The French Revolution

1789-1799

Ancien RegimeUnder the old order in France everyone

belonged to one of three social classes

First Estate - The Clergy (Catholic Church

Officials)

Second Estate- The Nobles

Third Estate - Everyone else

(businessmen, professionals, peasant

farmers, urban poor)

The Three EstatesFirst Estate

Clergy (Church Officials)

Owned 10% of land

Collected 10% of

everyone’s income

Paid no direct taxes

Ran schools, hospitals, and

orphanages

Second Estate

Titled Nobility (used to be

knights)

Owned most of the land

Held the top jobs in the

government and army

Didn’t earn much actual

income

Resented the bourgeoisie

Third Estate

Included everyone else in

France

Most diverse class

Bourgeoisie wealthiest

Included bankers, doctors,

lawyers, peasant farmers,

urban poor

Paid high taxes

Resented the 1st and 2nd

estate

Deficit Spending- Paying for wars, paying for the court’s

extravagant lifestyle, and borrowing too much money led to

France becoming nearly bankrupt.

Although higher taxes were needed, the First and Second

Estates strongly resisted any change that would increase

their taxes

Bad harvests caused food shortages that caused peasants and

the urban poor to almost starve. The lack of food caused

these people to riot and attack the homes of nobles.

Louis XV (1715 - 1774)- pursued leisure before business, ran

up more debts, and fixed nothing

Louis XVI (1774 - 1792) - tried to make reforms, but was

weak and indecisive.

Jacques Necker- Financial expert who advised Louis XVI.

He was making progress until he advised taxing the First

and Second Estates. After trying to tax the clergy and

nobles, they forced the king to fire Necker

Economic Crisis in France

The Estates GeneralThe Estates General was the legislative body of the France, made up of representatives

from all three estates, each estate counted as one vote

Louis XVI knew reforms needed to be made, but the clergy and nobles demanded that he

call the Estates General before making changes

The members of the First and Second estates demanded this because they were afraid

Louis XVI would raise their taxes or take away privilege.

Although it hadn’t been done in over 175 years many people in France, from all classes,

thought calling the Estates General would give them a chance to get what they wanted

In preparation of the meeting, King Louis required each estate to prepare cahiers, or

notebooks listing their grievances

Although the Third estate was the largest group, they still only counted as one vote

Target audience

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The Tennis Court Oath● Only men who owned property were

allowed to vote in the Estates General

● As a result, many of the men who

represented the Third Estate were

educated men who read Voltaire,

Rousseau, and Montesquieu.

● These men wanted to end the old

one-vote-per-estate procedure and have

the entire group of delegates meet in one

large body and count the votes “by head”

The Tennis Court Oath● After weeks of the First and Second

Estates refusing to follow this new

procedure, the Third Estate claimed that

they represented the people of France

and declared themselves to be the

National Assembly

● After finding its meeting hall locked and

guarded, the National Assembly met in a

nearby tennis court and vowed to keep

meeting until the came up with a sound

constitution

● Reform minded nobles and clergy joined

the National Assembly and Louis XVI

accepted the the group as the main

legislative body

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Storming the Bastille

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The Bastille was a grim Medieval fortress used to

house prisoners

For the French, the Bastille was a powerful symbol of

the inequalities of the old order

On July 14, 1789, after hearing a rumor that royal

troops were going to occupy the city, more than 800

Parisians stormed the Bastille, eventually taking it over

Prisoners were released, the commanders of the

Bastille were beheaded

This event is regarded as the beginning of the French

Revolution. Today French citizens celebrate this date

as the birth of modern France

The Great FearTerrible famine also strikes during this

period of political turmoil

People with jobs had to spend as much as

80% of their salaries on bread

Rumors spread that attacks were

occurring on towns and villages. Rumor

also spread that government troops were

going to seize peasant crops

Nobles tried to reimpose medieval dues,

so peasants set fire to old manor records

and stole grain from store houses

Marquis de LaFayetteIn Paris many factions emerged and competed for political power

Early in the revolution Marquis de LaFayette (who fought alongside General Washington the the A.M.) emerged as

a leader

The moderate LaFayette led the middle class militia known as the National Guard. LaFayette’s national guard was

the first group to don the tricolor - red, white, and blue - badge that later became the French flag

A more radical club than LaFayette’s, known as the Paris Commune, replaced the royalist government in paris. Even

more radical clubs sprung up all over Paris

On August 4th 1789, the Nobles in the National Assembly

voted to end their own privileges (gave up manorial dues,

exclusive hunting rights, special legal status, and exemption

from taxes)

Declaration of the Rights of Man is issued in late August -

stated that all men were born free and enjoyed natural rights.

Also declared all men equal before the law, and that all men

could hold public office.

Voted to seize and sell church lands, and put the Catholic

Church under state control

Constitution of 1791 abolished the absolute monarchy and

established a Legislative Assembly that had the power to make

laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues of war.

Reforms of the National Assembly

Other Developments

Olympe de Gouges demanded equal rights for women in her “Declaration of the Rights of Woman”

Inspired by de Gouges, working women from Paris marched to Versailles and demanded that the King return to Paris

The King gave in. He and his family returned to Paris and basically lived as prisoners in Tuileries palace.

The people saw this move by the King as support for the revolution and cheered him.

After a short period the Louis and his family were caught trying to escape the country. They were captured and returned to an angry city

Opposition in Europe

The French Revolution was not very popular with the rest of Europe

European rulers were horrified by the “French Plague” that threatened absolute monarchies

French nobles who fled the country told horror stories of rioting, looting, and violence

Austria’s King (Marie Antoinette’s Bro) signed the Declaration of Pilnitz, vowing to protect the French Monarch

Monarchy Meets a Violent End

After the French Army lost a series of disastrous battles against foreign enemies, many Parisians accused the king of helping France’s enemies

On August 10, 1792 a crowd stormed the palace and massacred the king’s guards

A radical faction known as the Jacobins gained control of a new legislative body called the National Convention. The Jacobins attempted to erase all traces of the old order.

Eventually the Jacobins put Louis XVI on trial for treason. Louis was convicted and sentenced to death in January 1793

Marie Antoinette was later executed in october

Reign of Terror

By 1793 France was at war with Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Prussia. In the Vendee region of France, royalists and priests also organized a rebellion against the new government.

To deal with all these problems the Convention created the Committee of Public Safety

Eventually Maximilien Robespierre became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety and used his power to begin the Reign of Terror

During the Reign of Terror Robespierre instructed revolutionary courts to sentence anyone who was against the revolution to death.

Eventually the killings got out of hand, and fearing for their own lives, members of the convention turned against Robespierre and he himself was executed as an enemy of the Republic of France

Reaction and the Directory

After the Reign of Terror, more moderate citizens took over and formed another constitution.

The Constitution of 1795 set up a five man Directory and a two house legislature elected by male citizens of property

Overall the Directory was weak, but the directory did consolidate many reforms of the National Convention, set up a system of schools, and rebuilt the French economy.

Eventually, the directory was not strong enough to handle additional problems and Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power

Results of the Revolution

The old social order was gone, the monarchy was overthrown, and the Church was under state control

Nationalism spread throughout France

State schools were set up in place of religious schools, and the government replaced the church as the organization that helped the poor, old soldiers, and war widows

Slavery was abolished in France’s Caribbean colonies