and author Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) wrote: The basis of their whole economic system may be truly said to lie in the principle of self-interest. . .. The only function of government according to this doctrine is to protect life, liberty, and property.” Embracing the principle of free trade not just as a temporary expedient, but as a philosophy, Turgot got the king to sign an edict in January 1776 that abolished the monopolies and special privileges of the guilds, corporations, and trading companies. He then dedicated himself to breaking down the internal tariffs within France. By limiting government expense, he was able to cut the budget by 60 million livres and reduce the interest on the national debt from 8.7 million livres to 3 million livres. Had Turgot been allowed to pursue his policies of free trade and less government intervention, France may very well have become Europe's first common market and avoided violent revolution. Unfortunately for France and the cause of freedom, resistance from the Court and special interests proved too powerful, and Turgot was removed from office in 1776. The dismissal of this great man, wrote Voltaire, crushes me. . . . Since that fatal day, I have not followed anything . . . and am waiting patiently for someone to cut our throats.” Turgot's successors, following a mercantilist policy of government intervention, only made the French economy worse. In a desperate move to find money in the face of an uproar across the country and to re-establish harmony, Louis XVI agreed to convene the Estates-General for May 1789. Meanwhile, the king's new finance minister, Jacques Necker, a Swiss financial expert, delayed the effects of mercantilism by importing large amounts of grain. On May 5, the Estates-General convened at Versailles. By June 17, the Third Estate had proclaimed itself the National Assembly. Three days later, the delegates took the famous Tennis Court Oath, vowing not to disband until France had a new constitution. However, the real French Revolution began not at Versailles but on the streets of Paris. On July 14, a Parisian mob attacked the old fortress known as the Bastille, liberating, as one pundit put it, two fools, four forgers and a debaucher.” The Bastille was no longer being used as a political prison, and Louis XVI had even made plans to destroy it. That made little difference to the mob, which were actually looking for weapons. Promising the guards safe-conduct if they would surrender, the leaders of the mob broke their word and hacked them to death. It would be the first of many broken promises. Soon the heads, torsos, and hands of the Bastille's former guardians were bobbing along the street on pikes. In all, as historian Otto Scott put it, a glorious victory of unarmed citizens over the forces of tyranny, or so the newspapers and history later said. The French Revolution had begun. Despite the bloodshed at the Bastille and the riots in Paris, there was some clear-headed thinking. Mirabeau wanted to keep the Crown but restrain it. We need a government like England's, he said. The French would never accept it though, for they hated anything to do with the English. On October 5, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, a good document all right, but only if it were followed. Twenty-eight days later, the Assembly showed they did not intend to do so: the government confiscated all church property in France. It was the wrong way to go about creating a free society. Certainly the Church was responsible for some abuses, but to seek to build a free society by undermining property rights is like cutting down trees to grow a forest. Such confiscation only sets a precedent for further violation of property rights, which in turn violates individual rights, the very rights of man and the citizen the new government was so loudly proclaiming. By confiscating church property, no matter how justified, France's Revolutionary leaders showed that the

Some topics in this essay:
National Assembly, American Revolution, Frederic Bastiat, XVI Eventually, French Revolution, Rights Citizen, Louis XVI, Europe France, Unfortunately France, Intolerable Acts, french revolution, american revolution, national assembly, louis xvi, free trade, free society, property rights, revolution brought forth, church property, rights citizen, government intervention,