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Text displayed on a placardannouncing the sale of biensnationaux (1793). Soon after theRevolution, the motto was sometimewritten as "Liberty, Equality,Fraternity, or Death". The "death"

part was later dropped for being toostrongly associated with the Reign of Terror.

iberté, égalité, fraternité m Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

erté, égalité, fraternité ( pronounced: [libɛʁte eɡalite fʁatɛʁnite]), French for "liberty, equality, fraternity",[1] is theional motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, and is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins inFrench Revolution, it was then only one motto among others and was not institutionalized until the Third Republic at

end of the 19th century.[2] Debates concerning the compatibility and order of the three terms began at the same time asRevolution. It is also the motto of the Grand Orient de France and the Grande Loge de France.

ontents

1 Origins during the French Revolution2 19th century

2.1 1848 Revolution2.2 Paris Commune and Third Republic

3 20th century4 Other nations5 Culture6 See also7 Notes8 References9 External links

rigins during the French Revolution

e f irst to have made this motto was Maximilien Robespierre in his speech "Onorgani zation of the National Guard" (French: Discours sur l'organisation desdes nationales) on 5 December 1790, article XVI, and disseminated widely

oughout France by the popular Societies.

Discours sur l'organisation des gardes nationales Article XVI.On their uniforms engraved these words: FRENCH PEOPLE, & below:LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY. The same words are inscribedon flags which bear the three colors of the nation. (French: XVI. Elles por teront sur leur poitr ine ce s mots gr avés : L E

PEUPLE FRANÇAIS, & au-dessous : LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ. Les mêmes mots seront inscrits sur leurs drapeaux, qui porteront les trois couleurs de la nation.)

— Maximilien Robespierre, 1790[1][3][4]

dit for the motto has been given also to Antoine-François Momoro (1756–94), a

isian printer and Hébertist organizer,[5][6][7] though in different context of eign invasion and federalist revolt in 1793, it was modified to "Unity,ivisibility of the Republic; liberty, equality, brotherhood or death" (French:

ité, Indivisibilité de la République; Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité ou la mort ) andgested by a resolution of the Paris Commune (member of which Momoro was elected by his section du Théâtre-nçais) on 29 June 1793 to be inscribed on Parisian house-fronts and imitated by the inhabitants of other cities. In 1839,

philosopher Pierre Leroux claimed it had been an anonymous and popular creation. [2] The historian Mona Ozouf derlines that, although Liberté and Égalité were associated as a motto during the 18th century, Fraternité wasn't always

luded in it, and other terms, such as Amitié (Friendship), Charité (Charity) or Union were often added in its place.[2]

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Alsatian sign, 1792: Freiheit Gleichheit Brüderlichk. od. Tod (Liberty Equality Fraternityor Death)Tod den Tyranen (Death toTyrants)

Heil den Völkern (Long livethe Peoples)

e emphasis on Fraternité during the French Revolution led Olympe de Gouges, a female journalist, to write the

claration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen[8] as a response. The tripartite motto was neither a creative

lection, nor really institutionalized by the French Revolution.[2] As soon as 1789, other terms were used, such as "lation, la Loi, le Roi" (The Nation, The Law, The King), or "Union, Force, Vertu" (Union, Strength, Virtue), a slogan usedorehand by masonic lodges, or " Force, Égalité, Justice" (Strength, Equality, Justice), " Liberté, Sûreté, Propriété"

berty, Security, Property), etc.[2]

other words, liberté, égalité, fraternité was only one slogan among many others.[2]

ring the Jacobin revolutionary period itself, various mottos were used, such as liberté,

té, égalité (liberty, unity, equality); liberté, égalité, justice (liberty, equality, justice);erté, raison, égalité (liberty, reason, equality), etc.[2] The only solid association was thatiberté and égalité, fraternité being ignored by the Cahiers de doléances as well as by the

