Beginnings of the French Revolution

Causes• Indirect:–Enlightenment Ideas of Locke,

Montesquieu, and Rousseau–American Revolution –

Declaration of Independence (Jefferson)

Causes

• Direct:– Economic Problems:

– Society Divided – made up of 3 “Estates”

3. American Revolution (loans)

1. Poor Tax Base (Nobility does not pay)2. Poor Harvests in the late 1780s

Society Divided• 1st Estate – • 2nd Estate – • 3rd Estate –

Catholic ClergyNobility

•Bourgeoisie (middle class)

•Sans-culottes (urban workers)

•Peasants

Society Divided• 1st Estate –• 2nd Estate – • 3rd Estate –

1% population, 10% land2% population, 25% land97% population, 65% land

1st Estate2nd Estate3rd Estate

10%

25% 65%

1st Estate2nd Estate3rd Estate

Society Divided• 1st Estate –• 2nd Estate – • 3rd Estate –

Louis XVI and France in heavy debt – need to call the Estates-Generale to solve this problem

Paid no taxesPaid no taxesPaid all of the taxes

National Assembly• 3rd Estate breaks away• Tennis Court Oath• National Assembly is formed

Storming of the Bastille

• July 14, 1789

The Great Fear

• Peasants riot in the countryside burning nobles’ homes and robbing granaries (grain warehouses).

Declaration of the Rights of Man

• Based on Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau• Basic human rights, natural

rights• BUT…Excludes Women

Constitution of 1791• Unicameral Legislature–Unicameral = “one house”

• Suffrage – all males who pay a minimum tax may vote• Result – URBAN WORKERS

vote in RADICAL representatives

Constitution of 1791… too far?

Right - Conservative

Middle - Moderates

Left – Radical (Jacobins)

“The Mountain” National Convention

War• 1791 France (led by the radicals in the

National Assembly) declares war on Austria.• Why?–To prevent Austria, or other nations,

from bringing the King (LOUIS XVI) back to full power.