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Olympe de Gouges
Late-18th century portrait of Gouges by Alexander Kucharsky
Born	(1748-05-07)7 May 1748 Montauban, Guyenne-and-Gascony, Kingdom of France
Died	3 November 1793(1793-11-03) (aged 45) Place de la Révolution, Paris, French First Republic
Cause of death	Execution by guillotine
Occupation(s)	Activist, abolitionist, Women's rights advocate, playwright
Spouse	Louis Aubry ​ ​(m. 1765; died 1766)​
Children	General Pierre Aubry de Gouges
Signature

Olympe de Gouges (French: [olɛ̃p də ɡuʒ] ; 7 May 1748 – 3 November 1793), born Marie Gouze, was a French playwright and political activist whose writings on women's rights and abolitionism reached a large audience in various countries.

She began her career as a playwright in the early 1780s. As political tension rose in France, Olympe de Gouges became increasingly politically engaged. She became an outspoken advocate against the slave trade in the French colonies in 1788. At the same time, she began writing political pamphlets. Today she is perhaps best known as an early women's rights advocate who demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. She was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror (1793–1794) for attacking the regime of the Revolutionary government and for her association with the Girondists.

Biography

Marie Gouze was born into a petit bourgeois family in 1748 in Montauban, Quercy (in the present-day department of Tarn-et-Garonne), in southwestern France. She believed that she was the illegitimate daughter of Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan. Her mother afforded her a bourgeois education.

In 1765 aged 16 she was married against her will to Louis Aubry, a caterer. Gouges said in a semi-autobiographical novel (Mémoire de Madame de Valmont contre la famille de Flaucourt), "I was married to a man I did not love and who was neither rich nor well-born. I was sacrificed for no reason that could make up for the repugnance I felt for this man." Her husband died a year later, and in 1770 she moved to Paris with her son to live with her sister. She never married again, calling the institution of marriage "the tomb of trust and love".

In Paris she started a relationship with the wealthy Jacques Biétrix de Rozières, but refused his marriage proposal. She remained close to Rozières throughout the French Revolution. With the support of Rozières she established a theatre company. Gouges attended the artistic and philosophical salons of Paris, where she met many writers, including La Harpe, Mercier, and Chamfort, as well as future politicians such as Brissot and Condorcet. She usually was invited to the salons of Madame de Montesson and the Comtesse de Beauharnais, who also were playwrights. She also was associated with Masonic Lodges, among them the Loge des Neuf Sœurs that was created by her friend Michel de Cubières.

In 1788 she published Réflexions sur les hommes nègres, which demanded compassion for the plight of slaves in the French colonies. For Gouges there was a direct link between the autocratic monarchy in France and the institution of slavery, she argued that “Men everywhere are equal… Kings who are just do not want slaves; they know that they have submissive subjects.” She came to the public's attention with the play l'Esclavage des Noirs, which was staged at the famous Comédie-Française in 1785. Her stance against the slavery in the French colonies made her the target of threats. Gouges was also attacked by those who thought that a woman's proper place was not in the theatre. The influential Abraham-Joseph Bénard remarked "Mme de Gouges is one of those women to whom one feels like giving razor blades as a present, who through their pretensions lose the charming qualities of their sex... Every woman author is in a false position, regardless of her talent". Gouges was defiant, she wrote "I'm determined to be a success, and I'll do it in spite of my enemies." The slave trade lobby had mounted a press campaign against her play and she eventually took legal action, forcing Comédie-Française to stage l'Esclavage des Noirs. But the play closed after three performances; the lobby had paid hecklers to sabotage the performances.

A passionate advocate of human rights, Gouges greeted the outbreak of the Revolution with hope and joy, but soon became disenchanted when égalité (equal rights) was not extended to women. In 1791 Gouges became part of the Society of the Friends of Truth, also called the "Social Club," an association with the goal of equal political and legal rights for women. Members sometimes gathered at the home of the well-known women's rights advocate, Sophie de Condorcet. Here Gouges expressed, for the first time, her famous statement:

"A woman has the right to mount the scaffold. She must possess equally the right to mount the speaker's platform." {The Declaration of the Rights of Women}

In 1791, in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, she wrote the Déclaration des droits de la Femme et de la Citoyenne ("Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen"). This was followed by her Contrat Social ("Social Contract," named after a famous work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau), proposing marriage based upon gender equality.

