Use of "Citizen" Sarcastically
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A key element of the French Revolution, was abolishment of titles. "Subjects" were subjects of the crown no more. Everyone therefore was a "Citizen" (in French, Citoyen or Citoyenne.) This promoted the principle of Equality (l’Egalité.)
In the United States, after our own revolutionary war, particularly the Democrat-Republicans used the term. Federalists would call each other "Citizen" as a half-mocking jest, directed at the republicans.
Sources
- Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (Paperback)
by Simon Schama new York, 1989.
- The French Revolution and the Invention of Citizenship
William Rogers Brubaker French Politics and Society Vol. 7, No. 3, Commemorating the French Revolution (Summer 1989), pp. 30-49
