The French Revolution
• The Enlightenment- an 18th century
intellectual movement based on the
principles of reason and common sense
that challenged the prevailing attitudes of
religion and tradition.
Important ideas…
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Contractual government
Limited royal power
Checks and balances
The General Will
Social equality
Humanitarianism
Failure of the Enlightenment
• The use of pure reason did not take into
account some inescapable elements of
human behavior such as:
• Emotions
• Desires
• Passions
• Appetites
• Willpower
25 years of Chaos
• The French Revolution 1789-1799
• The Age of Napoleon 1799-1815
A turning point in Western Civilization
• after the revolution had run its course...
Europe was not the same place…
• the stage was set for the modern
political, social and economic systems
that is the western world today...
• However, France seemed the least
likely for such dramatic changes.
Underlying causes of the Revolution:
• The legacy of the Middle Ages
• The inequalities of the Old Regime -privileges of the 1st & 2nd Estates
• the corruption & inefficiency of
government and justice
• The English & American Revolutions
• The Enlightenment writers
The Clergy
1st Estate
2nd Estate
The Nobility
3rd Estate
Everyone else!
bourgeoisie
artisans
-------------------------------------------------peasants and urban poor
The Old Regime
The First Estate- 1% population; 15% land
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The Upper Clergy / The Lower Clergy
Paid no taxes- made a “free gift”
Collected tithes from peasants
Monopoly of religion-“The Sunday pulpit”
Operated the French school system
Censored books and plays
Provided relief for the poor
Kept birth, marriage and death records
The Second Estate 2% - 30%
• The Aristocracy or nobility, were exempt
from taxes;
• Nobles of the Sword & Nobles of the
Robe
• Collected feudal dues (banalities);
• Held highest positions in government,
church & army;
• Liberals and Conservatives
Third Estate 97% - 55%
• Bourgeoisie – educated and
industrious, many paid taxes but had no
voice in government and were denied
top positions despite their talent.
• Artisans
• Peasants –paid the bulk of the taxes
• Day laborers gardeners, handymen,
deliverymen, thieves, beggars
• Estimate census: 21,000,000 people
Inherited debt…
Aid to the American colonists…
Life at Versailles Palace…
Pensions and gifts…
A limited tax base…
Marie Antoinette…
Louis’ plan- an Assembly of Notables
• “ask” for permission to initiate a tax based
on land ownership…
• The response by the aristocracy…
• Their hidden agenda
The Tennis Court Oath, June 20, 1789
Louis ordered all three estates to meet together
The Liberal Agenda...
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limit the despotic, inefficient monarchy
institute a written constitution
guarantee the rights of all citizens
establish a national parlement
reform the administrative & judicial
systems
• reform the tax and financial system
• Insure a free, uncensored press
• standardize weights & measures
The National Assembly…
The Revolution turned violent...
• After the Tennis Court Oath and a meeting of
the first National Assembly, Louis changed his
mind…he decided to disrupt the assembly and
side track its goals…
• 18,000 troops called to Versailles & Paris…
• finance minister Jacques Necker is dismissed
• Backlash in Paris- anxiety, rumors and fear
caused secret citizen militias to collect their
arms preparing for the worst…
“The Great Fear” ...July 20th - August 4th
• delegates at the Assembly resumed their
longwinded and inconclusive debates…
• started by a rumor- nobles were paying
gangs of brigands to steal & destroy their
crops.
• peasants in the countryside sent them an
unmistakable message…
• violent insurrections against landlordsburning their homes and destroying all
records of feudal obligations…
The
• . Night of
August
4th...
The
Declaration
of Rights of
Man
• Any
questions?
Reforms of the National Assembly
• a statement on human rights
• abolition of special privileges
• The Constitution of 1791
– Constitutional Monarchy
– Unicameral legislature
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83 departments replaced provinces
aid for business
The metric system introduced
subordination of the church to the state
Three factors leading to the violent
phase of the Revolution
• 1) the counterrevolution
– devout Catholics
– royalists
• 2) threat of foreign invasion
• 3) the sans-culottes
The Sansculottes…
• The National Convention succeeded
the Legislative (National) Assembly
• on September 21, 1792, its 745 members
met for the first time…
• the next day, they voted to abolish the
monarchy and create a republic.
The National Convention
Sept, 1792-May, 1795
• The radical phase of the revolution
• The Jacobin split
– the Girondists
– The Mountain
• The vote against Louis was 360-361
• The arrest of the Girondists
• The slogan of the
Revolution…
“Liberty, Equality &
Fraternity”
• By April, 1793,
France was at war
with Austria,
Prussia,
Great Britain,
Spain,
Sardinia and
Holland
(known
as the first coalition)
Problems facing the Convention
• The country was threatened by foreign
invasions
• Incited by the clergy, peasants were in
open revolt
• Many leading cities refused to
cooperate with the central government
• The Revolutionary Guard roamed the
countryside searching for food-hoarders
and “enemies of the revolution.”
• April 1793: To deal with these problems,
the Convention created The Committee
of Public Safety. This agency created
the Reign of Terror.
• Jacques Danton popular and
practical,
• began the levee en
masse - he put the
entire nation on a
war footing
• 1st time in Europe
that the total
population was
mobilized,
defended by a
citizen army.
• Maximillian
Robespierre
“The Incorruptible”
• the most powerful
member of the
Committee of Public
Safety
• supported by the
sans-culottes• Goal - remove all
opponents of the
Revolution- Reign of
Terror
A Republic of Virtue
• Places & streets
renamed
• A new calendar
• A national anthem
• Festivals and
parades
• titles of distinction
were outlawed
• Dress and fashion
reflected the working
class
• Slavery abolished
• One man, one vote
• The terror actually
started with the execution
of Louis in Jan, 1792
• Marie remained alive
until October, 1793
• the use of the guillotine
was not the work of
bloodthirsty madmen, but
an enlightened method of
execution to save the
Republic.
• 16,000 were sent to
the guillotine,
including nobles, their
wives, the clergy &
anyone else
suspected of not
supporting the
Republic
• During the upheavals
between 1789 and
1799, it is estimated
than about 350,000
died
• other opponents of
the Terror feared for
their lives and
turned on
Robespierre
• July 28, 1794,
Robespierre himself
was executed
• the radical phase of
the revolution was
over.
The Thermidorian Reaction
• After Robespierre’s execution, the
Jacobin government was dismantled…
• leadership passed back to the propertyowning bourgeoisie …
• the “Law of Maximum prices” - a gift
from Robespierre to the sans-culottes
was abolished…
• a new constitution, approved in 1795
reestablished property qualifications for
voting and holding public office and
created a new government
The Directory- another new
government
• The Constitution of 1795 created the
Directory …
• the Directory crushed insurrections by
the sans-culottes and the royalists and
increasingly relied upon military men to
protect the nation
• One these generals,
Napoleon Bonaparte
seized control of the
government in
November 1799,
• pushing the
Revolution into yet
another stage.
Some final comments…the meaning of the
revolution
• Weakened the political influence of the
aristocracy
• Government positions would be
awarded based on merit
• Transformed the dynastic state into a
modern state (liberal, secular & rational)
• Realized the ideas of the philosophes
– Equality before the law
– Trial by jury
– Freedom of speech, press and religion
• Any
questions
?