Chapter 21 Quiz Rationale
1. B It was the financial crisis and the threat of bankruptcy that forced the king to call the Estates General into
session in 1789 for the first time in 175 years. Although there had been occasional peasants’ revolts, they were not
annual or all that disturbing to the king.
2. B
3. E Louis was indecisive and unsure. He only accepted the National Assembly’s legitimacy after the sans culottes
took action at the Bastille.
4. C Only about half of the men had the vote. The nobility lost their legal distinction. Napoleon’s coup was not until
nearly a decade later.
5. D The concept of the general will comes from Rousseau and is for him the basis of popular sovereignty. Olympe
de Gouges also defined law as the expression of the general will in her Declaration of the Rights of Women.
6. D Both documents put the church under state authority. The latter pleased the peasants while they were
alienated by the first. No changes were made in religious doctrine or practice in either case.
7. C in the first revolution, the bourgeoisie held sway while legislation in the second revolution was opposed by the
bourgeoisie but met the needs of the sans culottes. The economic position of the nobility was undermined with
their loss of manorial rights and taxations privileges.
8. B Both the Reign of Terror and Napoleon ruthlessly suppressed political dissent. Labor unions were banned by
Napoleon; the Reign of Terror did not use plebiscites. While Robespierre dominated, he did not rule alone; he
was part of a twelve-man Committee of Public Safety empowered by the convention to rule.
9. E In spite of domestic turmoil, the French did well militarily and occupied the Rhineland and the Austrian
Netherlands by 1794. They instituted the draft in 1793. Robespierre was not a general.
10. C Women lost rights under Napoleon and no longer could sign contracts or open bank accounts in their own
name. They certainly were not given the vote or legal equality. They were under the authority of fathers or
husbands
11. D The Committee of Public Safety instituted a variety of measures that created a l=planned economy – maximum
prices, rationing, nationalization of workshops, requisitioning of raw materials and grain – which was an early
form of socialism.
12. B The convention had abolished slavery in 1794 and that abolition was confirmed in the Constitution of 1795, but
Napoleon announced that French laws would not apply in the colonies. This meant that slavery would be
restored, and prompted fierce resistance in Haiti, which ultimately led to the defeat of the French army and
Haitian independence.
13. A The demand for British manufactured goods was so great that Napoleon’s blockade could not be enforced.
Many goods were smuggled in through Helgoland. Alexander repudiated the blockade; this prompted the
invasion of Russia. The British imposed a counter blockade, which hurt the French economy.
14. B Louis XVII died in prison and never ruled. Louis XVIII ruled as a constitutional monarch from 1814 to 1824.
15. A Nationalism was sparked in the conquered peoples because Napoleon typically imposed a ruler he chose,
usually someone from his own family, and because he demanded men and money to pay for his wars. The
attempt to blockade British goods also brought resentment among people dependent on imports from Britain.