The French Revolution Begins

1) Absolutism vs. the EnlightenmentDuring the 1600s and 1700s, French kings

gained total power over the country’s governmentThis conflicted sharply with the

Enlightenment philosophy of a government whose purpose was to protect individual rights2) Social and Political Stratification

Power in French society was concentrated in the the First and Second Estates

No matter how wealthy a commoner became, he could never move up the social ladder

Causes of the French Revolution

First Estate

Second Estate

Third Estate

3) Severe Economic Crisis in the 1770s and 1780s:

a) Rapid Inflation and High Taxes decrease in trade and an economic slowdown

b) A series of Bad Winters led to Crop Failures bread prices skyrocket; peasants face a real possibility of starvation

c) High Public Debt caused by Wars and the opulent royal court

Causes of the French Revolution

The Estates General Meets-Desperate for money, King Louis XVI attempted to impose a new tax on the nobles and clergy

-Nobles: force Louis to call a meeting of the Estates General (the French “legislature”)

-Spring, 1789: King Louis caves in to the nobles’ demand, and calls the Estates General to meet for the first time in 175 years

Voting Rules

1) Representatives of each Estate meet separately and decide on their vote

2) Each Estate gets one vote

The Estates General

-Immediately after the Estates General opened, the delegates of the Third Estate withdrew and formed the National Assembly

-National Assembly—declared themselves the legitimate representatives of the French People, and began passing laws in their name

-The Tennis Court Oath—the Third Estate delegates were locked out of the Estates General meeting;

-They met by themselves in an indoor tennis court, and swore an oath to not disband until they had written a French Constitution

The Third Estate Revolts

-Word of the events at Versailles quickly reached the capital city of Paris

-The urban poor took to the streets, staging demonstrations in support of the National Assembly

-Some people/mobs began to arm themselves

-July 14, 1789—a mob storms the Bastille Prison; killing guards, freeing prisoners, and taking weapons and ammunition

-”Bastille Day” is the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution

Revolution in Paris