The Sans-Cullotes During the French Revolution :: History

The Sans-Cullotes During the French Revolution 1793 was an important year during the French Revolution, king Louis XVI was executed for his perjury, amongst other crimes. A month later, France declared war on Great Britain, causing food riots in Paris. There were also various "Federalist" revolts that erupted in many important provincial centres against Paris domination. The source is a public document, due to the fact that it was published in a newspaper, "Le Pà ¨re Duchesne". "Pà ¨re Duchesne" was a name given to certain pamphleteers, who became the voice of the "sans-culottes", pro-revolutionary town folk that didn't wear breeches, but wore workmen's trousers as a political gesture amongst the working class civilians. "Le Pà ¨re Duchesne" was written and published by Jacques-Renà © Hà ©bert, a French journalist and revolutionary, he gained the support of the working classes through his newspaper and was prominent in the Cordeliers. Hà ©bert was obviously interested in gaining political power through the general public with his pro-revolutionary views, however, eventually he was sentenced to death by the tribunal on the charge of formenting insurrection. Jacques-Renà © Hà ©bert provides useful information in the extract taken from "Le Pà ¨re Duchesne", on the "sans-culottes". He gives fairly detailed descriptions on who the "sans-culottes" really were: "The sans-culotte is useful because he knows how to plough a field, to forge iron, use a saw, to file, to roof a house, to make shoes-and to spill his blood to the last drop for the safety of the Republic" In the first paragraph of the extract, "the cream of sans-culotterie", is used to describe the finest of the working class "sans-culottes". This phrase is immediatly followed by, "the garrets of the working-men", in this case the word "garrets", means the attics or rooms in a roof. At the bottom of the first paragraph the author, mentions "l'Ami des Lois", this was a French theatrical comedy at the time, followed by "Chaste Suzanne", which was a popular operetta. "The citizenesses in the gallery", is used in the second paragraph to describe the women that the upper-class men would seek to win approval of. In the final paragraph, "the sans-culotte always has his sword with the edge sharpened, ready to cut off the ears of all opponents of the Revolution", is symbolic for uprising and anger of the pro-revolutionary "sans-culottes". In the extract, the testimony that the author, Jacques-Renà © Hà ©bert, wishes to convey is that, although the "sans-culottes", are lower, working-class citizens, they are still important and essential to the French Republic.