In 1790 and 1791, in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), free people of colour and African slaves revolted in response to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Gouges did not approve of violent revolution, and published l'Esclavage des Noirs with a preface in 1792, arguing that the slaves and the free people who responded to the horrors of slavery with "barbaric and atrocious torture" in turn justified the behaviour of the tyrants. In Paris Gouges was accused of having incited the insurrection in Saint-Domingue with the play. When it was staged again in December 1792 a riot erupted in Paris.

Gouges opposed the execution of Louis XVI of France (which took place on 21 January 1793), partly out of opposition to capital punishment and partly because she favored constitutional monarchy. This earned her the ire of many hard-line republicans, even into the next generation—such as the 19th-century historian Jules Michelet, a fierce apologist for the Revolution, who wrote, "She allowed herself to act and write about more than one affair that her weak head did not understand." Michelet opposed any political participation by women and thus disliked Gouges. In December 1792, when Louis XVI was about to be put on trial, she wrote to the National Assembly offering to defend him, causing outrage among many deputies. In her letter she argued that he had been duped–that he was guilty as a king, but innocent as a man, and that he should be exiled rather than executed.

Gouges was associated with the Gironde party, who like her favoured a constitutional monarchy. After the execution of Louis XVI she became wary of Robespierre's Montagnard faction and in open letters criticised their violence and summary assassinations.

Revenge

Creeper, oh man So we back in the mine, got our pick axe swinging from side to side, Side, side to side This task a grueling one, hope to find some diamonds tonight, night, night Diamonds tonight Heads up, you hear a sound, turn around and look up, total shock fills your body, Oh no it's you again, I could never forget those eyes, eyes, eyes, Eyes, eyes, eyes 'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal all our stuff again, 'Cause baby tonight, you grab your pick, shovel and bolt again, And run, run until it's done, done, until the sun comes up in the morn' 'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal all our stuff again Just when you think you're safe, overhear some hissing from right behind, Right, right behind That's a nice life you have, shame it's gotta end at this time, time, time, Time, time, time, time Blows up, then your health bar drops, you could use a 1-up, get inside don't be tardy, So now you're stuck in there, half a heart is left but don't die, die, die Die, die, die, die 'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal all your stuff again, 'Cause baby tonight, you grab your pick, shovel and bolt again, And run, run until it's done, done, until the sun comes up in the morn' 'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal all your stuff again, Creepers, you're mine Dig up diamonds, and craft those diamonds and make some armor, Get it baby, go and forge that like you so, MLG pro, The sword's made of diamonds, so come at me bro Training in your room under the torch light, Hone that form to get you ready for the big fight, Every single day and the whole night, Creeper's out prowlin' - alright Look at me, look at you, Take my revenge that's what I'm gonna do, I'm a warrior baby, what else is new, And my blade's gonna tear through you Bring it 'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal all our stuff again, Yeah baby tonight, grab your sword, armor and gold, take your revenge, So fight, fight like it's the last, last night of your life, life, show them your bite, 'Cause baby tonight, the creeper's trying to steal all our stuff again, 'Cause baby tonight, you grab your pick, shovel and bolt again, And run, run until it's done, done, until the sun comes up in the morn' 'Cause baby tonight, the creepers tried to steal all our stuff again

Political legacy

Her execution was used as a warning to other politically active women. At the 15 November 1793 meeting of the Commune, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette cautioned a group of women wearing Phrygian bonnets, reminding them: "the impudent Olympe de Gouges, who was the first woman to start up women's political clubs, who abandoned the cares of her home, to meddle in the affairs of the Republic, and whose head fell under avenging blade of the law". This posthumous characterisation of Gouges by the political establishment was misleading, as Gouges had no role in founding the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women. In her political writings Gouges had not called for women to abandon their homes, but she was cast by the politicians as an enemy of the natural order, and thus enemy of the ruling Jacobin party. Paradoxically, the two women who had started the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, Claire Lacombe and Pauline Léon were not executed. Lacombe, Léon and Theroigne de Mericourt had spoken at women's and mixed clubs, and the Assemblée, while Gouges had shown a reluctance to engage in public speaking, but prolifically published pamphlets. However, Chaumette was a staunch opponent of the Girondins, and had characterised Gouges as unnatural and unrepublican prior to her execution.

