Government by the Mob

The French revolutionaries, having overthrown and decapitated their king, had to seek a new governing body. They wanted the people to rule the nation. In a French book published at the time entitled: "What is the Third Estate?" (the lower class), the author put it so: "The nation is prior to everything. It is the source of everything. It's will is always legal; indeed it is the law itself." The leaders of the bloody revolution stirred up the people against their enemies, creating a nation-wide mob with a virtually homogeneous national will. They organized revolutionary festivals to create "patriotism and unity". The chaos of the French Revolution was multiplied by these efforts.