What was the greatest legacy of the French Revolution?

• A. End of feudal privileges and the spread of liberal ideas
• B. Return to absolute monarchy
• C. Strengthening of the Catholic Church
• D. Expansion of mercantilism

Answer: (A)

End of feudal privileges and the spread of liberal ideas are the defining legacy of the French Revolution. The revolution swept away the special rights enjoyed by nobles and clergy, along with the feudal dues peasants paid, replacing a rigid, hereditary order with a system built on equal legal rights and citizen status. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen articulated principles of liberty, equality, and protection of individual rights, asserting that sovereignty rests with the people rather than a divine-right monarch. These ideas didn’t stay confined to France; they inspired liberal movements across Europe and beyond, promoting constitutional government, secular state institutions, and the notion that government should be accountable to its citizens.

The other options don’t fit because they reflect directions the revolution moved away from: restoring absolute monarchy would undo the push for popular sovereignty and legal equality; strengthening the Catholic Church would contradict the revolution’s move toward secularism and the curtailing of church power during and after the revolutionary period; and expanding mercantilism—an older, state-controlled economic policy—clashed with the era’s shift toward liberal economic principles and free inquiry that accompanied the spread of revolutionary ideals.