However, from the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Revolution gradually changed its course when it was governed by the Committee of Public Safety. In what later became known as the Terror, Robespierre enforced a regime of revolutionary 'correctness.' While the original intention of the Revolution may have been to equalize the relationship between the estates (and did not even have the express intention of overthrowing the monarchy, although that did eventually result), the Terror advocated, in the words of Robespierre, to uphold "public rights over private interests" (Sherman 120).

"Worn out by the turmoil of the Revolution," shortly after the reign of the Terror, a new form of government swept France in the form of the Napoleonic Regime. The military genius Napoleon was neither a republican nor a monarchist (Sherman 132). Eventually Napoleon was able to place an "Imperial...

For a time, as evidenced in the portraiture of the era, Napoleon was regarded favorably in France, partially because of his seemingly unbeatable military prowess: Napoleon himself acknowledged that "conquest alone can maintain me,' not the will of the people (Sherman 134).
Napoleon's government, although it did honor certain revolutionary ideals in words, was tightly ruled by a secret police force and effectively functioned as a dictatorship. His secret police comprised both men and women; foreign and domestic spies and ensured that no one spoke out against the Emperor -- in other words, it ensured that the type of liberty promised by the French Revolution was not enjoyed by all…