Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité (French pronunciation:
Origins during the French Revolution
Some claim that Camille Desmoulins in number 35 of Révolutions de France et de Brabant, published on 26 July 1790,[4] invented the phrase, however it is not confirmed as this is only the first official mention of the phrase. Speaking of the festival of 14 July 1790, he described "the citizen-soldiers rushing into each other's arms, promising each other liberty, equality, fraternity." (French: les soldats-citoyens se précipiter dans les bras l’un de l’autre, en se promettant liberté, égalité, fraternité.)[5]
Several months later, Maximilien Robespierre popularized the phrase in his speech "On the organization of the National Guard" (French: Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationales), on 5 December 1790, article XVI, which was disseminated widely throughout France by the popular Societies.
Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationales
Article XVI.
On their uniforms engraved these words: THE FRENCH PEOPLE, & below: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY. The same words are inscribed on flags which bear the three colors of the nation.
(French: XVI. Elles porteront sur leur poitrine ces mots gravés : LE PEUPLE FRANÇAIS, & au-dessous : LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ. Les mêmes mots seront inscrits sur leurs drapeaux, qui porteront les trois couleurs de la nation.)
Credit for the motto has been given also to Antoine-François Momoro (1756–1794), a Parisian printer and Hébertist organizer,[8][9][10] though in different context of foreign invasion and Federalist revolts in 1793, it was modified to "Unity, indivisibility of the Republic; liberty, equality, brotherhood or death" (
The emphasis on Fraternité during the French Revolution led Olympe de Gouges, a female journalist, to write the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen[11][page needed] as a response. The tripartite motto was neither a creative collection, nor really institutionalized by the Revolution.[2] As soon as 1789, other terms were used, such as "la Nation, la Loi, le Roi" (The Nation, The Law, The King), or "Union, Force, Vertu" (Union, Strength, Virtue), a slogan used beforehand by masonic lodges, or "Force, Égalité, Justice" (Strength, Equality, Justice), "Liberté, Sûreté, Propriété" (Liberty, Security, Property), etc.[2]
In other words, liberté, égalité, fraternité was only one slogan among many others.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 defined liberty in Article 4 as follows:
Liberty consists of being able to do anything that does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every man or woman has no bounds other than those that guarantee other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights.
Equality, on the other hand, was defined by the Declaration in terms of judicial equality and merit-based entry to government (art. 6):
[The law] must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, shall be equally eligible to all high offices, public positions and employments, according to their ability, and without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité actually finds its origins in a May 1791 proposition by the Club des Cordeliers, following a speech on the Army by the Marquis de Guichardin.[2] A British marine held prisoner on the French ship Le Marat in 1794 wrote home in letters published in 1796:[12]
The republican spirit is inculcated not in songs only, for in every part of the ship I find emblems purposely displayed to awaken it. All the orders relating to the discipline of the crew are hung up, and prefaced by the words Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la Mort, written in capital letters.
The compatibility of liberté and égalité was not in doubt in the first days of the Revolution, and the problem of the antecedence of one term on the other not lifted.
This identification of liberty and equality became problematic during the Jacobin period, when equality was redefined (for instance by François-Noël Babeuf) as equality of results, and not only judicial equality of rights.[2] Thus, Marc Antoine Baudot considered that French temperament inclined rather to equality than liberty, a theme which would be re-used by Pierre Louis Roederer and Alexis de Tocqueville, while Jacques Necker considered that an equal society could only be found on coercion.[2]
The third term, fraternité, was the most problematic to insert in the triad, as it belonged to another sphere, that of moral obligations rather than rights, links rather than statutes, harmony rather than contract, and community rather than individuality.[2] Various interpretations of fraternité existed. The first one, according to Mona Ozouf, was one of "fraternité de rébellion" (Fraternity of Rebellion),[2] that is the union of the deputies in the Jeu de Paume Oath of June 1789, refusing the dissolution ordered by the King Louis XVI: "We swear never to separate ourselves from the National Assembly, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed upon solid foundations." Fraternity was thus issued from Liberty and oriented by a common cause.[2]
Another form of fraternité was that of the patriotic Church, which identified social links with religious links and based fraternity on Christian brotherhood.[2] In this second sense, fraternité preceded both liberté and égalité, instead of following them as in the first sense.[2][page needed] Thus, two senses of Fraternity: "one, that followed liberty and equality, was the object of a free pact; the other preceded liberty and equality as the mark on its work of the divine craftsman."[2]
Another hesitation concerning the compatibility of the three terms arose from the opposition between liberty and equality as individualistic values, and fraternity as the realization of a happy community, devoid of any conflicts and opposed to any form of egotism.[2] This fusional interpretation of Fraternity opposed it to the project of individual autonomy and manifested the precedence of Fraternity on individual will.[2]
In this sense, it was sometimes associated with death, as in Fraternité, ou la Mort! (Fraternity or Death!), excluding liberty and even equality, by establishing a strong dichotomy between those who were brothers and those who were not (in the sense of "
With
19th century
Following Napoleon's rule, the triptych dissolved itself, as none believed it possible to conciliate individual liberty and equality of rights with
This opposition between liberals and socialists was mirrored in rival historical interpretations of the Revolution, liberals admiring 1789, and socialists 1793.
