TBH History: French Revolution (pt 1): The Birth of Left vs. Right | Kids Shows

It's 1794. You're in Paris. You love all the French things. French bread, French toast, French dressing, so much French. But more importantly, France has been going through some serious changes and French life has never been more exciting. Power is finally coming to the people. Bring on the revolution. Don't let anyone stand in the way of progress. There's just one problem. Some people are starting to think that you don't love the You are standing in the way of the revolution. And there's only one solution. Welcome to the French Revolution. A revolution so crazy and interesting that it's still being talked about today in our own country. But there's something very important about the French Revolution that most people miss. During the revolution, a fight broke out that in a way still hasn't been settled. And it doesn't just continue in France, but all around the world and right here in our own country. It's a fight between philosophies, the left versus the right. Or maybe you've heard the term liberals or progressives versus conservatives. So let's get to the bottom of the conflict by going to the root, the French Revolution. I'm Lem. And I'm Daniel. And this is TBH History. Let's give a little historical context. Do you remember that revolution we talked about in the Turns out it had a large impact on the French Revolution. In the summer of 1776, fed up with having little say over their political destiny, the 13 American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain and began fighting what was then the most powerful military on Earth. America's first foreign diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, asked France's 22-year-old king for assistance. And two years later, in 1778, King Louis XVI decided it was time to jump in. Helping America defeat England would humiliate France's arch-rival and improve his own awful public image. With France's help, the American colonies won their independence from Great Britain. And the British were indeed humiliated. The young king hoped that an American victory would cripple the British and allow for France to swoop in and regain colonies they had lost to Great Britain in previous wars. But this plan backfired and the money spent helping the Americans made France bankrupt. And while Louis XVI was concerned with the British and Americans, a growing group of Frenchmen were concerned with him. As France entered the modern age, it became easier for people to make money in towns and harder in the countryside. Towns grew into cities and a new class of people formed known as the bourgeoisie, which means town dwellers, or what you might call professional city people. Basically, they don't smell like chickens or ferris cycles. The bourgeoisie could be divided into two groups. The industrial side, made up of business owners, bankers, merchants, and manufacturers. And the intellectual side, made up of people like doctors, lawyers, teachers, and journalists. However, despite the division, they were all part of the same political group. France was split up into three groups of people, called estates. The first estate was the clergy, or the church. The second group was the nobility, or these royal people who had titles and lands and passed it down to their kids. These two groups combined only amounted to about like 2% of France's population. It's really small. The third estate was everyone else. You know, like normal people. By 1789, France was in a complete crisis. Louis XVI had bankrupted the country fighting wars. Thank you, Louis. That's great. And to make matters worse, a few bad harvests, brought on by drought, led to serious nationwide bread shortages. I'm so hungry. The first and second estates were pretty good with how things were going, because they held most of the power. But the third estate wanted change. The bourgeoisie, or professional city people, were getting more and more economic power, and wanted more political power to match. Meanwhile, the nation's laborers and peasants just wanted some bread. People were hungry. People were hangry. Horses were hungry. It was not the best of times. It was the horse of times. But then, a mythical-like hero of incredible genius and cerebral ability emerged with an idea. Her name was Marie Antoinette, and she was the queen of France. Before her, no one had ever come up with a more brilliant idea to feed thousands of French citizens who had, like, nothing to eat. Let them eat cake. Legend has it that that is absolutely 100% true. We know that legend is never wrong. Never. Yeah, no, it's usually wrong. Mobs began to form. Unrest boiled. The third estate, representing 98% of the population, demanded a meeting. And for the first time in 150 years, a French king allowed the three estates to hold a meeting and vote on changes to the way the French government operated. Okay, you can have your meeting now. On May 5th of 1789, representatives of France's three estates met to deal with the nation's financial crisis and food shortage. Each estate counted for one vote, so all proposals will be settled two to one. All potential solutions to France's problems called for serious changes that would have reduced privileges for the first two estates. Even though this would have been by far, like, the best solution for the people and the country as a whole, yeah, it turns out the clergy and nobles didn't actually want to lose their privileges. So they teamed up against the third estate and outvoted them two to one. Seems fair, right? Basically, 2% of the population would continue holding The third estate had had enough. They left the meeting, found an indoor tennis court to hold new meetings, and renamed themselves the National Assembly. They took an oath and for the first time officially stood in opposition to the king. Three days later, Louis XVI told the third estate their opposition to the church and the nobility was cute, but that they were done. Leaders of the National Assembly responded that they were there to represent the people of France and would only leave by the force of bayonets. This was Louis XVI's moment of truth. And maybe because he was weak or because France was in such tough shape, probably both, the king didn't really, like, send in the bayonets. He recognized the National Assembly and instructed the church and the nobility to begin working with them. This was a huge win for the people. Revolution was in the air. If a king gives an order and it isn't followed and there isn't any punishment, who really holds the power? Probably not the king, you know? And according to the way things had always been in France, the king was supposed to have been given his authority from God, which is, you know, kind of convenient. Oh, yeah, you know all those opinions that disagree with me? Well, yeah, you actually