Absolutism in Seventeenth Century Europe Term Paper

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During the seventeenth century, monarchs attained power and authority that was unprecedented, leading historians to use the term "absolutism" to describe these political systems, while other historians argue that the term is misleading because neither the ambitions of the monarchs nor the results constituted political absolutism (Durand pp). However, Louis XIV established such a powerful monarchy in France, that when he famously declared, "L'etat c'est moi" ("I am the state"), it began an "association of state power with the person wielding it that culminated in the cult of personality of a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao" in the twentieth century (Marshall pp).

Some historians believe that the general climate of absolutism offered the monarch no more than the opportunity to deliberate on matters of state without being affected by intrigue and pressure, and ensure the judicial process followed his wishes and directives (Durand pp). Therefore, as an actual political system, absolutism is a myth, for the monarchs never regarded themselves as absolute, "except in the case of the autocrats of Russia, where the lack of fundamental laws of established custoins and corporate orders within the state allowed the growth of a dictatorial form of government" (Durand pp).

The French Revolution dissolved the old social order and everyone became a "citizen" under the Rights of Man, which were based upon the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity (Marshall pp). However, the indiscriminate sweeping away of the past, taking with it religious faith, and rights based in custom, removed important sources of constraint upon the power of the new rulers, who governed according to abstract principles, interpreted by their own reason without the accumulated wisdom of the past to guide them (Marshall pp).

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This dynamic within the French Revolution established a typical pattern for all modern revolutionary movements that became more total and oppressive than any absolute monarch they replaced (Marshall pp). Throughout history, limited constitutional government has not fired the imaginations in the same dramatic way as utopian ideologies and "heroic" leaders who promise freedom, justice, and prosperity (Marshall pp).

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