Abolition of feudalism in France
One of the central events of the French Revolution was the abolition of feudalism, and the old rules, taxes, and privileges left over from the ancien régime.
The season of La Grande Peur – the Great Fear – was characterised by social hysteria and anxiety over who was going to be the next victim.
The discussion continued through the night of the fourth of August, and on the morning of the fifth the Assembly abolished the feudal system, and eliminated many clerical and noble rights and privileges.
On 4 August 1789, the Duke of Aiguillon proposed in the Club Breton the abolition of feudal rights and the suppression of personal servitude.
On the evening of 4 August, the Viscount de Noailles proposed to abolish the privileges of the nobility to restore calm in French provinces.
The president of the Assembly was commissioned to ask of the king the release of those people who were sent to prison or exiled for the violation of the previously existing hunting rights.
Article 4 – All the Manorial Courts were suppressed, but the judges and other officials of justice were allowed to continue with their duties until further instructions from the Assembly.
Whosoever possessed them,"…secular or regular congregations, by holders of benefices, members of corporations (including the Order of Malta and other religious and military orders), as well as those devoted to the maintenance of churches, those impropriated to lay persons, and those substituted for the portion congrue (this expression refers to the minimum remuneration fixed for the priests), are abolished, on condition, however, that some other method be devised to provide for the expenses of divine worship, the support of the officiating clergy, for the assistance of the poor, for repairs and rebuilding of churches and parsonages, and for the maintenance of all institutions, seminaries, schools, academies, asylums, and organizations to which the present funds are devoted".
Article 10 – All particular privileges given to certain provinces, district, cities, cantons and communes, financial or otherwise, were abolished because under the new rules, every part of France was equal.
Article 15 – The King and the Assembly would together consider all the reports that were to be presented with regards to pensions, favors and salaries, and would have a right to suppress or reduce that which was undeserved.
Historian Georges Lefebvre summarizes the night's work: Without debate the Assembly enthusiastically adopted equality of taxation and redemption of all manorial rights except for those involving personal servitude – which were to be abolished without indemnification.
[5]In the course of a few hours, France abolished game-laws, manorial courts, venal offices (especially judgeships), the purchase and sale of pecuniary immunities, favoritism in taxation, of surplice money, first-fruits, pluralities,[clarification needed] and unmerited pensions.
A medal was struck to commemorate the day, and the Assembly declared Louis XVI the "Restorer of French Liberty".
[8] François Furet emphasizes that the decisions of August 1789 survived and became an integral part of the founding texts of modern France.
The Committee reintroduced the mainmorte (explicitly outlawed by the original decrees) and set a rate of redemption for rights related to land that was impossible for the majority of peasants to pay (30 times the annual rent).
The Russian anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin wrote: The Assembly was carried away by its enthusiasm, and in this enthusiasm nobody remarked the clause for redeeming the feudal rights and tithes, which the two nobles and the two bishops had introduced into their speeches – a clause terrible even in its vagueness, since it might mean all or nothing, and did, in fact, postpone ... the abolition of feudal rights for five years – until August 1793.
In the long run, however, the new burdens on the tenants and landlords were largely offset by major gains in productivity, which made everyone richer.
[15] This article incorporates text from the public domain History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, by François Mignet (1824), as made available by Project Gutenberg.