1793 has been described as a watershed for the construction of women's place in revolutionary France, and the deconstruction of the Girondins' Marianne. That year a number of women with a public role in politics were executed, including Madame Roland and Marie-Antoinette. The new Républicaine was the republican mother that nurtured the new citizen. While politically active women were executed the Convention banned all women's political associations. 1793 marked the start of the Reign of Terror in post-revolutionary France, where thousands of people were executed. Across the Atlantic world observers of the French Revolution were shocked, but the ideals of liberté, égalité, fraternité had taken a life of their own.

Gouges' Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen had been widely reproduced and influenced the writings of women's advocates in the Atlantic world. One year after its publication, in 1792, the keen observer of the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft published Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Writings on women and their lack of rights became widely available. The experience of French women during the revolution entered the collective consciousness. The anti-imperial Irish Rebellion of 1798 was whipped up by Anglo-Irish women such as Maria Edgeworth, but the quest of Catholics for political rights was brutally suppressed by the British military.

American women began to refer to themselves as citess or citizeness and took to the streets to achieve equality and freedom. The same year Gouges was executed the pamphlet On the Marriage of Two Celebrated Widows was published anonymously, proclaiming that "two celebrated widows, ladies of America and France, after having repudiated their husbands on account of their ill treatment, conceived of the design of living together in the strictest union and friendship." Revolutionary novels were published that put women at the centre of violent struggle, such as the narratives written by Helen Maria Williams and Leonora Sansay. At the 1848 Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, the rhetorical style of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen was employed to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence into the Declaration of Sentiments, which demanded women’s' right to vote.

After her execution her son Pierre Aubry signed a letter, denying his endorsement for her political legacy. He tried to change her name in the records, to Marie Aubry, but the name she had given herself has endured. Although she was a celebrity in her lifetime and a prolific author, Gouges became largely forgotten, but then rediscovered through a political biography by Olivier Blanc in the mid 1980s.

On 6 March 2004, the junction of the Rues Béranger, Charlot, de Turenne, and de Franche-Comté in Paris was proclaimed the Place Olympe de Gouges. The square was inaugurated by the mayor of the 3rd arrondissement, Pierre Aidenbaum, along with then first deputy mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. The actress Véronique Genest read an excerpt from the Declaration of the Rights of Woman. 2007 French presidential contender Ségolène Royal expressed the wish that Gouges' remains be moved to the Panthéon. However, her remains—like those of the other victims of the Reign of Terror—have been lost through burial in communal graves, so any reburial (like that of Marquis de Condorcet) would be only ceremonial.

She is honoured in many street names across France, in the Salle Olympe de Gouges exhibition hall in rue Merlin, Paris, and the Parc Olympe de Gouges in Annemasse.

Plays and writings

Born Marie Gouze she first adopted the name Olympe de Gouges for her early plays. As a woman from the province and of lowly birth she fashioned herself to fit in with the Paris establishment. Gouges signed her public letters with citoyenne, the feminised version of citizen. In pre-revolutionary France there were no citizens, an author was the subject of the king. But in revolutionary France there were only citoyen. It was only in October 1792 that the Convention decreed the use of citoyenne to replace Madame and Mademoiselle.

Pre-revolutionary plays

Gouges penned more than 30 plays, often with a socially critical theme. Among others she wrote plays on the slave trade, divorce, marriage, debtors' prisons, children's rights, and government work schemes for the unemployed. As a playwright she charged into the contemporary political controversies and she was often in the vanguard. Her 1788 pamphlet Reflections on blacks and the play l'Esclavage des Noirs on the slave trade made her, alongside Marquis de Condorcet, one of France's earliest public opponents of slavery. In the final act of l'Esclavage des Noirs Gouges lets the French colonial master, not the slave, utter a prayer for freedom: “Let our common rejoicings be a happy portent of liberty”. She drew a parallel between colonial slavery and political oppression in France. One of the slave protagonist explains that the French must gain their own freedom, before they can deal with slavery. Gouges also openly attacked the notion that human rights were a reality in revolutionary France. The slave protagonist comments on the situation in France “The power of one Master alone is in the hands of a thousand Tyrants who trample the People under foot. The People will one day burst their chains and will claim all its rights under Natural law. It will teach the Tyrants just what a people united by long oppression and enlightened by sound philosophy can do.” While it was common in France to equate political oppression to slavery, this was an analogy and not an abolitionist sentiment.

