Episode 492: Bread and the Church

the violence that was to come. Before I talked about the events of that year, I need to talk about one of the guiding forces of the early Revolution, someone that I've mentioned a couple of times, but I really need to bring formally onto the board, and as Jean Paul Marat. Jean Paul Marat's life before seventeen ninety was one already of restless ambition, relentless struggle, and an almost prophetic sense of being destined to collide with the forces

that will be the revolution. When the revolution opened in seventeen eighty nine, Maraut stepped into history not as a polished statesman or an eminent man of letters, but as an outsider, an immigrant intellectual, a doctor, a scientist, and a radical journalist. Who was determined to speak for those he believed had no voice. Jean Paul Moratt was born on the twenty fourth of May seventeen forty three in Baldris, a small village in the Prussian Principality of Nichelle, which

today is actually part of Switzerland. His father, Giovanni Mara, was of Sardinian origin and worked as a teacher. His mother, Luis Cabral, was a Calvinist from Geneva. Marnt grew up in modest circumstances, but quickly distinguished himself through intelligence and determination.

By his own account, he left home as a teenager to make his way in the world, A wandering scholar in search of opportunity, Marot studied in Geneva, then moved across Europe, briefly in Italy, Holland, and finally England, pursuing medicine and philosophy with equal fervor. He adopted the French form of his name Marat, seeking to blend more easily into the Francophone world. Marat spent more than a decade living in London, where he supported himself through a variety

of means, tutoring, translating, and practicing medicine. He absorbed the ideas of the English radical thought, especially John Locke and the empiricists, but also the writings of David Hume and Voltaire. It was in England that he began to form his view of society as divided between a small, selfish elite and the oppressed many. He gained some modest success as

a physician. His reputation was bolstered when he claimed to have cured cases of venereal disease and tuberculosis with unconventional methods, though his colleagues doubted his effectiveness. He cultivated aristocratic clients, but his sympathies increasingly drifted towards the disadvantaged poor. Marat also pursued science and philosophy. In seventeen seventy four he published an essay on the Human Soul, reflecting his interest and metaphysics and the mind. His ambition was to make

his mark as a thinker of European renown. By the mid seventeen seventies, Maraunt returned to France and sought recognition as both a doctor and a scientist. In Paris, he secured a post as a physician to the personal guards of the Comte de Artois, the king's youngest brother and the future Charles the tenth. This gave him a degree of prestige and income. Though he never abandoned his outsider status.

Marut threw himself into scientific experimentation. He published works on optics, light and electricity, including Discoveries on Fire in seventeen seventy nine and Memoir on the Theory of Light in seventeen eighty. He corresponded with leading scientists of the day and hoped to gain recognition from the academic des sciences, but he never broke into its inner His scientific ambitions often met

with skepticism or outright dismissal. That sense of being rejected by the elites, convinced of his own brilliance yet denied entry into their institutions, would shape his incredible bitterness in later years, as we will see with consequences. Even before seventeen eighty nine, Murat wrote about politics, and he wrote

about politics a lot. In seventeen seventy four he published Chains of Slavery, a fiery denunciation of tyranny which warned the rulers inevitably sought to reduce their people to servitude. He drew on examples from Rome and England, and his message was clear, liberty must be guarded with vigilance. This book anticipated the tone of his revolutionary journalism, apocalyptic, accusatory,

and relentless in its suspicion of authority. Throughout the seventeen eighties, Maraaut continued to practice medicine in Paris, offering cheap treatment to the poor, which earned him a degree of affection in the city's working class districts. He lived simply, often in cramped lodgings, and cultivated a reputation as a doctor who would not refuse those who could not pay. When the Estates General was summoned in seventeen eighty nine, Marat

was not a deputy. He was an outsider. He didn't have political office, and he certainly didn't have a noble rank. But he was drawn irresistibly, like the proverbial moth to the flame, right of to the unfolding revolution, to the simple speed and pace of events. The fall of the Bass Deal and the subsequent explosion of political debate convinced Marat that he had finally found the arena in which

his voice could matter. In September of seventeen eighty nine, Marat began publishing a small journal, Publicite Parision, in which he soon renamed the Alimid the People the Friend of the people. With this paper, this is when Marat really forges his identity as the watchdog, the uncompromising watchdog of the revolution. The title was no accident. He cast himself as the lone defenders of the sans culottes, the poor artisans and workers who crowded Paris. Marat's style was unlike

the measured tones of most deputies. His writing was raw, angry, and often violent. In its prescriptions, he accused ministers of true reason, denounced nobles's parasites, and warned constantly of conspiracies against the revolution. He had little patience for moderation, as he declared in one issue quote, five or six hundred heads cut off would have assured your repose, liberty and happiness. By the time seventeen ninety began, Maraut was already notorious.

