The French Revolution
The French Revolution and the
beginning of a new United States of
America both happened in 1789
The French Monarchy:
1775 - 1793
King Louis XVI
Queen Marie Antoinette
Europe on the Eve of Revolution
Key Terms
Nationalism- proud loyalty and devotion to a
nation or it can be excessive or fanatical
devotion to a nation and its interests, often
associated with a belief that one country is
superior to all others
Liberal-favoring reform, especially political
reforms that extend democracy, distribute
wealth more evenly, and protect the personal
freedom of the individual
Key Terms
Bourgeoisie- middle class
Meritocracy: leadership chosen on the basis
of abilities and achievements rather than
birthright (such as the 2nd Estate who were
the nobility)
Class Division: Three Estates
France was divided into three classes, or estates
The First Estate: the clergy. The clergy were
exempt from paying taxes.
The Second Estate, the nobility, held many of
the leading positions in the state. They did not
pay any taxes either.
The Third Estate, included everyone else from
rich and educated bourgeois to poor illiterate
peasants. About 98 percent of the population.
They paid ALL of the taxes!
Causes of the French Revolution
Cartoon Analysis
The Impact of the French Revolution
The French Revolution became the model for
revolution in the modern world.
The power of nationalism was first
experienced during the French Revolution
and it is still powerful in existing nations
and emerging nations today.
Causes of the Revolution
Ideas of the Enlightenment
The Salon
Causes of the Revolution
Financial support of the American Revolution led
to near collapse of the French government’s
finances.
Causes of the Revolution
The French monarchy
continued to spend
lavishly on court
luxuries.
The queen, Marie
Antoinette, was
especially known for
her extravagance.
She was hated by the
French- made a
scapegoat for the
problems of France.
Causes of the Revolution
BREAD!
The French ate an average
of two pounds of bread a
day.
Poor harvests lead to high
grain prices.
The people were hurting
economically. Prices rose
higher than wages
increased.
80
70
60
50
1787
1788
40
30
20
10
0
% of Income Spent on Bread
Estates General- June 1789
Louis XVI needed money and was finally forced
to call a meeting of the Estates-General, the
French parliament which had not met since
1614, 175 years!
Estates General
Each order of French society had representatives
in the Estates General
In order to fix France’s economic situation, most
members of the Third Estate wanted to set up a
constitutional government that would abolish
the tax exemptions and privileges of the clergy
and nobility.
Voting in the Estates General
Clergy
VOTE BY ESTATE
1 Vote
1st Estate
Under the old system
1 Vote
Nobility
2nd Estate
the single vote of the
First Estate and the
single vote of the
1 Vote
Second Estate together
could outvote the
Everyone Else
Third Estate.
3rd Estate
Voting in the Estates General
VOTE BY HEAD
The Third Estate had
many more members
than the other two
estates.
The change to each
member having a vote
would give the Third
Estate much more say
in matters.
291 members
Clergy
1st Estate
270 members
Everyone Else
3rd Estate
578 members
Nobility
2nd Estate
Voting in the Estates General
The Third Estate favored a system of each
member voting, but the king upheld the
traditional voting method of one vote per
estate.
The Third Estate reacted by calling itself a
National Assembly and deciding to draft a
constitution.
Voting in the Estates General
King Louis XVI locked them out of their
meeting hall.
The Third Estate was joined by ‘liberal’
members of the other two Estates and moved
to a nearby tennis court.
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate took an oath (promised) they
would continue to meet until they had finished
drafting a constitution.
This oath is known as the Tennis Court Oath.
The Tennis Court Oath at Versailles
by Jacques–Louis David
This amazingly rich sketch by Jacques–
Louis David is one of the most famous
works from the French revolutionary era.
The thrust of the bodies together and
toward the center stand for unity. The
spectators, including children at the top
right, all join the spectators. Even the
clergy, so vilified later, join in the scene.
Only one person, possibly Marat, in the
upper left–hand corner, turns his back on
the celebration. David is commemorating
a great moment of the Revolution on 20
June 1789, in which the deputies, mainly
those of the Third Estate, now
proclaiming that they represent the
nation, stand together against a
threatened dispersal.
Storming of the Bastille-July 14, 1789
The Bastille-an armory and prison in Paris
was a symbol of the tyrannical Bourbon
monarchy
The commoners stormed and dismantled the
Bastille looking for gunpowder and to free
political prisoners.
Storming of the Bastille-July 14, 1789
Only 7 prisoners were inside.
This action became the flashpoint of the
Revolution
The king’s authority collapsed.
