Alexis de Tocqueville on the importance of Revolution, by Ari Sclar

No nation had ever before embarked on so resolute an attempt as that of the French in 1789 to break with the past, to make it, as it were, a scission in their life line and to create an unbridgeable gulf between all they had hitherto been and all they now aspired to be…they spared no pains in their efforts to obliterate their former selves. I have always felt that they were far less successful in this curious attempt than is generally supposed.

• Alexis de Tocqueville, 1856

1. What historical debate/controversy is de Tocqueville discussing and what position does de Tocqueville take in this debate/controversy?

1. Pick TWO events and explain whether they would support de Tocqueville’s statement that the revolutionaries made “efforts to obliterate their former selves”? Be specific.

2. The Great Fear

3. The Terror

4. Jewish policy

5. Administrative reforms (such as Calendar, weights and measures, etc.)

6. Constitution of 1791

7. Execution of King Louis XVI

1. Pick TWO events and explain whether they would support de Tocqueville’s statement that “they were far less successful…than is generally supposed”? Be specific.

2. The Great Fear

3. The Terror

4. Constitution of 1791

5. Execution of King Louis XVI

6. The establishment of the Committee of Public Safety

7. The establishment of the Directory