Between these extremes of reaction and radicalism fell the
bulk of the bourgeoisie and of the peasantry--the bulk of the nation--
and it is in their sense that we shall try to make clear the meaning of
the three symbolical words.
[Sidenote: "Liberty"]
"Liberty" implied certain political ideals. Government was henceforth
to be exercised not autocratically by divine right, but
constitutionally by the sovereign will of the governed. The individual
citizen was no longer to be subject in all things to a king, but was to
be guaranteed in possession of personal liberties which no state or
society might abridge. Such were liberty of conscience, liberty of
worship, liberty of speech, liberty of publication. The liberty of
owning private property was proclaimed by the French Revolution as an
inherent right of man.
[Sidenote: "Equality"]
"Equality" embraced the social activities of the Revolution. It meant
the abolition of privilege, the end of serfdom, the destruction of the
feudal system. It pronounced all men equal before the law.
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