In the decades before the French Revolution, scholars, writers, and social theorists tried to imagine the necessary conditions for the development of an enlightened society. Some concentrated on the reform of education, ; others on intellectual freedom, ; still others, like Mary Wollstonecraft, on the need to remove obstacles that prevented whole segments of society from making full contributions to the collective good. What few imagined, however, was the way that the experience of actual revolution would alter the priorities and possibilities of enlightened reform.

Keep this in mind as you review the boxed features on page 609 (An Enlightenment Thinker Argues for the Equality of Women) and page 659 (Robespierre Justifies Terror Against Enemies of the Revolution) of your textbook. When you're finished reviewing, take a look at a comprehensive site for materials connected to the French Revolution created by two eminent historians. Then examine a time line of Mary Wollstonecraft's life and the full text of her "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." When you're done, consider the questions below.

1. Why did Wollstonecraft believe independence was so important to women's achievement of their potential? Once the Revolution began, what place, if any, did women's rights have in the revolutionary agenda?

2. How did Robespierre justify the use of terror against the enemies of the Revolution? How did he use the ideas of Rousseau in this context? What priority did he assign to reforms of the kind called for by Wollstonecraft?