Key Terms of the French Revolution Era: 18th Century

Key Terms of the French Revolution Era

The Enlightenment and Society

The Enlightenment: An eighteenth-century intellectual movement, led by the philosophes, that stressed the application of reason and the scientific method to question the accepted order of society, politics, and religion.

Secular: Not religious.

Scientific Method: A method of seeking knowledge using experiments and observations to develop generalizations.

Philosophes: Intellectuals of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment who believed in applying a spirit of rational criticism to all things, including religion and politics.

Separation of Powers: A doctrine enunciated by Montesquieu in the eighteenth century that separate executive, legislative, and judicial powers serve to limit and control each other.

Social Classes and Feudalism

Bourgeoisie: Wealthy middle class (merchants and artisans).

Feudalism: A social system that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return.

Peasant: A poor farmer or farm worker who has low social status.

Clergy: People (such as priests) who are the leaders of a religion and who perform religious services. Made up the first estate in the Old Order.

Nobility/Aristocracy: Privileged, wealthy, landowning class that made up the second estate in the Old Order.

Political Systems and the Old Regime

Old Order/Old Regime: The political and social system of France in the eighteenth century before the Revolution.

Absolute Monarchy: Authority is in the hands of a king who claims to rule by divine right and was therefore responsible only to God.

Constitutional Monarchy: A system of government in which a country is ruled by a king and queen whose power is limited by a constitution.

Republic: A country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader (such as a president) rather than by a king or queen.

Estates (Orders): The traditional tripartite division of European society based on heredity and quality rather than wealth or economic standing, first established in the Middle Ages and continuing into the 18th century; traditionally consisted of those who pray (the clergy), those who fight (the nobility), and those who work (all the rest).

The French Revolution

Sans-culottes: The common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, many of whom became radical supporters of the French Revolution.

Jacobins: Radical French political group during the French Revolution that took power after 1792, executed the French king, and sought to remake French culture.

Reign of Terror: Campaign at the height of the French Revolution in which violence, including systematic executions of opponents of the revolution, was used to purge France of its “enemies.”

Guillotine: A machine with a heavy blade that was used to cut off the heads of people who had been sentenced to death.

Power and Nationalism

Autocratic: A person who rules with total power.

Nationalism: Awareness of being part of a community – a “nation” – that has common institutions, traditions, language, and customs and that becomes the focus of the individual’s primary political loyalty.

Coup D’état: A sudden attempt by a small group of people to take over the government, usually through violence.

Napoleonic Code: Legal code drafted by Napoleon in 1804. The code confirmed the abolition of feudal privileges and set the conditions for exercising property rights.