The Rights of Man and the Revolutionary Controversy

This reading turned out to be very educational for me, and I learned a little bit about the British and French history. On July 14, 1789, there was the French Revolution. Prior to this time, the monarchy had started to become corrupt and taxed the lower class people more and more due to the gradual move of the government towards bankruptcy. The French Revolution was a very radical movement which was suppose to bring equality to all of the French people. The French king, Louis XVI was executed out of fear by the people in case he would gain a following and ascend the throne once again. Throughout this time, the English people had very different view points of the happenings occurring in France. Some were opposed to the events and others supported them.

This type of writing style was difficult for me to understand. Some of the paragaphs were worded in ways that I had no idea what was going on. After listening to the podcast, the readings became more clear and I was able to understand the material. Our readings covered two different view points of the English people. One excerpt by Edmond Burke showed his clear opposition to the French Revolution while others such as Helen Maria Williams, Mary Wollstonecrest, and Thomas Paine agreed with the end of the French Monarchy.

Helen Maria Williams went over to France to look at the effects of the revolution first hand. Her first section in her letters written from France described the Federation. Even though she said throughout this section that she could not describe it , I felt like I got a good idea of how the people felt during that time. Williams was obviously very moved and touched by the events and how millions of people were rejoicing in the streets. She was delighted to report that even members of noble families were willing to give up their titles in an act towards patriotism. She went into great detail of all the activities leading up to the actual execution of the king. She did not believe that he needed to be murdered however in all she believes that the French Revolution will bring only prosperity to the country.

In contrast to Williams, Edmond Burke took the opposition side of the French Revolution. He states, "Everything seems out of nature in this strange chaos of levity and ferocity, and of all sorts of crimes jumbled together with all sorts of follies." He believes that it is unnatural because it does not go along with tradition. He firmly thinks that all people have a right to their property and that includes property inherited by parents. It goes against basic rights if people are forced to redistribute their weath among the poor. Even though there is a contract between society and the people, he thinks that it will not be improved upon by getting rid of the current society but there needs to be improvements on the existing one.

When Edmond Burke released his opinion in the Reflections on the Revolution in France, there were numerous rebuttles from radicals such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Thomas Paine. Wollstonecraft does not believe that men have the right to nobility because of the family they have been born into because it will create monsters. She has two major points that she continuously addresses: (1) property should be equally distributed among all people and (2) the history only brought about oppression and hardship among the lower class of people and things needed to be changed. She claims that Burke only is writing for effect and fame and does not truely believe in what he is writing. She supports this claim by showing Burke's conflicting beliefs, because he supported the American Revolution. Thomas Paine continued with the criticism of Burke. He claims that a country should not be ruled from the grave, and all living people have the right to chose the type of government in their country. He agrees that their is a contract between people and society, however the people have the right to get out of that contract.

I can see where both of these views come from. In the case of Edmund Burke, I understand why he was so hesitant to agree with the French Revolution. Sometimes change can be very difficult, especially if it makes the future unclear. This can be very scary and being a member of the more elite class, I would not like to give up my title and wealth. However, I am more in agreement with the other side of the argument. Just because a group of people are born into a lower class does not give anyone, especially a king, a right to continously tax them and keep them from moving up in the ranks. Every person has the right to gain as long as they are willing to put in the work to gain wealth.