476 Chapter 24
of subsequent risings. Other movements, such as the
early campaign for women’s rights, also received a stim-
ulus from the revolutions of 1830 (see document 24.5).
In France, for example, the revolution led to the founda-
tion of a feminist newspaper entitled La Femme libre(the
Free Woman), which asked, “Shall we women remain
passive spectators of this great moment for social eman-
cipation that is taking place before our eyes?” The com-
bination of the revolution of 1830 and the utopian
socialism of men such as Charles Fourier (who promised
women an equal role) encouraged French feminism in
the 1830s and 1840s. This group included Jeanne
Deroin, a self-educated teacher and journalist who
later became the first French woman to run for office;
Eugénie Niboyet, whose Protestant zeal for moral
reform led her to socialism and then to feminism; and
Flora Tristan, whose Fourierism made her an advocate
of equal rights for women.
The Advance of Liberalism in Britain
Historians usually cite Britain as the homeland of
nineteenth-century liberalism and contrast it to the
Metternichian reaction in central Europe. Truth exists in
this contrast, but it should not obscure the strength of
conservatism in post-1815 Britain. The landed aristoc-
racy still dominated politics and society (see table 24.1).
They composed less than 0.002 percent of the popula-
tion but received more than 29 percent of the national
income. Dukes, earls, and viscounts filled the cabinet.
The House of Commons was elected by less than
3 percent of the population. If liberal reforms succeeded
in that house, the House of Lords still held an aristo-
cratic veto. The patronage system allowed this elite to
perpetuate aristocratic domination of army and navy
commands, the diplomatic corps, high government
posts, and the leadership of the Church of England.
The English record on minority nationalism resem-
bled that of Metternich and Nicholas I. An Act of
Union of 1801 had absorbed Ireland into the United
Kingdom, and the Protestant ascendancy of the eigh-
teenth century had transferred landownership and po-
litical power in Ireland to the Protestant minority. The
Catholic peasantry faced poverty and famine; suffering
was so severe that some Irish nationalists have accused
the British of genocide. Even British visitors to the IrishDOCUMENT 24.5
Feminists Proclaim a Women’s
Revolution of 1830
An Appeal to Women
At the moment when all peoples are aroused in the
name of Liberty and the proletariat calls for its
own emancipation, shall we women remain passive
spectators of this great moment for social emanci-
pation that is taking place before our eyes?
Is our condition so happy that we ourselves
have no demands to make? Until now woman has
been exploited and tyrannized. This tyranny, this
exploitation must cease. We are born free, like
man, and half the human race cannot, without in-
justice, be in servitude to the other half....
We demand equality in marriage. We prefer
celibacy to slavery!... Liberty, equality—that is to say, a free and
equal chance to develop our faculties: this is the
victory we must win, and we can succeed only if
we unite in a single group. Let us no longer form
two camps—that of the women of the people and
that of privileged women. Let our common inter-
ests unite us.
Bell, Susan G., and Offen, Karen M. eds. Women, the Family,
and Freedom: The Debate in Documents,vol.1. Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1983.
I. The Nobility
A. Temporal lords: 326 families, with 8,000 members,
ranked: 4 princes and princesses of royal
blood
19 dukes and duchesses
18 marquesses and marchionesses
103 earls and ladies
22 viscounts and vicountesses
160 barons and baronesses
B. Spiritual lords: 26 archbishops and bishops
II. The Lesser Nobility
A. Baronets: 540 families with hereditary titles “Sir” and
“Lady”
B. Knights: 350 families with nontransmittable titles
“Sir” and “Lady”
C. The gentry: 6,000 families of landowning “squires”
D. Gentlemen: 20,000 families with inherited income
and coats of armsTABLE 24.1The British Aristocracy in the Early
Nineteenth Century