He had attacked Jacques Nequier, the popular finance minister, in January, accusing him of betrayal and incompetence. His ceaseless calls for vigilance and punishment alarmed authorities. On January the twenty second. The Paris municipal police attempted to arrest him for sedition, but a crowd of the Sans Culottes came to his defense, allowing him to escape. Pursued and threatened, he fled temporarily

to London, where he continued to write and plan his return. Thus, on the eve of seventeen ninety, Marat stood as both fugitive and profit. He was no great man of birth or office, but a self made intellectual, physician and journalist

who had fused personal resentment with revolutionary zeal. The revolution had given him the platform he had long sought, and his enemies would soon discover that Marot's pen was as dangerous as any sword, Which brings us back to the new year of seventeen ninety, a new year that opened with hunger. On January the seventh, a riot erupted in Versailles as crowds demanded lower bread prices. Bread had always

been the measure of life in France. When prices rose beyond the reach of workers, rebellion was never far behind, and it was only days later when Jean Paul Morant, who I just introduced, turned his pen of the friend of the people against Jockncaire, the finance minister who had once been hailed as the savior of the King's finances. In January the eighteenth, Mauraut accused Necare of weakness, compromise,

and the betrayal of the revolution. Neckaire, once the darling of the people was starting to lose his sheen, his popularity, and his protection, as I mentioned, the Paris authorities quickly moved to silence Marut. On January the twenty second, the municipal police attempted to arrest him for his violent denunciations, but when they came for him, a crowd of Sansculeau gathered, their fists raised and their long sworn loyalty to the journalist,

protecting the man who spoke their language. Moraunt managed to escape the authorities and fled across the channel to London. For now, his absence only heightened his legend now. Meanwhile, the National Assembly pressed ahead with sweeping reforms. On February the thirteenth, it suppressed the contemplative religious orders forbidding new monastic vows from being taken. The cloisters and abbeys that had stood for centuries as sanctuaries of prayer were declared

obsolete in the new order of reason. Ten days later, on February the twenty third, the Assembly required coures, the humble parish priest scattered across France to read its decrees aloud from the pulpit. The revolution was carried not just in Paris, but into every village, every parish, every soul. Meanwhile, the nobility's last bastion of privilege was under assault. On February the twenty eighth, the Assembly abolished the requirement that

army officers be of noble birth. The path of honor in the military, once a birthright of aristocrats, was now open to everyone. But in the colonies, liberty stopped short. Now the stakes were enormous. Francis Caribbean colonies San domini Ke, which is modern Haiti, Martinique, and Guadeloupe were among the richest territories in the world. Sanamini Ka alone produced about forty percent of Europe's sugar and more than half of

its coffee. That wealth floated into the pockets of French planters and merchants and threw them into the coffers of the kingdom. The colonial economy, however, rested on the brutal labor of nearly half a million enslaved Africans ruled over the fewer than maybe forty thousand whites and thirty thousand free people of color. When the Revolution began, colonial planters feared that metropolitan reformers might extend the principles of the

Declaration to the colonies. Planters and merchants in France quickly organized themselves into the Club Massaic, a powerful lobbying group in Paris. They insisted that colonial matters were a special case, bound by delicate balances that could not be disrupted without ruination. The Assembly ultimately took up this question in March of seventeen ninety. The issue was not abstract at all. Free people of color in San Dominique had already begun petitioning

for the rights of citizenship. Citing the Declaration of the Rights of Man. They argued that, as property holders and often slave owners themselves, they were entitled to re presentation and equality before the law. Their petitions alarmed white planters, who saw them in a slippery slope that might eventually lead to emancipation. The planter's allies in the Assembly, men like Barnave and Moreau de Saint Marie insisted that the colonies were just too valuable to risk with rash reforms.

