What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity
among the French people?
Answers
1 Ideas of La Patrie (the fatherland) and Le Citoyen (the citizen) popularised the notion of a
united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
2. A new French tricolour ag was chosen to replace the former royal standard.
3. The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National
Assembly.
4. Poets composed new hymns, leaders took oath and martyrs were commemorated, all in the
name of the nation. It was through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true
spirit of the nation was popularised. Collecting and recording these forms of folk culture was
essential to the project of nation building.
5. To formulate uniform laws for all its citizens, a new centralised administrative system was
established.
6. A uniform system of weights and measures was adopted and internal customs duties and
dues were abolished.
7. Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, was
adopted as the common language of the nation.
ANSWER ●•
The French revolutionaries took many important steps to create a sense of collective identity among the French people which were ideas of La patri ( the fatherland ) and le citoven ( the citizen) emphasising the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.