disagree with me because you disagree with God! Long road! Anyway, needless to say, people of all types from all over France began having serious questions about the king. Maybe the king didn't actually get, like, all that power directly from the hand of God. Maybe the king is just a regular guy, you know, like all the other French guys. Do we even need a king? Should the church and the king be linked? So many questions. With these growing suspicions, the idea of having a monarch with absolute power was nearly dead. So members of the nobility began moving away from the king toward the people, a.k.a. the National Assembly. A committee was formed to write a new constitution, and throughout the summer of 1789 and into the fall, meetings were held to determine how France would be governed moving forward. Meanwhile, hunger, violence, fire, screaming, heads on bikes, and a wild group of moms who walked 10 miles, broke into Louis XVI's palace and carried him to Paris. Members of the National Assembly were far from united in their opinions of how to move forward. And just like kids in your local yokel cafeteria, you know, people sitting and eating with their clique, they wanted to sit by the people who agreed with them and hang out with them and stuff, you know. So a divide formed down the middle of the Assembly Hall, forming a clear group that shared the right side and one that shared the left. On the right were people who didn't want drastic changes. They wanted to conserve many of France's political and religious traditions. And this side, sitting on the right, became known as the Conservatives. The Conservatives wanted to model France's government after Great Britain's, where the king and a parliament elected by citizens check each other's power and rule together. This type of government is called a constitutional monarchy. And leaders on the right side were moderate noblemen, businessmen, and bankers from the industrial bourgeoisie. On the left side of the room gathered those who opposed the Conservatives. Their leaders came from the intellectual bourgeoisie, teachers and doctors and lawyer types, and many were a part of a radical subgroup called Jacobins, the most famous of which was Maximilian Robespierre. Many of them wanted to eliminate the monarchy altogether, and they disagreed with the Conservatives about which people should have political power. Conservatives wanted voting to be for men who could read and pay taxes. They believed those without education could be easily manipulated by politicians with bad intentions. They also believed that by paying taxes, voters would be invested in what they were voting on. But these two requirements would disqualify millions of Frenchmen. And the left side of the aisle saw an opportunity. Jacobins published passionate articles and gave fiery speeches directed to the poor masses of Paris, a group known to history as the Sans-Poulet. The Jacobins told the Sans-Poulet that the Conservatives did not want them to have a say, and began spreading messages that these new leaders of business and industry were no better than the monarchs and nobles. Listen here, they do not like you. They think that you smell like feet. They go pounce, pounce, pounce. Like Conservatives, the Jacobins wanted change, but they believed it was justified to combat the enemies of the revolution. You know, like, if you don't agree with us, then you're going to get it. You know, we have a way of dealing with that. Instead of helping the situation, Jacobins added to more hunger, violence, fire, screaming, and heads on fights in Paris. But unruly behavior was not limited to the streets. As one member of the new political right, the Baron d'Gazelle explained, we began to recognize each other. Those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free reign in the opposing camp. It was a crazy time full of chaos and opposing ideas. And in this chaos was born the political terms, the right and the left, that we're still using today. But to better understand the right and left and how it applies to America, let's zoom out. In countries around the world, the right is considered conservative because they seek to conserve past traditions that they believe are important. The left opposes the right and are often given names like liberals or progressives because they aim to move away from past tradition towards something very different. But there's an important distinction to be made between the political right and left here in America. And why is that? Because America has a very unique tradition. Countries who once had kings, queens, or nobles have had a hard time moving away from the past tradition of strong centralized government. The United States, on the other hand, has never had absolute centralized authority in the hands of someone like a king. Protecting individuals' rights by limiting the power of government became America's core conservative principle. It's for this reason that conservatives of America are distinctly different than conservatives of most other countries around the world. So where are we? As it stands right now in the French Revolution, here's what you need to know. Absolute centralized power corrupted the French government, which led to bad times for the people. The professional people of France, aka the bourgeoisie, wanted change and were willing to die for it. King Louis XVI was pressured and then stepped aside, and the people pushed their way into power. And inside the people, a sharp divide developed between the conservative right and the opposing left. In our next episode, we'll tell you how the events in revolutionary France played out. Who ends up winning, the right or the left? What happens to King Louis XVI? What happens to Marie Antoinette? So many questions. Wow. All of that to come. But for now, let's end this episode with a thought-provoking question. How do you know when it's right to conserve tradition versus changing it? Let us know your answer in the comments below. Thank you for watching this episode of TBH History for Prager U. Please subscribe and share with your friends, but also comment in the comments below. If you're still watching, we want to know. Post a tennis ball. And if you're the first one that can post a tennis ball and tell us why we want you to post it, we will give you a shout out. But here's the question. Who are we shouting out from the last episode? Yes, it's time for a shout out. Annika, yeah! Christmas gift because it was on Christmas Day when George Washington crossed the Delaware River. Annika, you win the shout out. All right, now you can leave. Yes. Are you hungry? Are you very hungry? Where's the cake? Like seriously, where is it? They think that you smell like fish. They sneak around, ready to bounce, bounce, bounce. What we gonna stop them? Come on, let me win, baby, come on. Berries and cream, berries and cream.