History 540 (F98) Class Projects
Prof. Jeremy Popkin, Univ. of Kentucky
The National Assembly and Citizen Rights (Nov. 16)
The Trial of Louis XVI (Nov. 25)
As part of the requirements for this course, each of you will
participate in one of these two creative re-enactments of key events from the
French Revolution. On Nov. 16, we will stage a mock debate about which groups
should be granted full citizen rights in the new constitution being drafted by
the French National Assembly. On Nov. 25, we will re-enact the National Convention's
debate about the trial and execution of the king. Each of you will play the role
of a historical character in one or the other of these re-enactments. In addition
to taking part in the re-enactment, you will do some additional research on your
character and prepare a 750-1000 word (3-4 pp double-spaced typed) paper on the
person you are re-enacting and the reasons for his or her actions. You will have
to do some research in the library to obtain the necessary background on your
"character." I have provided some suggestions on sources of information you can
use; others are listed in the bibliographies of the books by Hunt and Walzer that
we are reading for class, and you may need to do some research to find others.
You should attach a bibliography of sources consulted to your essay.
The National Assembly actually took up the issue of citizenship
rights for the poor, religious minorities, blacks at different times, and never
explicitly debated rights for women at all. For pedagogical purposes, we will
bring together arguments raised at different times as if there had been one systematic
debate about how widely the rights defined in the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen should be applied. Much of our material will come from our readings
in Lynn Hunt, ed., The French Revolution and Human Rights.
The National Convention's trial of Louis XVI was one of the defining
moments of French history. The debates about whether and how to try the King,
and about his punishment, served to define the fundamental differences between
supporters and opponents of the French Revolution, and between radical and moderate
revolutionaries. Michael Walzer's Regicide and Revolution provides translations
from some of the important speeches given at the trial.
Our re-enactments will be held in class, on 16 Nov. 1998 (human
rights debate) and 25 Nov. (King's trial). Essays are due on the day your group
is doing its re-enactment.
Bibliography
Each student will need to find specific sources dealing with his/her
character, but the following sources will be of use to many of you:
--Scott and Rothaus, Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution--basic
information on most personages involved in both reenactments, along with additional
bibliography
--Furet and Ozouf, Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution:
longer articles on some key issues and persons
--Jordan, The King's Trial: best overall book on the trial Available
on loan from Professor Popkin.
--Stanley Loomis, The Fatal Friendship (for royal family)
Roles for Citizenship-Rights Debate
Abbé Henri Grégoire (priest, advocate of rights
for Jews, blacks)
Robespierre (advocate of rights for the poor)
Condorcet (advocate of women's rights)
Vincent Ogé (mulatto representative from French colony
of Saint-Domingue)
J.-F. Reubell (Alsatian deputy, opposed Jewish rights but
advocated rights of blacks)
Olympe de Gouges (author of 'Declaration of the Rights of Women')
A. Chaumette (political activist, opponent of women's rights)
Club Massiac spokesperson (the Club Massiac represented the
interests of French colonial slaveholders)
Clermont-Tonnerre (advocated rights for Jews, but only on
certain conditions)
Abbé Maury (Catholic conservative, opposed rights for
Jews and other groups)
Abbé Sieyes (defended distinctions between property-owners
and non-property-owners)
An actor from the Comédie française (actors
had been denied rights before the Revolution)
Roles for King's trial
Royal family
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette
Deputies
Mailhe (planned trial)
Morisson (opposed trial)
Saint-Just (hardline Jacobin)
Thomas Paine (moderate)
Condorcet (opposed execution)
Robespierre (Jacobin leader)
Vergniaud (Girondin leader)
King's lawyers
Malesherbes
De Sèze
Other Possible Roles
Marat (radical journalist)
Olympe de Gouges (woman activist)
Mme de Farge (knitting specialist)
Edmund Burke (English conservative)
Thomas Jefferson (US Secretary of State)