among the existing rights and dues, both
feudal and censuel, all those originating in or
representing real or personal serfdom shall
be abolished without indemnification.
Its ninth article then continued:
Pecuniary privileges, personal or real, in the
payment of taxes are abolished forever.
Taxes shall be collected from all the citizens,
and from all property, in the same manner
and in the same form. Plans shall be
considered by which the taxes shall be paid
proportionally by all, even for the last six
months of the current year.
Thus, in one swoop, the French Revolution abolished the
feudal system and all the obligations and dues that it
entailed, and it entirely removed the tax exemptions of the
nobility and the clergy. But perhaps what was most radical,
even unthinkable at the time, was the eleventh article, which
stated:
All citizens, without distinction of birth, are
eligible to any office or dignity, whether
ecclesiastical, civil, or military; and no
profession shall imply any derogation.
So there was now equality before the law for all, not only
in daily life and business, but also in politics. The reforms of
the revolution continued after August 4. It subsequently
abolished the Church’s authority to levy special taxes and
turned the clergy into employees of the state. Together with
the removal of the rigid political and social roles, critical
barriers against economic activities were stamped out. The
guilds and all occupational restrictions were abolished,
creating a more level playing field in the cities.
These reforms were a first step toward ending the reign
of the absolutist French monarchs. Several decades of
instability and war followed the declarations of August 4.
But an irreversible step was taken away from absolutism
and extractive institutions and toward inclusive political and
economic institutions. These changes would be followed by