French Revolution Research Paper

Proceeding the French Revolution, the significant imbalance of power held a prominent role in French Society and incited the uprising of the third, commoner estate through the corruption it caused. Consequently, as the Enlightenment philosophies began to flourish, deconstruction arose as a key component of the French enlightenment ideals. Therefore, the French revolutionaries pursued not an initiative of chaos, but the purposeful goal of deconstructing the corrupt centralized structures of French society utilized to oppress the powerless: the Catholic church, gender confinements, and class divisions. Prescribing to the post-structuralist doctrine, the revolutionaries strove to eliminate the hierarchy of societal constructs, allowing the natural …show more content…
Furthermore, by 1789, the Church’s vast ownership of six percent of French land, exorbitant revenue of one-hundred fifty livres, exemption from taxation, and continual collection of one-tenth of all commoner’s agricultural productions, fueled the rapidly expanding anti-Catholic sentiment expressed by French commoners (Betros). Additionally, the negative perspective towards the religious structure evolved further as enlightenment philosophers developed concern for the monks and nuns in monasteries whose “binding vows to the religious state” for the entirety of their lives raised significant “concerns about individual liberty” a core ideal of the revolutionaries (Piedra). Due to these factors, the revolutionaries derailed one of the most prominent structures of nineteenth-century French society, the Catholic Church, outlawing religion and installing The Cult of the Supreme Being, supporting belief in a creator who does not intervene in the universe, who only remains accepted on the