More precisely, what was the meaning of fraternité back then. Was it akin to Christian fraternity, something like our modern idea of solidarity or was all just a revolutionary call that would mean the same thing despite the wording?
The word fraternity has already been clarified, but I think the word "liberty" needs explaining too, because it's used pretty differently today. Article 4 of the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen of 1789 defines liberty
Liberty consists of being able to do all that which does not harm another: the exercise of the natural rights of each man thus has no limits but those that assure other members of society the enjoyment of those same rights.
The declaration of 1793 begins with the same sentence, up to "harm another", but then continues
Its principle is nature; its law is justice; its safeguard is the law, its moral limit is in this maxim: do not do to other what you don't want them to do to you.
During the revolution "Fraternité" meant to embrace and support all the people - french or foreigners- who were willing to fight for the establishment of Freedom ( Liberté ) and Equality ( Egalité )
This is a translation from an extract of Michel Borgetto's book , La devise « Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité »
The famous [Jeu de Paume oath] (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Le_Serment_du_Jeu_de_paume.jpg/1280px-Le_Serment_du_Jeu_de_paume.jpg) - or Tennis Court Oath for you english speakers- the founding act of French democracy is a good illustration of what Fraternité meant to them :
“We swear not to separate and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the Constitution of the Kingdom is established and built on solid foundations."
Two main modern meanings can be distinguished:
one that derives from liberty and equality and is ultimately subordinate to them.
The other flows from Christian notions of brotherhood and reciprocity and thus provides a basis for both free societies and equal citizens. Thus, modernity encompasses at least two senses of fraternity: “one, that followed liberty and equality, was the object of a free pact; the other preceded liberty and equality as the mark on its work of the divine craftsman”.
Mona Ozouf, ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité stands for peace, country and war’