Any man aspires to liberty, to equality, but he can not achieve it without the assistance of other men, without fraternity[2][b]
The triptych resurfaced during the 1847
Two interpretations had attempted to conciliate the three terms, beyond the antagonism between liberals and socialists. One was upheld by Catholic traditionalists, such as
Far from being at its term, the religion of the Liberator is now only just entering its third phase, the political period, liberty, equality, fraternity[2][c]
Neither Chateaubriand nor Ballanche considered the three terms to be antagonistic. Rather, they took them for being the achievement of Christianity. On the other hand, Pierre Leroux did not disguise the difficulties of associating the three terms, but superated it by considering liberty as the aim, equality as the principle and fraternity as the means.
Against this new order of the triptych, Michelet supported the traditional order, maintaining the primordial importance of an original individualistic right.[2] Michelet attempted to conciliate a rational communication with a fraternal communication, "right beyond right",[2][page needed] and thus the rival traditions of socialism and liberalism.[2] The republican tradition would strongly inspire itself from Michelet's synchretism.[2]
1848 Revolution
With the
Fraternity was then considered to resume and to contain both Liberty and Equality, being a form of civil religion (which, far from opposing itself to Christianity, was associated with it in 1848[2][page needed]) establishing social links (as called for by Rousseau in the conclusion of the Social Contract).[2]
However, Fraternity was not devoid of its previous sense of opposition between brothers and foes, images of blood haunting revolutionary Christian publications, taking in
As soon as 6 January 1852, the future
Paris Commune and Third Republic
Pache, mayor of the
Some still opposed the Republican motto, such as the nationalist Charles Maurras in his Dictionnaire politique et critique, who claimed liberty to be an empty dream, equality an insanity, and only kept fraternity.[2] Charles Péguy, renewing with Lamennais' thought, kept fraternity and liberty, excluding equality, seen as an abstract repartition between individuals reduced to homogeneity, opposing "fraternity" as a sentiment put in motion by "misery", while equality only interested itself, according to him, to the mathematical solution of the problem of "poverty."[2]
Péguy identified Christian charity and socialist solidarity in this conception of fraternity.
20th century
During the
Following the Liberation, the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) re-established the Republican motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité, which is incorporated into both the 1946 and the 1958 French constitutions.[1]
Other nations
Many other nations have adopted the French slogan of "liberty, equality, and fraternity" as an ideal. Indian polymath and social reformer
Slogan in Czech "Rovnost, volnost, bratrství" also became motto of Czech national gymnastics organization
The Philippine National Flag has a rectangular design that consists of a white equilateral triangle, symbolizing liberty, equality, and fraternity; a horizontal blue stripe for peace, truth, and justice; and a horizontal red stripe for patriotism and valor. In the center of the white triangle is an eight- rayed golden sun symbolizing unity, freedom, people's democracy, and sovereignty.
Some former colonies of the French Republic (such as Haiti, Chad, Niger, and Gabon) have adopted similar three-word mottos.
