How did the relationship between the French people and the king change in the early stages of the Revolution?   Objective: Explain how the relationship between the French people and the king changed between 1789 and 1792. 

Introduction Directions: Using your prior knowledge from lessons on Pre-Revolutionary France and the text below, answer the question that follows.   

 

. . . Powers of the king .—The King, Louis XVI, was absolute. He ruled by the divine right                                   theory which held that he had received his power to govern from God and was therefore                               responsible to God alone. He appointed all civil officials and military officers. He made                           and enforced the laws. He could declare war and make peace. He levied taxes and spent                               the people’s money as he saw fit. He controlled the expression of thought by a strict                               censorship of speech and press. By means of lettres de cache t (sealed letters which were                             really blank warrants for arrest) he could arbitrarily [without reason] imprison anyone                       without trial for an indefinite period. He lived in his magnificent palace at Versailles,                           completely oblivious to the rising tide of popular discontent [frustration]. . . . 

Image source  Text source: Friedman & Foner, A Genetic Approach to Modern European History, College Entrance Book Co., 1938 from 

the NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, January 2007. 

Describe the relationship between the French people and king Louis XVI before the French Revolution. What rights and powers did the king have? What rights and powers did the people have? 

   

 

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July 1789: The Citizens of France stormed the Bastille 

 

 

Watch French Revolution - Storming of the Bastille (Start to 5:00) and read the transcript below then answer the questions to the right. ( Transcript ) 

  

1.Why was the Bastille attacked?  

 

 

 

 

2.How did the King react to Bastille being attacked? 

 

3. When the revolutionaries attacked the Bastille, they killed royal troops and destroyed the prison that was used to hold people who spoke out against the king. How does this reflect a change in the relationship between the French people and the king?  

        

 

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 August 1789: The Decree Abolishing the Feudal System is issued 

 

The Decree Abolishing the Feudal System, August 4, 1789 

A decree is an official order from a government. After the Fall of the Bastille, excitement spread throughout France and in some areas, members of the Third Estate took up arms against nobles and clergy members who for generations had controlled them through land ownership, rules restricting hunting on land to only members of the nobility, and taxes. The National Assembly reacted to the outrage of the peasants by abolishing [getting rid of] the feudal system and all of the laws and customs that accompanied it.  

ARTICLE I. The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the feudal system…  

ARTICLE III. The exclusive right to hunt and to maintain unenclosed warrens [network of rabbit burrows] is likewise abolished, and every landowner shall have the right to kill, or to have destroyed on his own land, all kinds of game, observing, however, such police regulations as may be established with a view to the safety of the public.  

ARTICLE V. Tithes [one-tenth of annual earnings taken as tax to support the Catholic church and its clergy] of every description...are abolished, on condition, however, that some other method be devised to provide for the expenses of divine worship, the support of the officiating clergy, for the assistance of the poor, for repairs and rebuilding of churches and parsonages, and for the maintenance of all institutions, seminaries, schools, academies, asylums, and organizations to which the present funds are devoted.  

ARTICLE XVII. The National Assembly solemnly [formally] proclaims the king, Louis XVI, the  Restorer of French Liberty . 

Source: Copyright © Hanover Historical Texts Collection. Used by permission of Hanover College, Hanover, IN. from the NYS Social Studies ToolKit. 

http://www.c3teachers.org/inquiries/frenchrev/   

1. What was the feudal system? Why would the National Assembly want to abolish it?  

 

2. What influence from the Enlightenment Thinkers is present in Article III? Which thinker influenced the rights described? 

 

 

3. What issues in pre-revolutionary France might Article V help address? How?  

 

 

4. According to Article XVII, what did National Assembly think of the king in 1789? 

5. How did the Decree Abolishing Feudalism change the relationships between the Third Estate and the nobility and clergy ? 

6. According to the Decree Abolishing Feudalism, describe the relationship between the French people and the king in 1789 .  

