Citizenship, Civil Rights, and Jewish Emancipation in Revolutionary France

Abstract

The emancipation of France's Jewish communities at the National Assembly marked an unprecedented development in civil rights for religious minorities. This project focuses on the intersection of French and Jewish history in an effort to expand our understanding of the French Revolution's long-lasting effects on Europe. It also provides context for the political and social framework of Revolutionary France as it pertains to civil rights and religious outlier groups, seeking to contrast the differing paths to citizenship taken by French Protestants and French Jews, identify the ideological influence of the Enlightenment on proponents of Jewish emancipation, and compare the lives of French Jews after emancipation to that of other concurrent Jewish enclaves in Europe.