Chapter 21Part 2

The French Revolution

July 5, 1788

The King called for a meeting of the Estates General for the following spring

The king asked that all parties study the tax situation and make proposals to fix the economy and pay off debt.

The Estates General May, 1789

Had only met twice before: 1302 (its inception) & 1614 (called by Marie de Medici while regent for her son, Louis XIII for support against pretenders)

Much excitement throughout France

Cahiers de doleances

The king requested that each estate come up with a list of suggestions and grievances to be presented to the king

Common Agreements of All Three Estates

France should have a constitutional monarchy

Individual liberties must be guaranteed by law

Position of Parish Clergy had to be improved

Abolition of internal trade barriers

The Main Divisive Issue:

How the Three Estates should vote

Traditionally, each estate had one vote (and Clergy and Nobility voted together…so, THEY were exempt of taxes and the Third Estate carried the burden)

Louis XVI

Doubled the # of the representatives of the third estate as a gesture to its size BUT…still had only one vote among the Estates General

Representatives of each estate were elected

Almost all male commoners 25 or older could vote

Most reps were well-educated and prosperous members of the middle class

No peasant or artisan delegates

The Paris Parlement

Ruled that voting in the Estates General would follow the tradition of each estate voting separately and each estate having one vote

Was not acceptable to the Third estate

Abbe Sieyes

The most influential writer of the Third Estate

Wrote What is the Third Estate? Claimed that the Third Estate should

have the power in France That the Nobility should be

abolished Said that the Third Estate

represented the majority of French society

Cited Rousseau’s Social Contract

May 5, 1789

Each estate was ordered to meet and vote separately

The Third Estate insisted that they meet and all vote together

Led to a six-week deadlock

By this time some parish priests joined with the Third Estate

The Age of Montesquieu

June 17, 1789 The Third Estate declared itself the true National Assembly of France

Then Louis XVI locked them out of their meeting place

The Third Estate met in an indoor tennis court

The Tennis Court Oath

The Third Estate swore an oath to continue to meet until it gave France a constitution

So…the Third Estate assumed sovereign power on behalf of the nation

Louis XVI called for 18,000 troops (from Paris to come to Versailles)

More Defections from the First and Second Estates

Caused Louis XVI to recognize the National Assembly (June 27) after dissolving the Estates General

The National Assembly was dominated by the bourgeoisie

Now the king was allied with the nobility against the Third Estate and the Third Estate feared the nobles more than ever

July 14, 1789The Storming of the

Bastille Revolutionaries in Paris began to

respond to food shortages and soaring (25%) bread prices

Also unemployment

Also fear of military repression (the 18,000 troops called to Versailles were mobilizing in Paris and Paris mobs believed the troops were getting ready to move against them

A Very Real Fear

Of subjugation by aristocratic landowners and grain speculators

Grain prices were so high that there was no $ left to purchase manufactured goods

Caused industrial collapse 150,000 of 600,000 workers in Paris

were out of work

Workers and tradesmen

Began to arm themselves in response to the troop mobilization

July 14th an angry mob stormed the Bastille in search of gunpowder and weapons

The heads of the mayor and Prison’s governor were put on pikes and paraded through the streets

Marquis de Lafayette

Was appointed commander of the city’s armed forces by the mob

Paris was lost to the king

So…the storming of the Bastille saved the National Assembly (from the 18,000 troops)

The Great Fear (1789)

The spirit of the rebellion in Paris spread to the countryside and sparked much violence

Peasants attacked manor houses trying to destroy legal records of their feudal obligations

Middle-class landowners were also attacked

A National Guard Militia

Was created by the middle class to protect their property

August 4, 1789

The National Assembly voted to abolish feudalism in France and declared equality of taxation for all classes

This was an attempt to stop the violence Amounted to a peaceful social revolution Ended existing serfdom, exclusive

hunting rights for nobles, fees for justice, village monopolies, the corvee, and other dues

The Peasants

Realized great benefits

The Constitution

Ending feudalism was one of the two great social changes of the Revolution as feudal society was gone

The other was the abolition of guilds (later)

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

(8-26-89)

Was influenced by American constitutional ideas

Guaranteed due process of law; a citizen was innocent until proven guilty

Sovereignty of the people

Enlightenment Philosophy of the Constitution

“Men are born and remain free and equal in their rights.”

