Ch. 16 You Won't Fool the Children of the Revolution - No Way!

Ya know, I used to like French culture, but after reading what they did to the Haitian peeps on page 781, I have a change of heart.  Demanding payment for a successful revolution is downright cruel.

The Euro wars were more global because they had stakes around the world.

I like this “popular sovereignty” idea – give the people authority versus “from God or established tradition” (p. 783 .  Right on, brothers and sisters.

This perspective that the thought never crossed their minds to break from England until England tried to tighten the reigns is a detail that has been overlooked by me in past history classes.  Never looked at the colonists situation in that regard, but it is understandable the way it is explained in the textbook.

Another similar angle – that the independence achieved by the U.S. was less a result of the revolution and more of principles contained in the Declaration of Independence.  Never thought of our country’s freedom in these two aforementioned regards.

I like the distinction made between the impetus for the American Revolution versus the one for the French Revolution:  Respectively - tensions between a colonial relationship with a distant power versus sharp conflicts within French society (p. 788).

If anyone would like to see Louie XIV and Marie Antoinette humanized, check out Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette.”  This is a wonderful flick with Kirsten Dunst as Marie, and Jason Schwartzman as the inept and wishy-washy Louie XIV.

I remember reading about the French Revolution in history class at CSM about six years ago – the most interesting aspect of that lifeless class.

I actually kind of feel for Marie Antoinette.  She was a mere child thrown into a role in which she most likely did not want to be.  She knew nothing of Louie.  Who knew that a salad would be named after him?

Oh, I love this one:  Women who aspired to exercising political power were “not really women at all” (p. 790).  What were they, then?  Men in drag?  Sheez.

“Enlightenment” permeates these revolutions.

Hey, I like this Toussaint Louverture!  Smart guy.  Even got a power shift toward the slaves in Haiti (p. 793).

I simply do not understand how the French government can “force” a debt on Haiti.  How do you force someone to pay money?  I need more details to understand this one.

Of course, few of the promises of freedom, end of legal restrictions, and social advancement were kept because who is going to enforce these freedoms anyway if the people did prevail?  If France can force Haiti into debt, then broken promises for Latin Americans seems par for the course.

Thank God for enlightenment!  Finally, slavery was being viewed as out of date and unnecessary.

Funny how Britain became the voice of slavery, yet they were the worst offenders overall.  Atonement?

Sometimes one is unawares of oppression until it is brought to their attention, like the Poles and Ukrainians under the control of the Russian Empire (p. 802).

I love this phrase on page 806:  “freedom from household drudgery.”  How about the drudgery of working in an office?

Well, I don’t think I would throw myself in front of king’s horse in the name of women’s rights, but whatever suits your fancy.

This sentence sums up the feminist movement nicely:  “the movement prompted an unprecedented discussion about the role of women in modern society” (p. 807).  Amen.

Of course women were viewed as selfish, because now men have some serious competition, baby!