They advanced several arguments. Number one, pure economic necessity. The colony is worthy quote unquote jewel of France providing wealth, trade and jobs. Abolishing slavery or extending full rights to freemen of color would destabilize the plantation economy. Number two, special circumstances. The colonies, they argued, were different from France. The Declaration of Rights of Man might apply in principle,

but in practice colonies this required exceptions. There was, also, of course, the third argument, the ever present fear of a slave uprising. Planters warned that even small reforms such as extending political rights to free people of color, would inflame racial tensions and risk massive uprisings among the enslaved majority. One deputy bluntly stated that without slavery quote, the colonies would be nothing more than a useless burden end quote. Now.

Of course, on the other side of the argument, so the Society de mist Noirs Society of the Friends of the Blacks, led by figures like Jacques Pierre Brissau, at Tienne Cavier and Abbi Grenaire. They denounced the hypocrisy declaring

universal rights while condoning slavery. Their arguments drew on moral, religious, and political grounds, arguing the universal of rights, declaring that the revolution couldn't stop on the shores of France, that the rights belonged to all men, regardless of color or birthplace. They argued Christian morality, the perpetuating slavery was a sin against God and against nature. They argued about the danger

of delay. The friends of the Blacks warned that refusing reforms would only make rebellion more likely, as oppressed groups would eventually rise on their own oppressient that third argument

would eventually seem still their voices were a minority. Many deputies, while sympathetic to the voices and ideals of equality, feared economic and political consequences of radical change, And so it was that on March the eighth, seventeen ninety, the National Assembly reached a compromise that revealed both the daring and timidity of the revolution. The Assembly voted to maintain slavery in the colonies, but to allow the establishment of colonial

assemblies composed of white colonists to manage local affairs. This decision gave the planters greater autonomy while reaffirming the economic system that sustained their wealth. The decree effectively dodged the question of applying the rights of men to colonial society. Deputies argued that they were not denying universal rights, only

acknowledging practical limits in far off distant territories. In truth, though it was of course a retreat, it was obvious that the language of liberty stopped at the plantation gates. For the friends of the Blacks, the March decree was a bitter disappointment. Brisseau wrote that France had betrayed its own revolution. Abbi rire lamented that the Assembly had bowed quote to and fear for the planters. That decision was

a course of victory, but it was only temporary. The refusal to extend equality to freemen of color and the preservation of slavery would eventually plant the seeds of a deadly and vicious revolt and the colonies themselves. The news was received with tension. In San Dominique, free people of

color continued to demand their rights. By June, biracial residents of Martinique staged in uprising, and only a year later, in seventeen ninety one, the enslaved of San Dominique would rise in what became the Haitian Revolution, proving that the assemblies compromise had only delayed, not preventing the reckoning to come. Just four days after the slavery vote, on March the twelfth, the Assembly authorized the sale of church lands, transferring vast

wealth into the hands of the municipalities. Pope reacted in alarm. On March the twenty ninth, Pius the sixth, in secret condemned the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen as a heresy against devine order. The spring was a restless one. Between April the fifth and June the tenth, riots broke out across the provinces in France in Van's names to loose to Laan and Avignon. These were not

riots for bread, but this time for God. Devout Catholics, outraged by the suppression of religious life, took to the streets to defend their faith. The revolution's political culture deepened. On April the seventeenth, the Cordiers Club was founded in a former convent, becoming a hotbed of radical democracy and popular politics. Meanwhile, the old Order was met with violence On April the thirtieth, riots shook Marseilles. Three forts fell to the insurgents, and the commander of Fort Saint Jean

de Chevier de Cavalier was assassinated. New societies sprang up everywhere. May the twelfth, Lafayette and Bayi, seeking a more moderate path, founded the Society of seventeen eighty nine. On May fifteenth, the Assembly voted to redeem their feudal dues. Three days later, Marat Remember, who had been in exile in London, returned triumphant and resumed his fire republications. Then, on May the twenty second, the Assembly took a decisive step in foreign policy.

