The French Revolution

3 estates
– 1% Church (owned 15% of land)
– 2% Nobility
– 97% (top were the bourgeoisie)

Problems
– Paying taxes and tithes
– Bourgeoisie wanted power and position

Financial Crisis
– Debt from war and expensive habits
– Pay from taxing
– Called the meeting of the Estates General to
approve new taxes
The 3rd Estate Carrying the others
The Beginning
 Recall of the Estates General
 May 4, 1789; Opened in Versailles
 3rd Estate wasn’t allowed in
– Met at the Tennis Courts
– Would Stay and make a constitution
– National Assembly created; Replaces Estates
General
*Commoners Meet at the Bastille
*Wanted release of the political prisoners
*Took the Bastille and destroyed it
*Start of the Revolution on July 14th 1789
-National Guard created
-New flag of the people

National Assembly began reform





Outlawed the tithe
Canceled Feudal Dues
Removed privileges of the first two estates
August 4, 1789 Feudalism is gone
A movement of Emigration Begins
 Nobles
 Kings Family
 Clergy
 Declaration of the Rights of Man
 August 27, 1789
 Fundamental Natural Rights
 Freedom of Speech, press, religion, right to a fair
trial
 All MEN could take part in Government
Bread Riots
 Women played a leading role
Marched on Versailles

Goal was to bring it to the attention of the king
King and his family return to Paris
National Assembly

National Assembly passed many laws
Divided country into 83 Departments
Elections of all officials
Seized lands owned by the church
Sold it to the public
Proceeds used for paying down the debt
Changes in the Church
 Catholic Clergy had to take an oath
Oath backed up the constitution
Called Civil Constitution of Clergy
People in parishes would now elect own clergy
 In
return for seizing church land Government
would pay for salaries of Priests and Bishops
Creates Uproar in Rome
 Breach
of the Church
Can’t be under French Government control
End of the National Assembly
 1791: Constitutional Monarchy
Created Legislative Assembly
Replaces National Assembly
Created three branches of Government
Judicial, Executive, legislative
Limits power of the Monarchy
King could no longer make or block laws on his own
Tax paying MEN could Vote for Electors
Continued Economic Problems
 Paid off old bonds with new bonds
 Continued to make more and more
 Finally forced to accept as money
The King
 King Louis XVI tries to escape France
Felt he could regroup and take over from abroad
Makes it to Varennes
Forced to return to Paris
As a prisoner
Emigration of Nobles increases
Since king tried to leave; oath to him no longer
mattered
The King’s Arrest at Varennes
The Constitution
 Not
everyone happy with the new
constitution
Lasted less than a year
Breaks into three groups
Conservatives
Moderates
Radicals
Frequent deadlocks on domestic issues between
groups
Until foreign threat of war
Even King Louis XVI wants war
Hoped for French defeat
WAR
 April
1792: France Declares war on Austria
Prussia and Sardinia join Austria
Every city they hit surrendered
 September
Massacres
Prussians kill thousands that were in prisons
Prussia warns for no harm to come to the king
and his family
In response the Commune calls for the abolition of
the Monarchy
AUGUST 10, 1792: Abolition of the Monarchy
Republic declared and Arrested the King and Family

The National Convention
Delegates elected through Universal Manhood
suffrage
Any male could now vote

Divided into three groups
Girondins (moderates)
Jacobins (some more radical)
Those with no definitive view

Wrote a new constitution
Declared end to monarchy
Beginning of a Republic

Brought King Louis XVI to trial
Charged with plotting against security of the nation
January 1793: Majority votes for immediate death of the
King
January 21, 1793: Guillotine
The War
 French
were doing very well pushed armies
out of France
 So they decided to attack the Netherlands
This scares other nations
Great Britain, Netherlands, and Spain join
forces with Austria, Prussia and Sardinia push
France out of the Netherlands and the fighting
is back in France
The Draft begins
Any man with proven abilities could become an
officer
 The
creation of the Committee of Public
Safety
Created to meet the threat of invaders
Led by Robespierre
Wanted to stop counter-revolutionaries
Many Girondin’s arrested
Start of …THE REIGN OF TERROR
The Reign of Terror…


The guillotine is named
for Dr. Joseph Ignace
Guillotin, who endeavored
to commission a device
that would deliver a swift
and honorable death to
people of all classes.
Before the French
Revolution, only nobles
were executed by
decapitation -- other
lower-class capital
criminals were subjected
to burning, drowning and
maiming.
THE REIGN OF TERROR
September 1793-July 1794
Rational: Kill all those who oppose
the revolution; whether at home or
abroad
 Beginning of Totalitarian
Government
 Leaders were Robespierre and
Danton
 Had 300,000 arrested
 Just needed suspicion
 Either not guilty or guilty and
beheaded
 Trials could end as soon as
juries heard enough
 Most that died were Bourgeoisie
and peasants
The peasants in greater
numbers






When France was out of
danger in the war Danton
called for the end of the
killings
Robespierre calls him a traitor
and had him and his followers
killed
Now his friends are nervous
July 1794 Robespierre was
arrested
 He tries to commit suicide
 They had him beheaded
 Mass executions end
Pendulum swings back to the
right
Jacobins lose power
Judges go on trial
Some people favoring return
of the monarchy
Act of Justice
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION (Again)
 Republic
of Virtue
Creates Schools
Universal elementary education
Wage and price controls
Abolished slavery in colonies
Encouraged religious tolerance
Replaced weights and measures with metric
system
Created new calendar
ANOTHER NEW CONSTITUTION
 Had
a two House Legislative
 500 members proposed laws
 250 more powerful members accepted or
rejected these laws
 Also had the power to pick executive leaders
called the DIRECTORY
 Eliminated manhood suffrage
 Now only male property owners could vote
 The DIRECTORY leads for four years
Corruption within the members and suffering
from the peasants and workers makes it very
unpopular