What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French people?

The ideas of la patrie and Ie citoyen emphasised the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.

• A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.

• The Estates General were elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.

• New hymns were composed, oaths taken, and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation. A centralised administrative system was put in place, and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory.

• Internal customs duties and dues were abolished, and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.

• Regional dialects were discouraged, and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation.