S1/E23 The French Revolution with David Bell

Send us Fan MailEric and Rob are joined by Dr. David Bell to discuss teaching about the French Revolution.  Dr. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions at Princeton University and he teaches courses on the early modern Atlantic world, with a particular interest in the political culture of Enlightenment and revolutionary France.  He identifies several key ideas teachers should consider when presenting this topic.  First, the revolution served as a remarkable laboratory for modern political life and, within one short decade, it experimented with multiple political systems.  He also notes that the question of rights was central to the revolution from the very beginning with the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the degree to which those rights would be extended to women and enslaved people became an important topic of revolutionary discourse.  He urges teachers to place the French Revolution in the context of other Atlantic revolutions including the American Revolution that preceded it and the Haitian Revolution that resulted from it.  Teachers can also address how revolutionaries sought to communicate and spread new ideas and cultivate national citizenship in rural areas, and he explains that the missionary model of the Catholic Church became an important tool for disseminating those ideas even while the new regime took an aggressively anti-Christian stance.  Finally, he notes that the legacies of the revolution are complex including advances in democratic thought, the use of terror and political violence, and the role of autocracy to create a security state.  Lesson Plans and resources:The “Communicating the French Revolution” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/4g1N0aiThe “Legacy of the Revolution” lesson can be found at https://bit.ly/3TNFebnCreditsOpening theme music, “Bossa Bossa,” created by Clare Howard www.clarehoward.com  Music supported by the National Council for History Education www.ncheteach.orgTransition theme music, “The Clock is Ticking,” created by Emily Hahn.Logo artwork created by Jessica Goldman.Shit I Have to Teach in 20 Minutes is produced by Eric Hahn and Rob Good.  Audio and video editing by Sebastian Rosales.Email us at [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@historyintwentyInstagram:historyintwenty