89 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. It was only alluded to in the 1791nstitution, as well as in Robespierre's draft Declaration of 1793, placed under theocation of (in that order) égalité, liberté, sûreté and propriété (equality, liberty, safety,perty — though it was used not as a motto, but as articles of declaration), as thesibility of a universal extension of the Declaration of Rights: "Men of all countries are

thers, he who oppresses one nation declares himself the enemy of all." [2][a] Finally, it did

figure in the August 1793 Declaration.[2]

e Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 defined liberty in Article 4follows:

Liberty consists of being able to do anything that does not harm others: thus,the exercise of the natural rights of every man or woman has no bounds other than those that guarantee other members of society the enjoyment of thesesame rights.

uality, on the other hand, was defined by the 1789 Declaration in terms of judicial equality and merit-based entry tovernment (art. 6):

[The law] "must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, shall be equally eligible to all high offices, public positions and employments, according to their ability, and withoutother distinction than that of their virtues and talents."

erté, égalité, fraternité actually finds its origins in a May 1791 proposition by the Club des Cordeliers, following a

ech on the Army by the marquis de Guichardin.[2] A British marine held prisoner on the French ship Le Marat in 1794

ote home in letters published in 1796:[9]

The republican spirit is inculcated not in songs only, for in every part of the ship I find emblems purposelydisplayed to awaken it. All the orders relating to the discipline of the crew are hung up, and prefaced by thewords Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la Mort , written in capital letters.

e compatibility of liberté and égalité was not doubted in the first days of the Revolution, and the problem of the

ecedence of one term on the other not lifted.[2] Thus, the Abbé Sieyès considered that only liberty ensured equality,ess the latter was to be the equality of all dominated by a despot; while liberty followed equality ensured by the rule of

.[2] The abstract generality of law (theorized by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the The Social Contract ) thus ensured thentification of liberty to equality, liberty being negatively defined as an independence from arbitrary rule, and equality

nsidered abstractly in its judicial form.[2]

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s identification of liberty and equality became problematic during the Jacobin period, when equality was redefined (for

tance by François-Noël Babeuf) as equality of results, and not only judicial equality of rights.[2] Thus, Marc Antoineudot considered that French temperament inclined rather to equality than liberty, a theme which would be re-used byrre Louis Roederer and Alexis de Tocqueville, while Jacques Necker considered that an equal society could only be

nd on coercion.[2]

e third term, fraternité, was the most problematic to insert in the triad, as it belonged to another sphere, that of moraligations rather than rights, links rather than statutes, harmony rather than contract, and community rather than

ividuality.[2] Various interpretations of fraternité existed. The first one, according to Mona Ozouf, was one of " fraternité

rébellion" (Fraternity of Rebellion),[2]

that is the union of the deputies in the Jeu de Paume Oath of June 1789, refusingdissolution ordered by the King Louis XVI: "We swear never to separate ourselves from the National Assembly, and tossemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed upon solid

ndations." Fraternity was thus issued from Liberty and oriented by a common cause. [2]

other form of fraternité was that of the patriotic Church, which identified social link with religious link and based

ernity on Christian brotherhood.[2] In this second sense, fraternité preceded both liberté and Égalité, instead of

owing them as in the first sense.[2] Thus, two senses of Fraternity: "one, that followed liberty and equality, was the

ect of a free pact; the other preceded liberty and equality as the mark on its work of the divine craftsman." [2]

other hesitation concerning the compatibility of the three terms arose from the opposition between liberty and equalityndividualistic values, and fraternity as the realization of a happy community, devoided of any conflicts and opposed to

y form of egotism.[2] This fusional interpretation of Fraternity opposed it to the project of individual autonomy and

nifested the precedence of Fraternity on individual will.[2]

his sense, it was sometimes associated with death, as in Fraternité, ou la Mort! (Fraternity or Death!), excluding libertyd even equality, by establishing a strong dichotomy between those who were brothers and those who were not (in the

se of "you are with me or against me", brother or foe).[2] Louis de Saint-Just thus stigmatized Anarchasis Cloots'

mopolitanism, declaring "Cloots liked the universe, except France."[2]

th Thermidor and the execution of Robespierre, fraternité disappeared from the slogan, reduced to the two terms of erty and equality, re-defined again as simple judicial equality and not as the equality upheld by the sentiment of

ernity.[2] The First Consul (Napoleon Bonaparte) then established the motto liberté, ordre public (liberty, public order).

