Politics, privilege, and political culture: Dijon during the French Revolution

The elections to the Estates General in 1789 politicized its participants and led to the restructuring of Dijon's political culture which resulted in the emergence of a new political elite. The fruit of this change was the municipal revolution of 1789, which brought into city government a wide spectrum of Dijon's elites. These men were wealthy, educated, and almost entirely professional men, especially lawyers. Their political ascendancy was facilitated by the inability of the old regime elites, who retained their leadership role until the end of 1791, to successfully adapt to the discourse of the Revolution.; There were three watersheds in Dijon's Revolutionary political history: 1789–1791; 1792–I795; and 1795–1799. The first period was dominated by old regime elites and ended when the electorate rejected them at the polls. The election of 1792 brought artisans and men of little wealth into politics for the first time. The representatives en mission radicalized city politics and it was during this period that the most extreme acts, including executions, occurred. This phase ended with the fall of Robepierre when the new representatives on mission weeded out the men who had been tainted by their participation in the Terror. The third period saw the consolidation and narrowing of the new political elite and the exclusion of the artisans from city hall. The consequences of the French Revolution in Dijon was the restructuring of its political culture and the broadening of access to city leadership.