Viewpoints 22.1: The Question of Jewish Citizenship in France

In August 1789 the legislators of the French Revolution adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, enshrining full legal equality under the law for French citizens. Who exactly could become a citizen and what rights they might enjoy quickly became contentious issues. After granting civil rights to Protestants in December 1789, the National Assembly began to consider the smaller but more controversial population of French Jews. Eager to become citizens, the Jews of Paris, Alsace, and Lorraine presented a joint petition to the National Assembly in January 1790. Their appeal was met with negative reactions in some quarters, including from the bishop of Nancy in Lorraine, a province on France’s eastern border with a relatively large Jewish population.

Jewish Petition to the National Assembly, January 28, 1790

A great question is pending before the supreme tribunal of France. Will the Jews be citizens or not? . . .

In general, civil rights are entirely independent from religious principles. And all men of whatever religion, whatever sect they belong to, whatever creed they practice, provided that their creed, their sect, their religion does not offend the principles of a pure and severe morality, all these men, we say, equally able to serve the fatherland, defend its interests, contribute to its splendor, should all equally have the title and the rights of citizen.

. . . Reflect, then, on the condition of the Jews. Excluded from all the professions, ineligible for all the positions, deprived even of the capacity to acquire property, not daring and not being able to sell openly the merchandise of their commerce, to what extremity are you reducing them? You do not want them to die, and yet you refuse them the means to live; you refuse them the means, and you crush them with taxes. . . .

Everything is changing; the lot of the Jews must change at the same time; and the people will not be more surprised by this particular change than by all those which they see around them everyday. This is therefore the moment, the true moment to make justice triumph: attach the improvement of the lot of the Jews to the revolution.

La Fare, Bishop of Nancy, On the Admissibility of Jews to Full Civil and Political Rights, Spring 1790

Thus, Sirs, assure each Jewish individual his liberty, security, and the enjoyment of his property. You owe it to this individual who has strayed into our midst; you owe him nothing more. He is a foreigner to whom, during the time of this passage and his stay, France owes hospitality, protection and security. But it cannot and should not admit to public posts, to the administration, to the prerogatives of the family a tribe that, regarding itself everywhere as foreign, never exclusively embraces any region; a tribe whose religion, customs, and physical and moral regime essentially differ from that of all other people; a tribe whose eyes turn constantly toward the common fatherland that should one day reunite its dispersed members. . . .

There are also moral and local considerations that should, if not guide, then at least enlighten the legislation regarding the Jewish nation. . . .

The prejudices of the people against the Jews are only too well-known. From time to time, they explode into violence: recently in Alsace, some people committed the most criminal excesses against the Jews. A few months ago, similar misfortunes menaced them in Nancy. . . .

From this account it is easy to understand the habitual disposition of the people; it is a fire always ready to be lit. Any extension that a decree of the National Assembly would hasten to give to the civil existence of the Jews, before opinion has been prepared in advance and led by degrees to this change, could occasion great disaster.

Source: The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, pp. 93–96 (Jewish petition) and pp. 97–98 (La Fare). Edited, translated, and with an introduction by Lynn Hunt. © 1996 by Bedford/St. Martin’s. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS

  1. On what basis do the Jews of Paris, Alsace, and Lorraine argue for their inclusion in citizenship rights? How do they describe the constraints of the Jewish population prior to the Revolution?
  2. How does the Bishop of Nancy characterize the Jews’ relationship to the French nation, and why does he believe it disqualifies them for citizenship? What dangers does he see in granting citizenship to French Jews?