Name________________________________________________________ Period_____
Study Guide – American and French Revolutions
America Revolution
1. What is a big picture cause (discussed throughout the year)?
2. What are more immediate causes?
a. How did George I gain power?
I. What did that do to the English government?
b. Which branch of the English government controlled the colonies?
I. Did they have control of the colonies or were the colonies autonomous?
II. What taxes (2) did the English implement in the colonies?
i.
What years (Stamp Act/Boston Tea Party?
ii.
Where they successful?
a. Intolerable acts were response to what?
3. What was the role of the First Continental Congress?
4. Where/when did the first battles of the American Revolutionary war take place?
5. When was the Declaration of Independence approved?
a. Who wrote it?
6. Describe the importance of the second Treaty of Paris.
7. Explain the constitution of 1789.
a. What type of government did it establish?
b. What rights were granted through the Bill of Rights?
I. Who wrote the Bill of Rights?
II. How many initial amendments were created? How many were voted
upon? How many were ratified or passed?
8. Be able to identify quotes from, and the author of, each of the following:
a. Declaration of Independence
b. Bill of Rights
c. Spirit of the Law
d. Second Treatise of Government
French Revolution
1. Causes
a. “big picture”
i. Enlightened Ideas
ii. American Revolution
b. Direct or immediate causes
i. Social discontent
1. third estate taille
2. peasant feudal duties owed to nobilty
3. bourgeoisie upset with opportunities to improve lot in life
ii. Economic crisis
1. bad food harvests in 1787 and 1788
2. downturn in manufacturing
a. Both led to decreased supply which then leads to
increased unemployment and increased prices of
goods.
3. tax money was being used on foreign wars and indulgences
by the monarchy.
a. Palace of Versailles
2. Division of Estates (population of France in 1789 was 27 million
a. First Estate – clergy, controlled 10% of land, numbered 130,000
b. Second Estate – nobles, controlled 30% of land, numbered 350,000
c. Third Estate – peasants and bourgeoise, numbered 26.5 million
3. Estates-General meeting of 1789
a. Last met in 1614
b. Meeting to determine what to do about France’s failing economy
c. Divided into 3 sectors
i. First Estate – 300 members
ii. Second Estate - 300 members
iii. Third Estate – 600 members
d. First item on agenda – how to count votes
i. First choice (king) – each estate receives 1 vote
ii. Second choice (third estate) – each of the 1200 members get 1 vote
1. first choice adopted
e. Third Estate separates and creates National Assembly
4. Tennis Court Oath
a. After being locked out of meeting place, National Assembly meets on
nearby Tennis Court and pledges to meet there until new constitution is
established.
5. Storming of the Bastille
a. After hearing of Louis XVI’s plans to use force against them, 900
members of the Third Estate gather in the courtyard and storm the Bastille.
b. Bastille was a former fortress being used as a prison and armory
c. Signifies the loss of the control of Paris by Louis XVI
i. Soldiers could no longer be trusted to shoot at revolutionaries
6. Great Fear
a. Rural citizens feared that outside nations would attack to restore order
b. To avoid guilt by association, the houses of nobles and lords were
destroyed.
7. 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man
a. Established a constitution in which all men were equal, had to pay taxes,
and were rewarded in life based on freedom of opportunity
b. Constitutional monarchy with checks and balances was established
c. Church lands were sold off to pay for economic debt
8. 1792-1794
a. National Assembly becomes the radical National Convention
b. King Louis XVI is executed
c. National Assembly rules France as a republic
d. Reign of Terror begins in 1793
i. Committee of Public Safety is created and led by Maximillian
Robespierre
1. Its goal is to find and execute counterrevolutionaries and
other traitors against the National Convention
ii. Over 40,000 citizens are executed
1. 16,000, including Marie Antoinette, by Guillotine
iii. De-Christianization
iv. New calendar implemented to increase economic production
v. Freedoms are limited
e. Reign of Terror comes to an end with the execution of Robespierre,
carried out by the National Convention
9. 1795-1799
a. New constitution is written that allows freedoms
b. Government becomes corrupt
c. Military size is increased to 1 million plus
10. Napoleon Bonaparte
a. Describe how Napoleon rose to power and eventually gained control of
the French government.
b. Why were other European nations fearful of Napoleon?
c. How did Napoleon lose his empire?
d. Briefly describe the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.