For every modern nation, there is a line drawn in the sand at which historians believe it was impossible to reverse the course of events. For the US, the birth of our country could have been acceptably marked at the passage of the Stamp Act of 1765, or the Boston Massacre in 1770, or the Tea Party in 1773, or the first shots fired at Lexington and Concorde in 1775. Washington’s final victory over Lord Cornwallis on October 17th, 1781 is hard to argue with. John Adams, himself, assumed that July 2nd, the day the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, would be celebrated in history. In fact, New York abstained that day as it didn’t have authority to agree to independence (and wouldn’t get that authority for a week), and Jefferson immediately insisted that a paragraph condemning the Slave Trade be removed. July 4th was the day the revised edition was approved again (with New York still abstaining), and the whole thing was finally sent to the printer.
For France, there were similar points in history. Financial and propaganda support of the American Revolution may have given legitimacy to the anti-monarchy ideas in the minds of the French everyman. In May, 1879, Louis XVI reconvened the Nobility, Clergy, and Commoners to hear their greviences — in a sense, limiting the monarch’s limitless authority. There was the June 20th Tennis Court Oath by the commoner leaders declaring they would not separate until a constution was established. In early July, a constitution was being written with, if not the blessing, then at least the knowledge of Louis. The arrest of Louis on August 10, 1792, or his beheading on January 21, 1793 may also be considered as final as Washington’s victory.
However, the storming of the Bastille, on July 14th, 1789, is the act historically considered to be the point of no return. Though the Bastille once housed political prisoners, it was being decomissioned, and there were only seven prisoners there at the time (four convicted of forgery, two lunatics, and an actual aristocrat who might have been there for reasons of insanity). Ironically, if it had been July 4th, 1789, one other notable aristocrat, the Marquis de Sade, would have been released, but he had been transferred. Given the lack of prisoners, the mob was most likely looking for weapons, not free thinkers.
Open treason against the monarch, whether solemnly approved and printed, or blatently stormed, is hard to retreat from.
For the US, after the Revolution, we shipped the grouchy Royalists and Loyalists out of the country. Some went back to England, some to Canada or the other colonies around the world. When the War of 1812 came a couple generations later, we had few serious Royalists left in the States, and our nation was more or less united against the possibility of British re-acquisition. France, on the other hand, did not have the luxury of shipping out its Royalists. France was France, had been for a thousand years, and those who lost the Revolution were killed or exiled or went into a grumbling, muttering underground. France would see the Revolution, the Reign of Terror, an Empire, another Republic, another Empire, another Republic mixed with flavors of an Empire, and a couple dips back into monarchy of various nuances. And that was just in the first 80 years.
So, Happy Birthday France! Perhaps not the modern nation as it exists today, but definitely France the people, the birth of the idea.
——
I’m a culinary Francophile, even though I attempt to fusion its techniques with world cuisine. I’m not a dessert person, however. Most baking is chemistry and science, the lack of a scant tablespoon, the loss or addition of an ingredient on a whim, can completely destroy a recipe. Mousse, however, is pretty forgiving. Mostly whipped cream and whipped egg whites for the base, the flavoring can be just (just!) chocolate, or a menu of other items. I’ve gone fairly classic here with a dark chocolate syrup with egg yolks. A bit of playing, substitution, and improvisation doesn’t hurt this dessert, which is why it’s one of my favorites.
après vous
). Because of this, my head yells ‘CAKE!!!’ at me way too often.
