BELL RINGER• 1) Where did the Constitutional

Convention meet?

• 2) What are the 3 branches of Government?

• 3) Name three rights that the Bill of Rights gives.

Chapter IIThe French Revolution and Napoleon

Section 1

Background to the French Revolution

Background

• Long-range problems –

1) condition of the French society.

- 2) France was divided in to three orders or estates { First, Second, Third}

•1st

•Clergy

•2nd Nobility

•3rd Commoners

•1 percent

•1 percent

•98 percent

•Estates in France

Background• 130,000 people made up the 1st

estate, clergy (Priests)

• 350,000 people made up the 2nd estate, nobility (Wealthy)

• 98 % were Commoners (Peasants were 80 % of the Total Population)

Bourgeoisie

• Who were the Bourgeoisie?

• Middle Class (part of the 3rd estate)

• 8% of the total population.

• Owned about 25 % of the land.

• These men read works such as Locke and Rousseau. (Revolutionary ideas)

LOUIS XVI OF FRANCE

• King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1792.

• found guilty of treason, and executed on 21 January 1793.

LOUIS XVI OF FRANCE• His execution signaled the end of

the absolutist monarchy in France and would eventually bring about the rise of Napoleon.

• Seen as an honest man with good intentions but who was probably unfit for the Herculean task of reforming the monarchy, and he was used as a scapegoat by the Revolutionaries

Marie Antoinette • Was known for her

extravagance.

• She was the daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria.

• She was married to Louis XVI of France at age 14

FRENCH REVOLUTION

• The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a pivotal period in the history of French, European and Western civilization.

French Revolution• The immediate cause of the

Revolution was the near collapse of the gov’t finances.

• The poor reached as high as 1/3 of the population.

• The gov’t was overspending on court life.

FRENCH REVOLUTION

• The slogan of the French Revolution was "Liberté, égalité, fraternité, ou la mort!" ("Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death!").

• This slogan outlived the revolution, later becoming the rallying cry of activists, both militant and non-violent, who promote democracy or overthrow oppressive governments.

CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION• Many interrelated political and

socioeconomic factors contributed to the French Revolution.

• To some extent, the old order succumbed to its own rigidity in the face of a changing world.

CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION• It fell to the ambitions of a rising

bourgeoisie, allied with aggrieved peasants, wage-earners, and individuals of all classes who had come under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment.

Causes of the French Revolution include the following:

• A poor economic situation and an unmanageable national debt were both caused and inflamed by the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation, the massive spending of Louis XVI and the many wars of the 18th century;

Causes of the French Revolution include the following:

• A resentment of royal absolutism

• An aspiration for liberty and republicanism

• The rise of Enlightenment ideals

Causes of the French Revolution include the following:

• Food scarcity in the months immediately before the revolution

• High unemployment and high bread prices resulting in the inability to purchase food

• The failure of Louis XVI to deal effectively with these problems.

REVIEW• What were 2 causes for the

French Revolution?

• When did the French Revolution occur?

• Who was Louis XVI?

• Who was Marie Antoinette?

BELL RINGER

1)What were 2 causes for the French Revolution?

2)When did the French Revolution occur?

3)Who was Louis XVI?

4)Who was Marie Antoinette?

The Estates-General of 1789

• The calling of the Estates-Generally led to growing concern on the part of the opposition that the government would attempt to gerrymander an assembly to its liking.

The Estates-General of 1789• The 1614 Estates had consisted

of equal numbers of representatives of each estate, and voting had been by order, with the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobility), and the Third Estate (middle class and peasants) each receiving one vote.

The Estates-General of 1789• Abbé Sieyès famously wrote the

pamphlet What is the Third Estate, published in January 1789, pointed out the next step: "What is the third Estate? Everything. What has it been up to now in the political order? Nothing. What does it demand? To become something herein."

Abbé Sieyès

The Estates-General of 1789

• the Third Estate proceeded with verification of its own powers and invited the other two estates to take part, but did not to wait for them to act.

The Estates-General of 1789• Then they voted a measure far

more radical, declaring themselves the National Assembly, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People".

• They invited the other orders to join them, but made it clear they intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.

Tennis Court Oath

• Louis XVI ordered the closure of the Salle des États where the Assembly met.

• The weather did not allow an outdoor meeting, so the Assembly moved their deliberations to a nearby, indoor, tennis court, where they proceeded to swear the Tennis Court Oath (20 June 1789), under which they agreed not to separate until they had given France a constitution.

National Constituent Assembly

• A majority of the representatives of the clergy soon joined the 3rd Estate, as did forty-seven members of the nobility.

• On July 9th 1789 the Assembly reconstituted itself as the National Constituent Assembly

LOUIS XVI’S RESPONSE

• Louis XVI stayed at Versailles and refused the laws passed by the Assembly.

The storming of the Bastille

The Storming of the Bastille• On 14 July 1789, after hours of

combat, the insurgents seized the Bastille prison, killing the governor and several of his guards.

• The Bastille served as a potent symbol of everything hated under the ancient regime.

• The march to the palace was next.

ASSEMBLY’S RESPONSE

• Parisian women armed with pitchforks, swords, and muskets, marched to Versailles.

• They forced the king to accept the laws.

ASSEMBLY’S RESPONSE• After various scuffles and

incidents, the king and the royal family allowed themselves to be brought back from Versailles to Paris.

• The royal family was held prisoner in Paris.

AUGUST DECREES

• On August 4 1789 the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism, in what is known as the August Decrees; sweeping away both the rights of the Second Estate and the tithes gathered by the First Estate.

• In the course of a few hours, nobles, clergy, towns, provinces, companies, and cities lost their special privileges.

Destruction of the Old Regime

• Looking to the United States Declaration of Independence for a model, on August 26,1789, the Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen . Like the U.S. Declaration, it comprised a statement of principles rather than a constitution with legal effect.

Destruction of the Old Regime

• Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen – proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men, access to office based on taxes, and exemption from taxation.

Review

• What was the Tennis Court Oath?

• What was the National Assembly?

• What was the Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen?

• Why was the storming of the Bastille so important?