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The preconditions for the Renaissance Movement
lie far back in the XVIII century of the Enlightenment. The
philosophizing XVIII century gave birth to the revolutionizing XIX
century, which seen historically had its start with the French
Revolution in 1789. The French Revolution expressed the views of the
French rationalists of the XVIII century in the “Declaration of
Rights of Man and of the Citizen.” In regard to the “Jewish
question” the rationalists were not concerned about the Jews per se,
but about the principle of the emancipation
of the disadvantaged. The Jews were the disadvantaged; therefore, they deserved
to be emancipated. Clermont Tonnerre, a friend of the Jews who had become famous
in the French Revolution said at that time that Jews as a nation should be given
nothing, but Jews as humans should be given everything. The result of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was the legal emancipation
of the Jews. In the spirit of Clermont Tonnerre, the law makers not only in
France, but also in other states of Europe embraced and decreed the idea of
emancipation.
photo: Stanislas Clermont-Tonnerre, Deputy of Pris at the National
assembly in 1789. |
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