9th century

lowing Napoleon's rule, the triptych dissolved itself, as none believed possible to conciliate individual liberty and

uality of rights with equality of results and fraternity.[2] The idea of individual sovereignty and of natural rightssessed by man before being united in the collectivity contradicted the possibility of establishing a transparent and

ernal community.[2]

Liberals accepted liberty and equality, defining the latter as equality of rights and ignoringernity.[2]

ly Socialists rejected an independent conception of liberty, opposed to the social, and also despised equality, as theynsidered, as Fourier, that one had only to orchestrate individual discordances, to harmonize them, or they believed, as

nt-Simon, that equality contradicted equity by a brutal levelling of individualities.[2] Utopian Socialism thus only cared

ut Fraternity, which was, in Cabet's Icarie the sole commandment.[2]

s opposition between liberals and socialists was mirrored in rival historical interpretations of the Revolution, liberals

miring 1789, and Socialists 1793.[2] The July Revolution of 1830, establishing a constitutional monarchy headed by

uis-Philippe, substituted ordre et liberté (order and liberty) to the Napoleonic motto Liberté, Ordre public.[2] Despite thisarent disappearance of the triptych, the latter was still being thought in some underground circles, in Republican secret

ieties, masonic lodges such as the "Indivisible Trinity," far-left booklets or during the Canuts Revolt in Lyon.[2] In 1834,lawyer of the Society of the Rights of Man (Société des droits de l'homme), Dupont, a liberal sitting in the far-lefting the July Monarchy, associated the three terms together in the Revue Républicaine which he edited:

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Liberté, égalité, fraternité on

French coins

5-franc piece, 1849

1-franc piece, 1899

20-franc piece, 1851

Any man aspires to liberty, to equality, but he can not achieve it without the assistance of other men, without

fraternity[2][b]

e triptych resurfaced during the 1847 Campagne des Banquets, upheld for example in Lille by Ledru-Rollin.[2]

o interpretations had attempted to conciliate the three terms, beyond the antagonism between liberals and socialists. Ones upheld by Catholic traditionalists, such as Chateaubriand or Ballanche, the other by socialist and republicans such as

rre Leroux.[2] Chateaubriand thus gave a Christian interpretation of the revolutionary motto, stating in the 1841

nclusion to his Mémoires d'outre-tombe:

Far from being at its term, the religion of the Liberator is now only just entering its third phase, the political

period, liberty, equality, fraternity[2][c]

ther Chateaubriand nor Ballanche considered the three terms to be antagonistic. Rather, they took them for being theievement of Christianity. On the other hand, Pierre Leroux did not disguise the difficulties of associating the three

ms, but superated it by considering liberty as the aim, equality as the principle and fraternity as the means.[2] Leroux thus

ered the motto as Liberty, Fraternity, Equality,[2]

an order also supported by Christian socialists, such as Buchez.[2]

ainst this new order of the triptych, Michelet supported the traditional order, maintaining the primordial importance of

original individualistic right.[2] Michelet attempted to conciliate a rational communication with a fraternal

mmunication, "right beyond right",[2] and thus the rival traditions of Socialism and Liberalism.[2] The Republican

dition would strongly inspire itself from Michelet's synchretism.[2]

