Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father... of the French Revolution?

 

As Bastille Day approaches, it is important that, as citizens of Charlottesville, we recognize the impact that our own Thomas Jefferson had in shaping the events of the French Revolution. Jefferson, of course authored the Declaration of Independence, outlining the principles of self-governance and basic human rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

However, Jefferson was also a well-known Francophile, and spent several years in France as an ambassador. At a time when many Americans sided with Britain in the persisting Franco-British rivalry, Jefferson was adamantly pro-French. Upon leaving the country in 1789, he expressed his “sense of its preeminence of character among the nations of the earth.”

It is therefore no surprise that many of the early principles that sparked France’s revolution are outlined in Jefferson’s declaration, as he was well known in Europe as the author of the document. Jefferson predicted that America’s democratic experiment would inspire further revolutions. In a famous analogy, he wrote that America’s “ball of liberty” would roll around the world. France would be the first to be flattened.

"Reveil du Tiers Etat": "The Awakening of the Third Estate"
The nobility (left) and clergy (center) recoil in fear at the newfound
independence of the third estate.

Revolutionary fervor in France reached a boiling point in the summer of 1789. After years of rising bread prices and financial instability under King Louis XVI, the educated bourgeois and furious starving peasants were fed up. The Third Estate, which represented the non-clergy and non-nobility in the French parliament, began meeting on its own and declared itself the National Assembly.

The Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, which is where Thomas Jefferson most directly influenced the revolution.

The Marquis de Lafayette, who played an important role in our own American Revolution, introduced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. While this document differed from the Declaration of Independence in some ways, it was undeniably inspired by Jefferson’s original work. In fact, Lafayette even wrote to Jefferson asking for “observations” and comments on his ideas before presenting the document to the National Assembly.

While Jefferson was in Paris, he became a close friend of Lafayette's

In substance, the similarities are also remarkable. Both documents reference a divine, self-evident truth on which fundamental rights are anchored. Both affirm that all men are born free and equal, and in cases of government oppression, they have the right to resist to that oppression (“la résistance à l’oppression”.) Finally, both affirm that sovereignty (“le principe de toute Souveranieté”) rests fundamentally with the people. As Jefferson’s document came first, the importance of the Declaration of Independence in France’s own revolution cannot be understated.

As the revolution dragged on past 1793 and the ruling factions became more and more extreme, Jefferson did eventually express his disapproval with the direction of the revolution. Apparently, he wasn’t too fond of the thousands of executions of political dissenters via the guillotine under Robespierre.

Yikes.

However, the symbolism of the revolution still remains incredibly important to the French identity today. And it’s incredible to be able to say that the French Revolution was inspired in part by a patriot born here in Albemarle County, Virginia.