Feuillant

Shannon McQuillan
9/23/2013
Prof. Zhu

The change upon France was inevitable; France would never be the
same. With the bad economy and the harsh winter the people were on the
brink. The current system of taxation was maxed out, France was in major
debt, and the bread shortages caused starvation. The question was who was
going to control France to end this sorrowful time and make France great
again.
The power of King Louis XVI was slowly weakening and the people were
looking to gain that power. As a Feuillant I am loyal to King Louis XVI and
work to preserve his power however, I believe in the National Assembly and
share their stance to make this country a constitutional monarchy. In order to
do this I believe in the combination of the ideas of Rousseau and Burke will
get France back on its feet and be successful again.
As a believer in the National Assembly I believe that people should
have a say in their government and freedom as stated in the Declaration of
the Rights of Man and Citizen. The people should be free to express their

ideas and opinions to better the common good. I believe that each person
deserves these rights and good can come out, but I dont believe that the
people should govern themselves as stated in the documentation. This is
because the people need a clear leader, a monarch. With people governing
themselves it is unclear who or what is in charge and the functions of society
would be broken down.
A country needs a monarch to set up laws, regulate trade, and provide
jobs within the country. A current example of this is the economy. The
economy is at a down spin, people are without jobs and starving. In order to
fix this problem the King must be in charge, he has the greatest power to do
so(Miguel Tamen). This problem arose because of how the government and
the ancien regime was. The ancien regime was set for a small population and
leads the economy to remain stagnant, this is where the problems arouse in
recent times. Since the economy arose from people who owned land and an
abundance of it, all people had the necessities to live a good life(Timothy
Tackett).
Since the population has dramatically increased land has not and
people do not have the necessities in order to live a good life. Without these
necessities people are starving and begging for bread, what these people
really need is a healthy economy. With this healthy economy the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen can be met. With the Constitution of 1791, I
believe this can be fulfilled. This is because Constitution of 1791 will create

a constitutional monarchy, distrusting the power more efficiently. It will allow

the King the suspense veto of legislation, executive powers, and the people
with elections(26).
In order the fulfill this, the National Assembly idea of people governing
cannot be. This is because they could have the right to be free but they must
need a monarch to lead this. I believe that sharing the power with the King
and people must be, they both must work in accordance with one another.
This is because the people cannot change the economy without leadership of
a person such as the King, who has such an abundance of it. So a
combination of the Kings power and the Rights of Man would be most
efficient to bring forth a healthy economy and country. This is why the
Constitution of 1791 should work within the government (Feuillant Packet).
As a former Jacobin this revolutionary time is exciting, change and
restructure is all around. Change in the ancien regime was seen as needed to
the Jacobins just as the National Assembly believed. Things such as the
ancien regime not only aided the economic downfall but it caused corruption.
The need to make reforms was desperate(35). As a Feuillant in order to do
this I told my supporters that I would pull some political power from the King
in order to reform it and return the new taxes he demanded (Woloch). But as
the Jacobins currently believe the best interest of the nation was in the hands
of reform and not the King. The Jacobins believe that the King nor the
National assembly should have any power but instead the people. Jacobins

want to make the alteration from monarchy to democracy. This is because

they believed in the General Will, the publics best interests. This is because
laws are expressions of the general will (73). In order the do this the Jacobins
believed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens, which
established their profound ideas of the General Will.
The ideas of Rousseau such as change and reforms are necessary and
ideas of Jacobins bring forth some ideas for reform but I still pledge my
loyalty to the King and do not believe monarchy should be stripped nor
democracy should solely rule France.
Alongside of many reforms the Catholic Church was needed to be
reformed. The Catholic Church essentially founded France and couldnt be
done without it. The Catholic Church runs many fundamental parts of the
country such as education and health departments (Gemma Betros).
Although at one point it was needed but now I come to the consensus that
they should no longer take such an active politically and economically but
rather become independent from the state. This is because the Church has
been extracting taxes form those who work its land, and making people pay
fees for belonging to their parish. The Catholic Church at one point was part
of the foundation of France no longer needs to be involved politically. It was
necessary for the foundation of France but not the sustainability (141). I want
the proposed Constitution of 1791 to be passed because it makes the
Catholic Church independent and place restrictions upon it. The Clergy is a

key aspect in the people lives and should be done so religiously not
politically. Therefore the Constitution of 1791 would take away the political
power of the Church so it can go back to focus on its main mission of
Christianity.
As a Feuillant I believe that there should be reforms to the country and
combine the ideas of many parties. The times are changing and I serve as a
neutralizer. I believe in preserving the power of the King although he should
look upon the National Assembly to form a constitutional monarchy creating
freedom and power amongst them. With the Constitution of 1791 being
passed it will allow reforms among the documentations that needed to be
fixed preserve the Kings power, separated church and state and create a
constitutional monarchy (Feuillant Packet). Until the country comes together
and combines ideas France will be able to become successful again.

Works Cited
Betros, Gemma. "The French Revolution And The Catholic Church." History Review 68 (2010):
16-21.Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

Mark C. Carnes. Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1971. Pearson Education. Print.
2005.

See I. Woloch, Jacobin Legacy: The Democratic Movement under the Directory (1970); M. L.
Kennedy, The Jacobin Club of Marseilles (1973); Kennedy, The Jacobin Clubs in
the French Revolution (2 vol., 198288).

Tackett, Timothy. "Paths To Revolution: The Old Regime Correspondence Of Five Future
Revolutionaries."French Historical Studies 32.4 (2009): 531-554. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

Tamen, Miguel. "In Defense Of Louis Xvi." Common Knowledge 19.2 (2013): 205210. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

See I. Woloch, Jacobin Legacy: The Democratic Movement under the Directory (1970); M. L.
Kennedy, The Jacobin Club of Marseilles (1973); Kennedy, The Jacobin Clubs in
the French Revolution (2 vol., 198288).

Feuillant Packet. The recently-formed Feuillant (fuh-YAWN) Club