48 Revolution

th the 1848 February Revolution, the motto was officially adopted,[10] mainly under

pressure of the people who had attempted to impose the red flag over the tricolor g (the 1791 red flag was, however, the symbol of martial law and of order, not of

urrection).[2] Lamartine opposed popular aspirations, and in exchange of theintaining of the tricolor flag, conceded the Republican motto of Liberté, Égalité,

aternité, written on the flag, on which a red rosette was also to be added. [2]

ternity was then considered to resume and to contain both Liberty and Equality,ng a form of civil religion (which, far from opposing itself to Christianity, was

ociated with it in 1848[2]) establishing social link (as called for by Rousseau in the

nclusion of the Social Contract ).[2]

wever, Fraternity was not devoid of its previous sense of opposition betweenthers and foes, images of blood haunting revolutionary Christian publications,

ing in Lamennais' themes.[2] Thus, the newspaper Le Christ républicain (Thepublican Christ) developed the idea of the Christ bringing forth peace to the poor

d war to the rich.[2][11]

soon as 6 January 1852, the future Napoleon III, first President of the Republic,ered all prefects to erase the triptych from all official documents and buildings,

nflated with insurrection and disorder.[2] Auguste Comte applauded Napoleon,

ming equality to be the "symbol of metaphysical anarchism", and preferring to itdyptich "ordre et progrès" ("order and progress", which would then become the

tto of Brazil, Ordem e Progresso).[12] On the other hand, Proudhon criticizedernity as an empty word, which he associated with idealistic dreams of

manticism.[2] He preferred to it the sole term of liberty.

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ris Commune and Third Republic

he, mayor of the Paris Commune, painted the formula "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la mort" on the walls of themmune. It was only under the Third Republic that the motto was made official. It was then not dissociated withurrection and revolutionary ardours, Opportunist Republicans such as Jules Ferry or Gambetta adapting it to the new

itical conditions.[2] Larousse's Dictionnaire universel deprived fraternity of its "evangelistic halo" (Mona Ozouf),

nflating it with solidarity and the welfare role of the state.[2]

me still opposed the Republican motto, such as the nationalist Charles Maurras in his Dictionnaire politique et critique,

o claimed liberty to be an empty dream, equality an insanity, and only kept fraternity.[2]

Charles Péguy, renewing withmennais' thought, kept fraternity and liberty, excluding equality, seen as an abstract repartition between individuals

uced to homogeneity,[2] opposing "fraternity" as a sentiment put in motion by "misery", while equality only interested

lf, according to him, to the mathematical solution of the problem of "poverty." [2]

guy identified Christian charity and socialist solidarity in this conception of fraternity.[2] On the other hand, Georgescher de Lapouge, the most important French author of pseudo-scientific racism and supporter of eugenism, completelyected the Republican triptych, adopting another motto, "déterminisme, inégalité, sélection" (determinism, inequality,ection). But, according to Ozouf, the sole use of a triptych was the sign of the influence of the Republican motto, despite

eing corrupted in its opposite.[2]

0th century

ring the German occupation of France in World War II, this motto was replaced by the reactionary phrase " travail,

mille, patrie" (work, family, fatherland)[13] by Marshal Pétain, who became the leader of the new Vichy Frenchvernment in 1940. Pétain had taken this motto from the colonel de la Rocque's Parti social français (PSF), although the

er considered it more appropriate for a movement than for a regime.[2]

lowing the Liberation, the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) re-established the Republican motto

erté, égalité, fraternité, which is incorporated into both the 1946 and the 1958 French constitutions.

[1]

ther nations

ny other nations have adopted the French slogan of "liberty, equality, and fraternity" as an ideal. These words appear inpreamble to the Constitution of India, enforced in 1950. Since its founding, "Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood" hasn the lemma of the Social Democratic Party of Denmark. In the United Kingdom the political party the Liberal

mocrats refer to "the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community" in the preamble of the party's Federal

nstitution, and this is printed on party membership cards.[14] Related ideals are contained in the German mottonigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" (unity and justice and freedom), taken from the German national anthem.

e Philippine national flag has a rectangular design that consists of a white equilateral triangle, symbolizing liberty,uality, and fraternity; a horizontal blue stripe for peace, truth, and justice; and a horizontal red stripe for patriotism andor . In the center of the white triangle is an eight- rayed golden sun symbolizing unity, freedom, people's democracy, andereignty.

e idea of the slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" has also given an influence as natural law to the First Article of theiversal Declaration of Human Rights:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience

and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[15]

ulture

one point the motto was used to mark churches which were controlled by the state, rather than the Catholic Church.