Manifestos

In November 1788 she published her first political brochure, a manifesto entitled Letter to the people, or project for a patriotic fund. In early 1789 she published Patriotic remarks setting out her proposals for social security, care for the elderly, institutions for homeless children, hostels for unemployed, and the introduction of a jury system. She also called upon women to "shake off the yoke of shameful slavery". The same year she wrote a series of pamphlets on a range of social concerns, such as illegitimate children. In these pamphlets she advanced the public debate on issues that would later be picked up by feminists, such as Flora Tristan. She continued to publish political essays between 1788 and 1791. Such as Cry of the wise man, by a woman in response to Louis XVI calling together the Estates-General.

Women's rights

Gouges wrote her famous Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen shortly after the French Constitution of 1791 was ratified by King Louis XVI, and dedicated it to his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The French Constitution marked the birth of the short-lived constitutional monarchy and implemented a status based citizenship. Citizens were defined as men over 25, were "independent" and had paid the poll tax. These citizens had the right to vote. Furthermore active citizenship was two-tiered, with those who could vote and those who were fit for public office. Women were by definition not afforded any rights of active citizenship. Like men who could not pay the poll tax, children, domestic servants, rural day-laborers and slaves, Jews, actors and hangmen, women had no political rights. In transferring sovereignty to the nation the constitution dismantled the old regime, but Gouges argued that it did not go far enough.

Gouges was not the only feminists who attempted to influence the political structures of late Enlightenment France. But like the writings of Etta Palm d'Aelders, Theroigne de Mericourt, Claire Lacombe and Marquis de Condorcet, her arguments fell on deaf ears. At the end of the 18th century influential political actors such as Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès were not convinced of the case for equality.

Letters and pamphlets

In her early political letters Gouges made a point of being a woman, and that she spoke "as a woman". She addressed her public letters, published often as pamphlets, to statesmen such as Jacques Necker, the Duke of Orléans, or the queen Marie-Antoinette. Like other pamphlet writers in revolutionary France, she spoke from the margins and spoke of her experience as a citizen, with a desire to influence the ongoing public debate. In her letters she articulated the values of the Enlightenment, and commented on how they may be put into practice, such as civic virtue, universal rights, natural rights and political rights. In language and practice this was a debate among men and about men. Republicans discussed civic virtue in terms of patriotic manliness (la vertu mâle et répub-licaine). Women were not granted political rights in revolutionary France, thus Gouges used her pamphlets to enter the public debate and she argued that the debate needed to include the female civic voice.

Gouges signed her pamphlets with citoyenne. It has been suggested that she adopted this notion from Rousseau's letter To the Republic of Geneva, where he speaks directly to two types of Genevans: the "dear fellow citizens" or his "brothers", and the aimables et virtueeses Citoyenne, that is the women citizens. In the public letter Remarques Patriotique from December 1788 Gouges justified why she is publishing her political thoughts, arguing that "This dream, strange though it may seem, will show the nation a truly civic heart, a spirit that is always concerned with the public good".

As the politics of revolutionary France changed and progressed Gouges failed to become an actor on the political stage, but in her letters offered advice to the political establishment. Her proposition for a political order remained largely unchanged. She expresses faith in the Estates General and in reference to the estates of the realm, that the people of France (Third Estate) would be able to ensure harmony between the three estates, that is clergy, nobility and the people. Despite this she expresses loyalty for the ministers Jacques Necker and Charles Alexandre de Calonne. Gouges opposes absolutism, but believed France should retain a constitutional monarchy.

In her open letter to Marie-Antoinette, Gouges declared:

"I could never convince myself that a princess, raised in the midst of grandeur, had all the vices of baseness... Madame, may a nobler function characterize you, excite your ambition, and fix your attention. Only one whom chance had elevated to an eminent position can assume the task of lending weight to the progress of the Rights of Woman and of hastening its success. If you were less well informed, Madame, I might fear that your individual interests would outweigh those of your sex. You love glory; think, Madame, the greatest crimes immortalize one as much as the greatest virtues, but what a different fame in the annals of history! The one is ceaselessly taken as an example, and the other is eternally the execration of the human race."