  

       

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August 1789: The National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen 

Context: The declaration was to serve as a reminder to society and the governing bodies that everyone had equal rights and that their duty was to serve all citizens, not just the social elite. 

Excerpt from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen , August 27, 1789 

The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt [disgust] of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities [disaster] and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn [serious] declaration the natural, unalienable [not able to be given away], and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties ...Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices [protection] of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:  

Articles: 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social 

distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. 2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the 

natural and imprescriptible [in law] rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 

3. The principle of all sovereignty [supreme power or authority] rests essentially in the nation. No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate expressly from the nation. 

6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents. 

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty... 

11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, 

1. In your own words, paraphrase the message conveyed in the opening paragraph of the document.      2. How is this idea represented in Article 3 different than the divine right to rule that absolute monarchs like Louis XVI used to justify their power?        3.In Article 6, the document states: “All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.” Paraphrase the meaning of this statement, and speculate as to whom it was likely directed.         4. Identify two examples of influences from the Enlightenment in this document.         

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speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law. 

13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means. 

16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all. 

Source: From The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History , translated, edited, and with an introduction by Lynn Hunt. Copyright © 

1996. Reprinted by permission of Bedford/St. Martin’s. from the NYS Social Studies ToolKit. http://www.c3teachers.org/inquiries/frenchrev/  

5. Choose two of the articles and complete the chart below based on your understanding of events leading to the creation of the document. 

Art. #  Why did the National Assembly advocate for this article? 

    

 

    

 

 6. What do you think the National Assembly hoped to achieve by writing and issuing this document?       

7. Give two examples from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen that show a change in the relationship between the French people and the king and explain why the relationship is different than what is described in the Introduction activity. 

                  

  

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Context: Marie Gouze (1748–93) was a self–educated butcher’s daughter from the south of France who, under the name Olympe de                                       Gouges, wrote pamphlets and plays on a variety of issues, including slavery, which she attacked as being founded on greed and blind                                           prejudice. In this pamphlet she provides a declaration of the rights of women to parallel the one for men, thus criticizing the deputies for                                               having forgotten women. De Gouges was executed in 1793, condemned as a counterrevolutionary and denounced as an "unnatural"                                   woman.  

Olympe de Gouges, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen (September 1791) 

To be decreed by the National Assembly in its last sessions or by the next legislature.  

Preamble Mothers, daughters, sisters, female representatives of the nation ask to be 

constituted as a national assembly. Considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt for the rights of woman are the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental corruption, they have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of woman: so that by being constantly present to all the members of the social body this declaration may always remind them of their rights and duties...  

In consequence, the sex that is superior in beauty as in courage, needed in maternal [motherly] sufferings, recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of woman and the citizeness. 

 1. Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may 

be based only on common utility. 2. The purpose of all political association is the preservation of the natural and 

imprescriptible rights of woman and man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and especially resistance to oppression. 

3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation, which is but the reuniting of woman and man. No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate expressly from the nation. 

6. The law should be the expression of the general will. All citizenesses and citizens should take part, in person or by their representatives, in its formation. It must be the same for everyone. All citizenesses and citizens, being equal in its eyes, should be equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents. 

9. Any woman being declared guilty, all rigor is exercised by the law. 11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious 

of the rights of woman, since this liberty assures the recognition of children by their fathers. Every citizeness may therefore say freely, I am the mother of your child; a barbarous prejudice [against unmarried women having children] should not force her to hide the truth, so long as responsibility is accepted for any abuse of this liberty in cases determined by the law [women are not allowed to lie about the paternity of their 

1. In your own words, paraphrase the message conveyed in the opening paragraph of the Preamble.         2. De Gouges echoes article three from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, writing that “sovereignty rests essentially in the nation…” How does she define “the nation?”        3. In article six, the document states: “ All citizenesses and citizens, being equal in its eyes, should be equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents..” Why does the author use the words "citizenesses?"             