It determined that once and for all, the people, acting through the National Assembly were the only ones that could decide issues of war and peace, though the king would retain a lie limited and often ceremonial role. Festivals erupted as a response on May the thirtieth in Lyon, on June the second in Lilie, in June the thirteenth in Strasbourg, and finally in June nineteenth in Rowan. FETs de Federacion celebrated the revolution with music, oaths and civic unity, but

beyond the seas trouble stirred. On June the third, biracial residents of Martinique rose up against colonial authorities, and on June the nineteenth, the Assembly abolished noble titles entirely, stripping dukes and counts of their ancient styles. That same day, diplomats in Reichenbach, diplomats from England, Austria, Prussia, and the United Provinces of the Netherlands met to consider for the first time whether foreign powers should end against the revolution.

The storm was gathering, though it would take some time to break. Meanwhile, back at home, domestic affairs continued to pace. On July the twelfth, the Assembly passed the civil Constitution of the clergy. The church was now to be reorganized, its bishops and priests elected by the people, and its allegiance owed not to Rome but to the French nation.

On July the fourteenth, the first anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, the Fete de la Federacion on the Champ de Mars brought together the King, the Queen, Assembly and the people. Lafayette, standing before the vast crowd, swore quote to be ever faithful to the nation, to the law, and to the king for one day at least France stood un It would prove to be the last. The Pope was the first to move against the crushing tide. On July the twenty third, he secretly assured Louis the

sixteenth of his support against these new laws. Days later, Maraut escalated the confrontation, publishing a call on the twenty sixth of July for the execution seemingly indiscriminately hundreds of aristocrats. The Assembly, alarmed, attempted to rein him in. On July the thirty first, it initiated legal proceedings against Marnt and Camille des Moyenes for their incitements to violence. The Assembly

now desperately moved to try to restore order. On August the sixteenth, it created Justices of the Peace to replace old signiorial courts, while also calling for renewed scipline in the army. But on August the thirty first, a mutiny in Nancia exploded into violence between rebellious soldiers and members of the National Guard. It seemed everywhere now discipline was collapsing.

Finance followed. On September the fourth, Jacques de Caire was finally in I guess refreshingly from his perspective, dismissed, and the Assembly assumed control over the treasury. The revolutionaries had now seized the purse strings of France, only to discover the purse was empty. Days later, on September the sixteenth, sailors mutinied at Brest, echoing the unrest in the army. The King's confidence and the revolution now started to crumble.

On October the sixth, he wrote to his cousin, Charles the fourth of Spain, expressing his hostility to these new ecclesiastical rules. On twelfth, the Assembly dissolved the colonial Assembly of San Dominek, reaffirming slavery. Nine days later, on the October twenty first, it decreed that the tricolor flag was now the new national emblem, permanent, re replacing the white banner of the Bourbons. And it was the colonies now

that started to burn. On November fourth, there was an insurrection on the Eele de France, which is present day Mauritius. On November the twenty fifth, enslaved people on San demini Que rose up in defiance. This is the first spark of what is eventually going to become the Haitian Revolution, which to a large extent, is going to run on a parallel track to what's going on in France. But the biggest fracture came in late November of seventeen ninety.

On that day, in November the twenty seventh, the Assembly decreed that all clergy had to s where an oath of loyalty to the nation, the law, and the King. For many priests this was a rubicon, a line they could not cross. To swear it meant betraying their oath to the Pope in Rome. To refuse meant to betray France. They didn't know what to do. They weren't alone. Louis the sixteenth hesitated, but on December third he was writing secretly to King Frederick Wilhelm the Second of Prussia, pleading

for armed intervention to restore his authority. On December the twenty seventh, thirty nine clerical deputies in the Assembly took the oath that had been requested to him, but everyone else refused, and so now the schism between the Revolution and the Church was forever complete. The year seventeen ninety began with riots for bread and ended with secret royal

pleas for foreign armies. It saw the people in the streets, Marah in exile, and then once more in triumph, the nobility stripped of its privileges, the church split from the state, and the Tricolor now raised as the emblem of a new France. It was a year of festivals and of mutinies,

of oaths taken and oaths refused. Above all, it was the year when the revolution truly ceased to be a reform of the monarchy, an attempt to change the old system, and instead became a true revolution, a struggle for the soul of France.