Post on 13-Mar-2020
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BEGINS Chapter 22.1
“The breath of an aristocrat is the
death rattle of freedom.”
-- Georg Buchner
“The Revolution is like Saturn, it
devours its own children.”
-- Georg Buchner
CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Three Estates: system where French people are divided into three different social classesFirst Estate Clergy; church officials
.04% of pop. owned 10% of land
Second Estate Nobles; government, military, court officials
1% of pop. owned 30% of land
Neither the First nor the Second Estate had to pay the taille (main French tax) despite massive wealth
Third Estate Peasants and bourgeoisie
Paid the taille and various other taxes
CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Third Estate inspired by Enlightenment and American Revolution
Extravant spending by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette tanks French economoy Louis XVI is incompetent and Marie Antoinette is “Madame Deficit”
“The Third Estate is the People and the People is the foundation of the State; it is in fact the State itself; the People is everything. Everything should be subordinated to it. It is in the People that all national power resides and for the People that all state exist.”
- Comte D’Antraigues
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
France on verge of financial collapse, meeting of the Estates-General (French parliament) is called
Third Estate demanded:
A constitutional government
First and Second Estates to pay taxes
New voting system
ESTATES-GENERAL
Old Voting System
First Estate: 300 representatives; 1 vote
Second Estate: 300 representatives; 1 vote
Third Estate: 600 representatives; 1 vote
Majority: First and Second Estates
Voting System proposed by Third Estate
First Estate: 300 representatives; 300 votes
Second Estate: 300 representatives; 300 votes
Third Estate: 600 representatives; 600 votes
Majority: Third Estate
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
France on verge of financial collapse, meeting of the Estates-General (French parliament) is called
Third Estate demanded: A constitutional government
First and Second Estates to pay taxes
New voting system
Tennis Court Oath: Third Estate declared itself the “National Assembly” and vowed to draft a constitution
Locked out of offices; held meetings at nearby tennis court
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
French king prepared to violently deal with Third Estate
Parisians storm the Bastille (prison and armory fortress) and capture it
Paris fell to rebels; revolts broke out all over France
END OF THE OLD REGIME
National Assembly adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen”
Inspired by American Declaration of Independence, American Constitution, and English Bill of Rights
Declaration stated that all men have rights to “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”
All men are equal before law; freedom of speech and press
Excluded women
END OF THE OLD REGIME
King Louis XVI finally recognized National Assembly after pressure from violent peasants
National Assembly seized Church lands and sold it
Anything associated with previous gov’t became an enemy
New constitution sets up a Legislative Assembly that made laws
King technically still in power; wealthy still benefit
Louis XVI tried to flee but was caught
Put on trial for treason; beheaded
REVOLUTION RADICALIZES
European nations feared revolution in France, threatened to step in
Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia France suffered continued losses in battle
Food became scarce for French citizens
Angry Parisians attacked the Legislative Assembly Forced Legislative Assembly to fully suspend monarchy and set up a new gov’t
Angry Parisians called themselves sans-culottes Radical Parisians who considered themselves ordinary patriots