The idea of the slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" has also given an influence as natural law to the First Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[20]
Culture
The term is referred to in the 1993-94 film trilogy
"Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad!" is the title of an English-language poem by William Carlos Williams.[21]
See also
- List of political slogans
- Give me liberty or give me death
- Life, liberty, and property
- Brotherhood and unity
- Three Principles of the People
- Travail, famille, patrie – the national motto of Vichy France
- La Nation, la Loi, le Roi
- Salazar's Estado Novo's motto Deus, Pátria e Família (meaning "God, Fatherland, and Family")
Notes
- ^ French: "Les hommes de tous les pays sont frères, celui qui opprime une seule nation se déclare l'ennemi de toutes."
- ^ French: "Tout homme aspire à la liberté, à l'égalité, mais on ne peut y atteindre sans le secours des autres hommes, sans la fraternité."
- ^ French: "Loin d'être à son terme, la religion du Libérateur entre à peine dans sa troisième période, la période politique, liberté, égalité, fraternité."
References
- ^ a b c "Liberty, Égalité, Fraternité". Embassy of France in the US. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg Ozouf, Mona (1997), "Liberté, égalité, fraternité stands for peace country and war", in Nora, Pierre (ed.), Lieux de Mémoire [Places of memory] (in French), vol. tome III, Quarto Gallimard, pp. 4353–89 (abridged translation, Realms of Memory, Columbia University Press, 1996–98).
- ^ "Flag of France | History & Meaning".
- ^ Hervé Leuwers, Camille et Lucile Desmoulins, Un rêve de république, p. 162
- ^ Camille Desmoulins, Révolutions de France et de Brabant, Number 35, p. 515
- ^ Robespierre, Maximilien (1950). OEUVRES DE MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE. Vol. Tome VI. PRESSES UNIVERSITAIRES DE FRANCE. p. 643. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
- ^ From Robespierre's speech to the National Assembly on 5 December 1790. Cited in Triomphe et mort du droit naturel en Révolution, 1789-1795-1802, Florence Gauthier, éd. PUF/ pratiques théoriques, 1992, p. 129
- OCLC 4697187.
- ^ de Barante, Amable Guillaume P. Brugière (1851). Histoire de la Convention nationale [History of the National convention] (in French). Langlois & Leclercq. p. 322. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ Thacher, John Boyd (1905). Outlines of the French revolution told in autographs. Weed-Parsons Printing Co. p. 8. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ Ellis; Esler, "The Modern Era", World History (textbook).
- ^ Tench, Watkin (1796), Letters Written in France: To a Friend in London, Between the Month of November 1794, and the Month of May 1795, London: J Johnson, p. 15.
- French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 20 April 2006.
- ^ Le Christ républicain n°7, quoted by Mona Ozouf: "Nous, pauvres prolétaires, nous sommes rouges, parce que le Christ a versé son sang pour nous racheter, son sang par lequel nous voulons nous régénérer. Nous sommes rouges, parce que l'ange exterminateur a marqué le haut de nos portes avec le sang de l'agneau, pour distinguer, au jour de la vengeance, les élus d'avec les réprouvés.
- ^ "Bandeiras e significados" [Flags & meanings], História net (in Portuguese), retrieved 9 October 2010.
- ^ Ozouf p 584.
- ^ "Vichy Government". World History. DE: KMLA. Retrieved 1 May 2007.
- ^ "Federal Constitution". UK: Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- ^ Sláma, Karel. "Z historie Sokola - díl 1.: Svoboda, rovnost, bratrství". www.sokol-zastavka.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ "Article 1", The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- ^ "Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad! By William Carlos Williams". 24 April 2021.
Further reading
- Mathijsen, Marita. "The emancipation of the past, as due to the Revolutionary French ideology of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité." Free Access to the Past ed Lotte Jensen (Brill, 2010). 20–40.
- Roth, Guenther. "Durkheim and the principles of 1789: the issue of gender equality." Telos 1989.82 (1989): 71–88.
- Sénac, Réjane. "The Contemporary Conversation about the French Connection "Liberté, égalité, fraternité": Neoliberal Equality and "Non-brothers." Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique. French Journal of British Studies 21.XXI-1 (2016). online
External links
- Liberty, Equality, Fraternity on the website of the French Presidency
- Slogan of the French Republic – Official French website (in English) (archived 23 February 2013)