Public letters, or pamphlets, were the primary means for the working class and women writers to engage in the public debate of revolutionary France. The intention was not to court the favour of the addressee, often a public figure. Frequently these pamphlets were intended to stir up public anger. They were widely circulated within and outside France. Gouges' contemporary Madame Roland of the Gironde party became notorious for her Letter to Louis XVI in 1792. In the same year Gouges penned Letter to Citizen Robespierre, which Robespierre refused to answer. Gouges took to the street, and on behalf of the French people proclaimed "Let us plunge into the Seine! Thou hast need of a bath... thy death will claim things, and as for myself, the sacrifice of a pure life will disarm the heavens."

See also

• The Women's March on Versailles
• Women's Petition to the National Assembly
• List of civil rights leaders
• List of women's rights activists

References

1. Paul, Pauline (2 June 1989). "I Foresaw it All: The Amazing Life and Oeuvre of Olympe de Gouges". Die Zeit. Translated by Kai Artur Diers. (also see Olympe de Gouges, a Daughter of Quercy on her Way to the Panthéon Archived 19 October 2004 at the Wayback Machine on Quercy.net)
2. ^ Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 245. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
3. Noack, Paul (1992). Olympe de Gouges, 1748–1793: Kurtisane und Kampferin für die Rechte der Frau [Olympe de Gouges, 1748–1793: Courtesan and Activist for Women's Rights] (in German). Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. p. 31. ISBN 978-3-423-30319-4.
4. Erica Harth (1992). Cartesian Women: Versions and Subversions of Rational Discourse in the Old Regime. Cornell University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0801499982.
5. Erica Harth (1992). Cartesian Women: Versions and Subversions of Rational Discourse in the Old Regime. Cornell University Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0801499982.
6. Mary Seidman Trouille (1997). Sexual Politics in the Enlightenment: Women Writers Read Rousseau. SUNY Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0791434895.
7. Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman, 1989 p. 235
8. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 15. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
9. Marlene L. Daut (2015). Tropics of Haiti: Race and the Literary History of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World, 1789–1865. Oxford University Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-1781381847.
10. J. Michelet, La Révolution Française.
11. See Charles Monselet, Les Oubliés et les Dédaignés . See also Joan Scott in Rebel Daughters.
12. Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p. 311
13. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 245. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
14. "Brave new world – Women's rights". National Archives. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
15. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 144. ISBN 978-1611493559.
16. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 148. ISBN 978-1611493559.
17. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 150. ISBN 978-1611493559.
18. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 154. ISBN 978-1611493559.
19. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 14. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
20. Women in Higher Education: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. 2002. p. 34. ISBN 978-1576076149. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
21. Women in Higher Education: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. 2002. p. 35. ISBN 978-1576076149. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
22. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 15. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
23. ^ Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 16. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
24. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 297. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
25. Women in Higher Education: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. 2002. p. 37. ISBN 978-1576076149. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
26. Women in Higher Education: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. 2002. p. 38. ISBN 978-1576076149. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
27. Jessica Goodman (2017). Commemorating Mirabeau: 'Mirabeau aux Champs-Elysées' and other texts. MHRA. p. 59. ISBN 978-1781882184.
28. Jessica Goodman (2017). Commemorating Mirabeau: 'Mirabeau aux Champs-Elysées' and other texts. MHRA. p. 35. ISBN 978-1781882184.
29. Mary Seidman Trouille (1997). Sexual Politics in the Enlightenment: Women Writers Read Rousseau. SUNY Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-0791434895.
30. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 121. ISBN 978-1611493559.
31. ^ Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 122. ISBN 978-1611493559.
32. ^ David Williams (1999). The Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-0521564908.
33. Erica Harth (1992). Cartesian Women: Versions and Subversions of Rational Discourse in the Old Regime. Cornell University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0801499982.
34. David Williams (1999). The Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-0521564908.
35. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 134. ISBN 978-1611493559.
36. David Williams (1999). The Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0521564908.
37. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 123. ISBN 978-1611493559.
38. Annie Smart (2011). Citoyennes: Women and the Ideal of Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. p. 123. ISBN 978-1611493559.
39. Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 247. ISBN 978-0199743483. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
40. Mary A. Favret (2005). Romantic Correspondence: Women, Politics and the Fiction of Letters. Cambridge University Press. pp. 114, 119. ISBN 978-0521604284.

External links

 French Wikisource has original text related to this article: Olympe de Gouges

• Olympe de Gouges on Data.bnf.fr
• A website containing English translations of de Gouges' works
• An extensive article about Olympe de Gouges
• An excerpt from the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
• Daniel Cazes (2007). Obras feministas de François Poulain de la Barre (1647–1723): estudio preliminar. UNAM. p. 36. ISBN 978-9703246137.

