As for Bonaparte's role in all this? He didn't do anything to actors or much to Protestants, but he did restrict the rights of Jews and reestablish slavery (in 1802). Well, that is, he reestablished slavery everywhere he could; he lost a whole army trying to reinstate slavery in Saint-Domingue, but ultimately it gained its independance as the nation of Haïti in 1804.
Oh, and re: actors under the Ancien Régime? They had much the same handicaps as religious minorities in terms of rights. (Of course, we're speaking of rights in terms of privileges here, so even if you were lucky enough to have a wider range of "rights"/privileges under the Ancien Régime, you were still subject to the arbitrariness of the system - even the most powerful aristocrat was subject to the king's whim.)
And yes, one has to work to live, of course, but it would certainly be better if any given person could make enough to live comfortably on (without being encouraged to always want more, as we all are currently) pursuing whichever career would be most fulfilling to him or her.
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timeasmymeasure
Part 2
Date: 2011-04-02 11:00 am (UTC)Oh, and re: actors under the Ancien Régime? They had much the same handicaps as religious minorities in terms of rights. (Of course, we're speaking of rights in terms of privileges here, so even if you were lucky enough to have a wider range of "rights"/privileges under the Ancien Régime, you were still subject to the arbitrariness of the system - even the most powerful aristocrat was subject to the king's whim.)
And yes, one has to work to live, of course, but it would certainly be better if any given person could make enough to live comfortably on (without being encouraged to always want more, as we all are currently) pursuing whichever career would be most fulfilling to him or her.