Baker, UCRWC, 118-143

10/1: The Estates General

Read: Sieyès, “What is the Third Estate?" in Baker, UCRWC, 154-179
***Essay 1 due in class 10/1/15 (9 Vendémiaire CCXXIV)***

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 66-111

Week 5: The “Liberal” Phase, 1789

10/6: Why did French people become revolutionaries?

Read: Tackett, “Paths to Revolution,” 531-554

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10/8: Dismantling Privilege
Read: “Peasant Grievances”, “Decrees of the National Assembly 10-11 August 1789”
and “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” in Baker, UCRWC, 208-217;
226-231; 237-239

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 112-135

Week 6: Difficulties…

10/13: Edmund Burke’s assessment of the Revolution, 1790

Read: Burke, Reflections on the Revolution, pp. 83-85, 121-156, 159-175, 178-179, 181-195,
266-282, 340-342. If you have a different edition of Burke, be sure to contact me
so that you read the right selections.

10/15: Seeds of Discontent: The Revolution and the Church

Read: “The Civil Constitution of the Clergy” and “The Constitution of 1791” in Baker,
UCRWC, 239-242, 249-261

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 136-158

Week 7: Radicalization and War

10/20: Republican Revolution and Popular Violence

10/22: War in Europe

***Quiz on 1787-1791 in class 10/22/15 (30 Vendémiaire CCXXIV)***

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 174-219

Week 8: Terror

10/27: The Reign of Terror

Read: “Documents of the Sans-Culottes”, “Make Terror the Order of the Day” and
“The Law of Suspects” in Baker, UCRWC, 330-340, 342-354

10/29: Radical Culture

Read: “The Revolutionary Calendar” and “The Festival of the Supreme Being” in Baker,
UCRWC, 362-368, 384-391 AND THEN Hunt, “The Imagery of Radicalism”

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 220-271

Week 9: Reaction

11/3: Thermidor

11/5: The Directory

Read: “Manifesto of the Directors” and “The Conspiracy of Equals” in Baker, UCRWC,
392-403

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 272-296; 318-340

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Week 10: Napoleon Bonaparte

11/12: Bonaparte Seizes Power

Read: “The Coup d’Etat of 18 Brumaire 1799” in Baker, UCRWC, 405-415
***Essay 2 due in class 11/12/15 (21 Brumaire CCXXIV)***

Optional Text: Doyle, French Revolution, 369-390

Week 11: Revolution in Saint-Domingue

11/17: The Revolution, Seen from the Colonies

Read: Geggus, Haitian Revolution, xi-xxxiv, 43-47, 51-56

11/19: Race and Revolution in Saint-Domingue

Read: in Geggus, Haitian Revolution, 75-77, 83-86, 107-109, 112, 171-172
***Quiz on 1791-1801 11/19/15 (28 Brumaire CCXXIV)***

Week 12: Women and the Revolution

11/24: Women and the French Revolution

Read: “Declaration of the Rights of Woman” in Baker, UCRWC, 261-268; Hunt, French
Revolution and Human Rights, 119-121, 132-139

Week 13: Interpreting the French Revolution: the Example of de Tocqueville

12/1: de Tocqueville’s Analysis

Read: de Tocqueville, Old Regime and Revolution, 1-96

12/3: Continuity and Change

Read: de Tocqueville, Old Regime and Revolution, 97-211

Week 14: Reflections

12/8: The French Revolution and the History of Ideas

Read: Furet, Marx and the French Revolution, 178-180, 189-192

12/10: The French Revolution in Global Perspective

Read: “Introduction” and “The Global Financial Origins of 1789” in Desan, Hunt,
Nelson, The French Revolution in Global Perspective, 1-11, 32-43.

***Take Home Final Due 12/14/15 (23 Frimaire CCXXIV) 4 PM ***