The French Revolution Unfolds
Chapter 6.2 (pp. 216-221)
I. Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
A. Famine and unemployment
B. The “Great Fear”
i. Rumors of government attacks on towns and seizures of crops
ii. Peasants set fire to manor records and steal grain
II. The National Assembly Acts
A. End to noble privileges
i. Nobles agreed to pay taxes
ii. Feudalism abolished
iii. Loss of special hunting rights
iv. A noble sacrifice?
B. Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
i. Modeled on Declaration of Independence
ii. All men “born and remain free and equal in rights”
iii. “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression” –
iv. Taxes levied according to
vii. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” –
C. Women marched on Versailles
i. 6,000 women marched to Versailles, demanded to see king
ii. Forced king to return to Tuileries Palace in Paris; virtual
house arrest
III. The National Assembly Presses Onward
A. The Church was placed under state control
i. Church lands sold to pay off debt
ii. Civil Constitution of the Clergy
a. Ended pope’s control of the French Church
b. Bishops and priests were
c. Clergy was punished for opposing
B. The Constitution of 1791 established a new government
i. Finally!
ii. Limited monarchy created
iii. Legislative Assembly replaced National Assembly
iv. Was the revolution complete?
C. Louis’s Escape Failed
i. Louis and family attempted escape, but were caught
ii. King viewed as a
IV. Radicals Take Over
A. Foreign rulers feared spread of revolution
i. Horror stories spread by émigrés –
ii. England and Russia condemned revolution
B. Threats come from abroad
i. Prussia and Austria threatened to protect French monarchy
C. Radicals fought for power and declared war
i. Sans-cullottes – “without breeches” –
ii.
– radical revolutionary political club –
gained support from sans-culottes in Legislative Assembly
D. The National Assembly declared war on tyranny
i. Jacobins seized power
ii. France declared war on Austria, Prussia, Britain, and others
iii. Fighting would continue from 1792-1815
THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM