The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take part, in person or by their representatives, in its formation. It must be the same for everyone whether it protects or penalizes. All citizens being equal in its eyes are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices, and employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.67
Rousseau’s writings on a general will that represented the needs of the people went hand in hand with the National Assembly’s idea of a nation that was in the interests of its citizens. The Declaration gave France the foundation for a nation in which all people were equal, regardless of station, and would be treated as such in the eyes of the law. It provided for a nation that was not based on religion or an absolutist monarch- which was revolutionary in a state which had previously held the belief that the monarch’s right to rule came directly from God. Instead, France would have a state where power came from the nation itself, i.e. the people.
Overall, nationalism played an important role in the French Revolution of 1789. It was a driving force for change within the state. The shift from monarchy to the idea of a nation in the interests of the people reflected an emerging national consciousness.
Love for la patrie and la nation surfaced with the Revolution, free from ties to the monarchy and Catholic Church. With influence from Enlightenment writers like Rousseau, the baron de Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Locke, the Revolution aimed for an enlightened, nationally-minded France. Through publications like the General Cahiers and political pamphlets, the nationalist ideology was distributed and publicized. Orators like Mirabeau, Vergniaud, Barére, Danton, and Robespierre likewise spread the national ideals of the revolution. Their speeches provide an important insight into the evolution of revolutionary policy and its reflection of French nationalism. The levy en masse of 1793 relied heavily on national pride and patriotic spirit. Symbols such as the tricolor flag and “La Marseillaise” remain enduring images of the French Revolution of 1789.
