The World Changes

The chapter follows the progressive politicization of Colson and his neighbors during the so-called pre-Revolutionary period (1787–89), taking note of the extent to which he and they were taken totally by surprise by the events of that period. It examines, notably, Colson’s reaction to the Assembly of Notables of 1787; to the long struggle between Louis XVI and the Parlement of Paris; to the convocation of the Estates General for May 1789; and to the electoral assemblies and the statements of grievances (cahiers de doléances) drawn up in those assemblies. It also emphasizes Colson’s descriptions of the “hurricane” of July 1788 that destroyed a large proportion of the crops in northern France, and of the terrible winter of 1788–89 and its effects on the population of Paris.