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Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles (7 Jun 1788) Assembly of Vizille (21 Jul 1788) 1789 What Is the Third Estate? (Jan 1789) Réveillon riots (28 Apr 1789) Convocation of the Estates General (5 May 1789) Death of the Dauphin (4 June 1789) National Assembly (17 Jun – 9 Jul 1790) Tennis Court Oath (20 Jun 1789) National Constituent Assembly (9 Jul – 30 Sep 1791) Storming of the Bastille (14 Jul 1789) Great Fear (20 Jul – 5 Aug 1789) Abolition of Feudalism (4–11 Aug 1789) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 Aug 1789) Women's March on Versailles (5 Oct 1789) Nationalization of the Church properties (2 Nov 1789) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements (Feb–Jul 1790) Abolition of the Nobility (23 Jun 1790) Civil Constitution of the Clergy (12 Jul 1790) Fête de la Fédération (14 Jul 1790) 1791 Flight to Varennes (20–21 Jun 1791) Champ de Mars massacre (17 Jul 1791) Declaration of Pillnitz (27 Aug 1791) The Constitution of 1791 (3 Sep 1791) National Legislative Assembly (1 Oct 1791 – Sep 1792) 1792 France declares war (20 Apr 1792) Brunswick Manifesto (25 Jul 1792) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary (Jun 1792) 10th of August (10 Aug 1792) September Massacres (Sep 1792) National Convention (20 Sep 1792 – 26 Oct 1795) First republic declared (22 Sep 1792) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI (21 Jan 1793) Revolutionary Tribunal (9 Mar 1793 – 31 May 1795) Reign of Terror (27 Jun 1793 – 27 Jul 1794) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists (2 Jun 1793) Assassination of Marat (13 Jul 1793) Levée en masse (23 Aug 1793) The Death of Marat (painting) Law of Suspects (17 Sep 1793) Marie Antoinette is guillotined (16 Oct 1793) Anti-clerical laws (throughout the year) 1794 Danton and Desmoulins guillotined (5 Apr 1794) Law of 22 Prairial (10 Jun 1794) Thermidorian Reaction (27 Jul 1794) Robespierre guillotined (28 Jul 1794) White Terror (Fall 1794) Closing of the Jacobin Club (11 Nov 1794) 1795–6 Insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III (1 Apr 1795) Constitution of the Year III (22 Aug 1795) Directoire (1795–99) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 13 Vendémiaire 5 Oct 1795 Conspiracy of the Equals (May 1796) 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 Sep 1797) Second Congress of Rastatt (Dec 1797) 1798 Law of 22 Floréal Year VI (11 May 1798) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial VII (18 Jun 1799) Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 Nov 1799) Constitution of the Year VIII (24 Dec 1799) Consulate
Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Siege of Mainz Jemappes Namur 1793 First Coalition War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden Battle of Famars (23 May 1793) Expedition to Sardinia (21 Dec 1792 - 25 May 1793) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes (Pyrenees) Siege of Toulon (18 Sep – 18 Dec 1793) First Battle of Wissembourg (13 Oct 1793) Battle of Truillas (Pyrenees) Second Battle of Wissembourg (26–27 Dec 1793) 1794 Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (24 Apr 1794) Second Battle of Boulou (Pyrenees) (30 Apr – 1 May 1794) Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794) Battle of Tournay (22 May 1794) Glorious First of June (1 Jun 1794) Battle of Fleurus (26 Jun 1794) Chouannerie Battle of Aldenhoven (2 Oct 1794) Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795) 1795 Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795) Peace of Basel 1796 Italian campaign (1796) Battle of Lonato (3–4 Aug 1796) Battle of Castiglione (5 Aug 1796) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim (11 Aug 1796) Battle of Amberg (24 Aug 1796) Battle of Würzburg (3 Sep 1796) Battle of Rovereto (4 Sep 1796) First Battle of Bassano (8 Sep 1796) Battle of Emmendingen (19 Oct 1796) Battle of Schliengen (26 Oct 1796) Second Battle of Bassano (6 Nov 1796) Battle of Calliano (6–7 Nov 1796) Battle of Arcole (15–17 Nov 1796) Ireland expedition (Dec 1796) 1797 Italian campaign (1797) Naval Engagement off Brittany (13 Jan 1797) Battle of Rivoli (14–15 Jan 1797) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz (25 Jan 1797) Treaty of Leoben (17 Apr 1797) Battle of Neuwied (18 Apr 1797) Treaty of Campo Formio (17 Oct 1797) 1798 French invasion of Switzerland (28 January – 17 May 1798) French Invasion of Egypt (1798–1801) Irish Rebellion of 1798 (23 May – 23 Sep 1798) Quasi-War (1798–1800) Peasants' War (12 Oct – 5 Dec 1798) 1799 Second Coalition (1798–1802) Siege of Acre (20 Mar – 21 May 1799) Battle of Ostrach (20–21 Mar 1799) Battle of Stockach (25 Mar 1799) Battle of Magnano (5 Apr 1799) Battle of Cassano (27–28 Apr 1799) First Battle of Zurich (4–7 Jun 1799) Battle of Trebbia (17–20 Jun 1799) Battle of Novi (15 Aug 1799) Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 Sep 1799) 1800 Battle of Marengo (14 Jun 1800) Convention of Alessandria (15 Jun 1800) Battle of Hohenlinden (3 Dec 1800) League of Armed Neutrality (1800–02) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville (9 Feb 1801) Treaty of Florence (18 Mar 1801) Algeciras campaign (8 Jul 1801) 1802 Treaty of Amiens (25 Mar 1802) Treaty of Paris (25 Jun 1802)