Natural rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression (Locke)

Law is expressed by the General Will (Rousseau)

Freedom of expression and religion

The Constitution

Liberty was defined as freedom to do anything not injurious to others, which was to be determined only by law

Taxes to be raised only with common consent

All public servants were accountable for their conduct while in office

The Constitution

Separation of powers through separate branches

Confiscation of property from private citizens had to be done with fair compensation

“Citizen” applied to all French people regardless of class

The Question of the Monarch’s Power

Was responsible for the unraveling of the National Assembly’s unity

This happened AFTER the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man

Womendid not share equal rights

Women could not vote or hold office Males had the advantage in family

law, property rights and education

Very few believed in gender equality Condorcet was one who DID support

gender equality

Olympe de Gouges

Wrote Rights of Women (1791)

She followed the 17 articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and applied each to women

She also supported a woman’s right to divorce, to control property in marriage, equal access to education and civilian careers and public employment

Mary Wollstonecraft (English)

1792 wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women

Her ideas were similar to those of Gouges

Madame de Stael: ran a salon, read and wrote widely

Deplored the subordination of women to men and the fact that the Revolution did nothing to change it

The Women’s March to Versailles

October 1789

Due to shortages of Bread

Jean-Paul Marat incited 7,000 women with the Paris National Guard marched 12 miles from Paris to Versailles and demanded that the King address their economic problems

Part of the problem Was that the price of bread was so high it

resulted in a reduced demand for garments which devastated women in the French putting-out system…unemployment was very high

Marie Antoinette also played a part

Women invaded the royal apartments at Versailles and slaughtered body guards while searching for the royal family

The Women’s March to Versailles

The King and Queen were forced to move to the Tuleries (royal palace) in Paris

Louis XVI signed decrees guaranteeing that bread in Paris would be sold at reasonable prices

The National Assembly also moved to Paris and, like the King, was intimidated by the Parisians

The King AND the National Assembly

Made certain that bread was available for reasonable cost

Many of the more conservative members of the Assembly began to drop out of the government as they were disillusioned by mob violence

Secularization of Religion

Church property was confiscated and sold to peasants….the money was used to pay off the National Debt

BUT the schools and religious orders who had their land taken now had no way to pay for feeding the poor in their parishes

1790 The Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Created a national church with 83 bishops and dioceses

Was the biggest mistake of the National Assembly

Convents and monasteries were abolished

All clergymen were to be paid by the state and elected (based on citizenship and property qualifications)

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Clergy were elected by everyone (males)…Protestants, Jews, agnostics, etc.

Clergy was forbidden to accept the authority of the Pope

The Clergy was forced to take an oath of loyalty to the state (new government) since the Pope had condemned the Revolution

Result France was deeply divided over religion

The Pope condemned the act as a way to undermine the Church

½ of the French Priests refused to take the oath

They were called The Refractory Clergy and were supported by the King, aristocrats, peasants and working class (and they were jailed)

Government Reform

France became a Constitutional Monarchy with a unicameral legislative assembly

The Middle Class controlled the government through an indirect method of voting ( property qualifications for voting = middle class voters)

½ of all males over 25 were eligible to vote

The Nobility was abolished

Government Reform

The National Assembly divided France into 83 departments governed by elected officials

Replaced the old provincial boundary lines

A new system of law courts gave France a uniform administrative structure (83 dioceses, departments, and judicial districts)

Government Reform

Weakness: Local communities enforced national law at their own discretion…proved to be ruinous

Economic Reform

Tended to favor the middle class rather than the lowest classes

The Metric System replaced a sloppy system of weights and measures

La Chapelier Law: outlawed strikes, workers coalitions and assemblies of workers

Economic Reform

Assignats: became the new paper currency

Former Church property was used to guarantee the value of the Assignats

Much of the land was sold to peasants and $ was used to pay the national debt

Eventually assignats became worthless

The Flight to Varennes

June 1791 The Royals tried to escape France

Louis was trying to avoid being forced to support the new constitution

Louis intended to raise a counter-revolutionary army with émigré noblemen and get help from foreign powers (Austrian HRE , Leopold II, was Marie Antoinette's brother)

They were captured

And forced to return to Paris

Became true prisoners of the Paris mob

King was forced to accept the constitutional monarchy