“...the former King Louis XVI, who, after titles were abolished, was now simply called "Louis Capet" - a mocking reference to his distant ancestor Hugh Capet, who had assumed the throne in the year 987.” — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Commoners already paid the lion’s share of national taxes and, because of these old feudal records, they now also paid a whole host of other duties to their local nobles (who, further inspiring anger, were exempt from most national taxes).… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“At first, the Jacobin Club was not the most radical club. It was known for its lively, collegial debates and for attracting diverse and prominent revolutionaries to its ranks. Though it would one day command the loyalty of the Paris “street,” its initial membership was largely professional and bourgeois, mainly because it charged hefty subscription fees to join. The Duke… — Tom Reiss Copy Share
“energized and emboldened delegates of the Third Estate, the “99 percent”—in reality, closer to 96 percent—of the French population who paid the bulk of… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Suddenly Paris fashion-that bellwether for the French mind-had to be à l'Amérique: tailors manufactured "insurgent coats" and "lightning-conductor dresses" (in honor of Ben Franklin,… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“The way it had originally worked was that each of the three estates got an equal say: each had an equal number of “deputies”… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“The bitter irony was that the financial crisis had largely been caused by French support of the American patriots; in getting back at the… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Man is born free but is everywhere in chains,” wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contract in 1762. A generation of crusading lawyers put… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“When they weren’t running meat—or rum—they worked as salt miners or piloted small boats along the coast. These highland Saint-Dominguans, along with more recent… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Unhappiness cannot but draw tighter the bonds which hold us fast to one another," General Dumas had written to Marie-Louise as he made his… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Wednesday, June 17, 1789, France went from a system where only the nobility and the church had power to a system where, at least… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“in 1788, he had become infatuated by the American republic and its spirit of “simplicity, goodness, and that dignity of man which is the… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“Alex Dumas had the confidence that accompanies a life of physical exploits, along with an unwavering faith in the rightness of his actions that… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
“This mulatto gentleman could powder and dress as he liked, however, because he was acknowledged to be the greatest swordsman in Europe. Over the… — Tom Reiss Copy Share Image