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Tympanum of a state-owned church

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Liberté,

égalité, fraternité .

me former colonies of the French Republic (such as Haiti, Chad,ger, and Gabon) have adopted similar three-word mottos.

e terms are also referred to in the film trilogy Three Colors byzysztof Kieślowski.

ee also

Give me liberty or give me deathLife, liberty, and propertyBrotherhood and unityTravail, Famille, Patrie- the national motto of Vichy FranceSalazar's Estado Novo's motto Deus, Pátria e Familia (meaning"God, Fatherland, and Family")

otes

a. French: " Les hommes de tous les pays sont frères, celui qui opprime une seule nation se déclare l'ennemi de toutes."b. French: "Tout homme aspire à la liberté, à l'égalité, mais on ne peut y atteindre sans le secours des autres hommes, sans la

fraternité."

c. French: " Loin d'être à son terme, la religion du Libérateur entre à peine dans sa troisième période, la période politique, liberté,égalité, fraternité."

eferences

xternal links

Slogan of the French Republic (http://www.france.fr/en/institutions-and-values/slogan-french-republic) – Official French website (in English)La fraternité comme unité et cohésion de la société) (http://islamstory.com/fr/

soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9%20histoire%20fraternit%C3%A9%20unit%C3%A9%20coh%C3%A9sion%20valeur%20civilisations%20soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9%20histoire%20fraternit%C3%A9%20unit%C3%A9%20coh%C3%A9sion%20valeur%20civilisations%20Lee%20Atwater%20affection%20magazine%20Life%20amour%20abn%C3%A9ga

1. "Liberty, Égalité, Fraternité". Embassy of France in the US. Retrieved 2014-09-18.2. Ozouf, Mona (1997), "Liberté, égalité, fraternité stands for peace country and war", in Nora, Pierre, Lieux de Mémoire [ Places of

memory] (in French), tome III, Quarto Gallimard, pp. 4353–89 (abridged translation, Realms of Memory, Columbia UniversityPress, 1996–98).

3. Robespierre, Maximilien (1950). OEUVRES DE MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE . Tome VI. PRESSES UNIVERSITAIRES DEFRANCE. p. 643. Retrieved 19 September 2014.

4. From Robespierre's speech to the National Assembly on 5 December 1790. Cited in Triomphe et mort du droit naturel enRévolution, 1789-1795-1802, Florence Gauthier, éd. PUF/ pratiques théoriques, 1992, p. 129

5. Latham, Edward (1906). Famous Sayings and Their Authors. London: Swan Sonnenschein. p. 147. OCLC 4697187.6. de Barante, Amable Guillaume P. Brugière (1851). Histoire de la Convention nationale [ History of the National convention] (in

French). Langlois & Leclercq. p. 322. Retrieved 31 August 2011.7. Thacher, John Boyd (1905). Outlines of the French revolution told in autographs. Weed-Parsons Printing Co. p. 8. Retrieved

31 August 2011.8. Ellis; Esler, "The Modern Era", World History (textbook).9. Tench, Watkin (1796), Letters Written in France: To a Friend in London, Between the Month of November 1794, and the Month of

May 1795, London: J Johnson, p. 15.10. "The symbols of the Republic and Bastille Day". French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2006-04-20.11. Le Christ républicain n°7, quoted by Mona Ozouf: " Nous, pauvres prolétaires, nous sommes rouges, parce que le Christ a versé

son sang pour nous racheter, son sang par lequel nous voulons nous régénérer. Nous sommes rouges, parce que l'angeexterminateur a marqué le haut de nos portes avec le sang de l'agneau, pour distinguer, au jour de la vengeance, les élus d'avecles réprouvés.

12. "Bandeiras e significados" [Flags & meanings], História net (in Portuguese), retrieved 2010-10-09.13. "Vichy Government". World History. DE: KMLA. Retrieved 2007-05-01.14. "Federal Constitution". UK: Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 2011-08-22.15. "Article 1", The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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