THE STATE OF SOCIETY IN FRANCE
BEFORE THE
REVOLUTION OF 1789

AND THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO THAT EVENT

By Alexis De Tocqueville



CONTENTS.

PAGE
Translator’s Preface to the Second Edition [5]
Preliminary Notice [9]
BOOK I.
CHAPTER
I. Opposing Judgments passed on the French Revolution at its Origin 1
II. The Fundamental and Final Object of the Revolution was not, as
has been supposed, the destruction of Religious Authority and
the weakening of Political Power 		5
III. Showing that the French Revolution was a Political Revolution
which followed the course of Religious Revolutions, and for what
Reasons 		9
IV. Showing that nearly the whole of Europe had had precisely
the same Institutions, and that these Institutions were everywhere
falling to pieces 		12
V. What was the peculiar scope of the French Revolution 16
BOOK II.
I. Why Feudal Rights had become more odious to the People in
France than in any other country 		19
II. Showing that Administrative Centralisation is an Institution
anterior in France to the Revolution of 1789, and not the product of
the Revolution or of the Empire, as is commonly said 		28
III. Showing that what is now called Administrative Tutelage was an
Institution in France anterior to the Revolution 		36
IV. Administrative Jurisdiction and the Immunity of Public Officers
are Institutions of France anterior to the Revolution 		45
V. Showing how Centralisation had been able to introduce itself
among the ancient Institutions of France, and to supplant
without destroying them 		50
VI. The Administrative Habits of France before the Revolution 54
VII. Of all European Nations France was already that in which the
Metropolis had acquired the greatest preponderance over the
Provinces, and had most completely absorbed the whole Empire 		63
VIII. France was the Country in which Men had become the most alike 67
IX. Showing how Men thus similar were more divided than ever into
small Groups, estranged from and indifferent to each other 		71
X. The Destruction of Political Liberty and the Estrangement of
Classes were the causes of almost all the disorders which led to
the Dissolution of the Old Society of France 		84
XI. Of the Species of Liberty which existed under the Old Monarchy,
and of the Influence of that Liberty on the Revolution 		94
XII. Showing that the Condition of the French Peasantry,
notwithstanding the progress of Civilisation, was sometimes worse in
the Eighteenth Century than it had been in the Thirteenth 		105
XIII. Showing that towards the Middle of the Eighteenth Century Men
of Letters became the leading Political Men of France, and of
the effects of this occurrence 		119
XIV. Showing how Irreligion had become a general and dominant
passion amongst the French of the Eighteenth Century, and
what influence this fact had on the character of the Revolution 		128
XV. That the French aimed at Reform before Liberty 136
XVI. Showing that the Reign of Louis XVI. was the most prosperous
epoch of the old French Monarchy, and how this very prosperity
accelerated the Revolution 		146
XVII. Showing that the French People were excited to revolt by the
means taken to relieve them 		155
XVIII. Concerning some practices by which the Government completed the
Revolutionary Education of the People of France 		162
XIX. Showing that a great Administrative Revolution had preceded the
Political Revolution, and what were the consequences it
produced 		166
XX. Showing that the Revolution proceeded naturally from the existing
State of France 		175
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER.
On the Pays d’États, and especially on the Constitutions of Languedoc 182
BOOK III.
I. Of the violent and undefined Agitation of the Human Mind at the
moment when the French Revolution broke out 		192
II. How this vague perturbation of the Human Mind suddenly became
in France a positive passion, and what form this passion at first
assumed 		201
III. How the Parliaments of France, following precedent, overthrew the
Monarchy 		205
IV. The Parliaments discover that they have lost all Authority, just
when they thought themselves masters of the Kingdom 		224
V. Absolute Power being subdued, the true spirit of the Revolution
forthwith became manifest 		229
VI. The preparation of the instructions to the Members of the
States-General drove the conception of a Radical Revolution home
to the mind of the People 		240
VII. How, on the Eve of the Convocation of the National Assembly, the
mind of the Nation was more enlarged, and its spirit raised 		243
Notes and Illustrations 247