HIST-UA 105 Lecture Notes - Antireligion, French Revolution, Alexis De Tocqueville
9 May 2014
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One question that arises after reading alexis de tocqueville"s the old. Regime and the french revolution is how truly revolutionary the french. Tocqueville even claims that the main aim of the revolution was not to overthrow religious and to weaken political authority in france. He described the revolution as less anti-religious as it is commonly viewed and claims that the attack on religion was not intentional because it was not an aim of the revolutionists. The established religion in france got attacked only because the main ideals of the revolution were that all men are born equal and its corollary, the abolition of all privileges of class, caste and profession (tocqueville, 6). Also at the time of the french revolution, philosophers were attacking the church by [declaiming] against its clergy, its hierarchy, institutions, and dogmas (tocqueville, 6). One can argue that the social structure still remained with the rich still being rich and the poor is still poor.