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children]. 13. For maintenance of public authority and for expenses of administration, 

taxation of women and men is equal; she takes part in all forced labor service, in all painful tasks; she must therefore have the same proportion in the distribution of places, employments, offices, dignities, and in industry. 

16. Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured or the separation of powers not settled has no constitution. The constitution is null and void if the majority of individuals composing the nation has not cooperated in its drafting. 

 Postscript 

Women, wake up; the tocsin [alarm] of reason sounds throughout the universe; recognize your rights...Enslaved man has multiplied his force and needs yours to break his chains. Having become free, he has become unjust toward his companion... Let us pass now to the appalling account of what you have been in society; and since national education is an issue at this moment, let us see if our wise legislators will think sanely about the education of women... . 

 Source: From The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History , translated, edited, and 

with an introduction by Lynn Hunt. Copyright © 1996. Reprinted by permission of Bedford/St. Martin’s. from the NYS Social Studies ToolKit. http://www.c3teachers.org/inquiries/frenchrev/  

4.Choose two of the articles and complete the chart below based on your understanding of the rights of women during this time period, explain why this document advocated for that particular article.  

Art. #  Why did the author advocate for this article? 

    

 

    

 

 5. According to article 16, "the constitution is null and void if the majority of individuals composing the nation has not cooperated in its drafting. " Who are the individuals who compose the nation? What does this quote mean?        6. What do you think Olympe de Gouges hoped to achieve by writing and issuing this document?    

7. Give two examples from The Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizen that show changes in the relationship between women and those who have traditionally held power in France (the king and all other men) and explain why the relationship is different than what is described in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen . 

         

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October 1789: Women from Paris marched to the Palace at Versailles, captured Louis XVI and his family, and forced them to come to Paris.  

 

 

Watch French Revolution - Women's March on Versailles (8:02 to end) and read the transcript below then answer the questions to the right. ( Transcript ) 

 

Questions 1.Why did the women (and men) march from Paris to Versailles?     2.What were king Louis XVI and his family forced to do as a result of the march?     

 

3. How did the Women’s March on Versailles and the forced removal of the royal family to Paris change the relationship between the French people and the king?  

              

    

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 September 1791: The Constitution of 1791 is issued 

  

The Constitution of 1791, September 3, 1791 The Constitution of 1791 was the first constitution written during the French Revolution. The preamble [introduction] to the Constitution was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen . Below, is only the section describing government organization.   

TITLE III: OF PUBLIC POWERS  3. The legislative power is delegated to a National Assembly, composed of temporary representatives freely elected by the people, to be exercised by it, with the sanction [approval] of the King, in the manner hereinafter determined.   

4. The government is monarchical; the executive power is delegated to the King, to be exercised, under his authority, by ministers and other responsible agents in the manner hereinafter determined.   

5. The judicial power is delegated to judges who are elected at stated times by the people.  

Source: Excerpt from The Constitution of 1791 , September 3, 1791 from The Constitutions and other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France (1789-1907). 

https://archive.org/stream/cu31924026370936/cu31924026370936_djvu.txt  

1. Which Enlightenment philosopher most influenced this document? What is his idea called?     2. When the National Assembly creates a law, who has the power to approve it?    3. According to the Constitution of 1791, what role does the King have in the government?  

4. Explain the relationship between the French people and the king according to The Constitution of 1791. How is it different than the relationship before the Revolution?  

          

 

    

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Closing Directions: Using information from the documents and videos above, complete the chart below.  

Event  How did this event change the relationship between the French people and the king? 

1. The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789   

2. The Decree Abolishing the Feudal System, August 4, 1789 

 

3. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen , August 27, 1789 

 

4. The Women’s March on Versailles, October 5th-6th, 1789 

 

5. The Constitution of 1791, September 3, 1791 

 

Write at least one paragraph explaining how the relationship between the French people and the king changed between 1789 (before the revolution started) and 1792 (after the issuing of the Constitution of 1791). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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