The French Revolution and the Family

Abstract

The French Revolution radically redefined the family, its internal dynamics, and its relationship to the state. Family reforms grew more ambitious as the Revolution radicalized. Citizens took to the courts to negotiate new family practices and flooded the legislatures with petitions on family matters. At the same time, revolutionary culture encouraged French men and women to transform their homes into sites of patriotic regeneration and to educate their children in the principles of citizenship. Legal reforms, political and economic disruptions, a new political culture – from multiple angles the Revolution created opportunities, and also pressure, for families to reinvent themselves. Finally, the Revolution highlighted the political centrality of the family and fundamentally altered the frame for thinking about the relationship among the individual, family, and state.

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