Demolition of the Bastille
This watercolor painting
illustrates the "demolition" of
what the text refers to as the
"horrible prison" of the
Bastille. As workmen tear
down the spires on the roof,
ordinary people rip stones off
the base. These stones soon
became collectors’ items,
souvenirs of the people’s role
in the outbreak of the
Revolution—and symbols of
the way in which many more
people wanted to
commemorate the event than
had participated in it.
Awakening of the Third Estate
With the Bastille being destroyed in the
background, member of the Third Estate breaks
his shackles. Here, the clergy and nobility recoil
in fear, thereby emphasizing the conflict
between the estates.
National Assembly
One of the National Assembly’s first acts was to
destroy aristocratic privileges
August 26, 1789 the assembly adopted the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen.
The declaration proclaimed freedom and equal
rights for all men, access to public office
based on talent (meritocracy), and an end to
exemptions from taxation.
Symbols of The Revolution
The Tricolor Flag
The WHITE of the Bourbons
The RED and BLUE of Paris.
Liberté,
égalité,
fraternité
Or
Death
Phrygian cap
with cockade
Declaration of the Rights of
Man and the Citizen -26 August 1789
Modeled in part by the American
Declaration of Independence
Men are born free and remain free
and equal in rights.
Rights to liberty, property, security
and resistance to oppression.
The law is the expression of the
general will
Every man presumed innocent until
judged guilty
Declaration of the Rights of
Man and the Citizen
No one should be disturbed for his opinions,
even in religion.
Every citizen may speak, write, and print freely
Taxes levied according to ability to pay.
At first Louis XVI refused to accept the laws of
the National Assembly but was later forced to
sign under duress.
Women’s March on Versailles
5 October 1789
Thousands of Parisian women armed with pitchforks,
swords, muskets, marched to Versailles.
Why did they march? BREAD
The target of their anger was the Queen
“We want the baker and the baker's wife!"
End of the Monarchy
Louis XVI accepted the Constitution and the
National Assembly this signified the end of
the power of the monarchy in France.
The French Revolution was about to enter a
more radical phase.
Death of the King
King Louis XVI was put on trial as a traitor of
France and found guilty.
On January 21, 1793 he died by guillotine.
Death of the Queen
Marie Antoinette was tried, convicted of treason
and executed by guillotine nine months after
her husband (October 16, 1793).
She was only 37
Marie Antoinette on the way to the guillotine.
Pen and ink by Jacques-Louis David
Committee of Public Safety
From 1793 to 1794 the Committee of Public
Safety ruled France.
The Committee took steps to control France and
bring order.
A man, and his family, might go to the
guillotine for saying something critical of the
Committee, even neighbors would turn each
other in.
Maximilien Robespierre
Robespierre was the leader of the
Committee of Public Safety.
He followed Rousseau’s ideas in The Social
Contract, believed that anyone
who would not submit to the
general will as he interpreted
it should be executed.
Robespierre was obsessed with
ridding France of people
who were against the Revolution.
The Reign of Terror
Robespierre was one of the
chief architects of the
Reign of Terror.
Lasted from September
1793-July 1794
Some estimates say that
40,000 or more people
were killed during the
Terror, mostly by
guillotine.
The National Razor
DeChristianization
A new calendar was adopted. Years were
numbered from September 22, 1792, the first
day of the French Republic, and not from
Christ’s birth.
The calendar contained 12 months with each
month having three weeks of 10 days, with the
tenth day a day of rest.
This practice eliminated Sundays.
No days of worship or religious holidays.
Temple of Reason
Churches were renamed
Temples of Reason.
The motto of the Revolution:
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
were inscribed on them.
Churches were stripped of
irreplaceable works of art.
Death of Robespierre
Many deputies of the National
Convention feared Robespierre,
and believed that the Terror had
gone too far.
Robespierre was arrested and
tried.
He was guillotined on July 28,
1794 at age 36.
After Robespierre’s death, the
Terror ended.
Execution of Robespierre
The Directory
The government of France1795 to 1799
The Directory - 1795 to 1799
Five elected directors acted as the
executive committee, or Directory of
France.
The period of the Directory was one of
government corruption.
It could not solve Frances’s economic
problems.
The Directory
The Directory relied more and more on
military might to stay in power.
In 1799 a coup d’état–a sudden overthrow of
the government–led by the popular general
Napoleon Bonaparte toppled the Directory.
Napoleon took power.
People Under the Old Regime
This image shows "the
people" as a chained and
blindfolded man being
crushed under the weight of
the rich, including both
clergy and nobility. Such a
perspective on the period
before 1789 purposely
exaggerates social divisions
and would have found few
proponents before the
Revolution, but the image
does reveal the social clash
felt so intensely by the
revolutionaries.