Military leaders France French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Louis-Alexandre Berthier Jean-Baptiste Bessières Napoléon Bonaparte Guillaume Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean-Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis-Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis-Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean-Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean-Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Étienne Macdonald Jean-Antoine Marbot Marcellin Marbot François Séverin Marceau Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre-Jacques Osten [fr] Nicolas Oudinot Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon Jean-Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Jean-de-Dieu Soult Louis-Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles-Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt (Walloon) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze (Swiss) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray (Hungarian) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (French) Maximilian Baillet de Latour (Walloon) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto (Saxon) Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (Hungarian) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Netherlands William V, Prince of Orange Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Andrei Rosenberg Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos
Other significant figures and factions Patriotic Society of 1789 Jean Sylvain Bailly Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt Isaac René Guy le Chapelier Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Nicolas de Condorcet Feuillants and monarchiens Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean-Sifrein Maury François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Guillaume-Mathieu Dumas Antoine Barnave Lafayette Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth André Chénier Jean-François Rewbell Camille Jordan Madame de Staël Boissy d'Anglas Jean-Charles Pichegru Pierre Paul Royer-Collard Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Girondins Jacques Pierre Brissot Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière Madame Roland Father Henri Grégoire Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jean Debry Olympe de Gouges Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux The Plain Abbé Sieyès de Cambacérès Charles-François Lebrun Pierre-Joseph Cambon Bertrand Barère Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I Mirabeau Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Montagnards Maximilien Robespierre Georges Danton Jean-Paul Marat Camille Desmoulins Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Paul Barras Louis Philippe I Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau Jacques-Louis David Marquis de Sade Georges Couthon Roger Ducos Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean-Henri Voulland Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean-Pierre-André Amar Prieur de la Côte-d'Or Prieur de la Marne Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint-André Jean-Lambert Tallien Pierre Louis Prieur Antoine Christophe Saliceti Hébertists and Enragés Jacques Hébert Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles-Philippe Ronsin Antoine-François Momoro François-Nicolas Vincent François Chabot Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel François Hanriot Jacques Roux Stanislas-Marie Maillard Charles-Philippe Ronsin Jean-François Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Léon Gracchus Babeuf Sylvain Maréchal Others Figures Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Marie Antoinette Napoléon Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Fesch Joséphine de Beauharnais Joachim Murat Jean Sylvain Bailly Jacques-Donatien Le Ray Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target Catherine Théot Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne Jacques Necker Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil List of people associated with the French Revolution Factions Jacobins Cordeliers Panthéon Club Social Club
Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles-Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean-Jacques Rousseau Abbé Sieyès Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft
Cultural impact La Marseillaise Cockade of France Flag of France Liberté, égalité, fraternité Marianne Muscadin Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican calendar Metric system Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Temple of Reason Sans-culottes Phrygian cap Women in the French Revolution Incroyables and merveilleuses Symbolism in the French Revolution Historiography of the French Revolution Influence of the French Revolution Films

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