French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 1
Causes of the Revolution
1. What is happening in this scene?
2. Who are the people holding the pikes (what social class)? What details do you see that support your answer?
3. Who are the people whose heads are on top of the pikes (what social class)? What details do you see that
support your answer?
4. What do you think daily life would be like in a place where this sort of scene is taking place?
5. What does this image tell you about the problems in French society that might have caused the French
Revolution?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 2
Causes of the Revolution
A record of the Tennis Court Oath, sworn at Versailles in June 1789
“Bailly: I do not need to tell you in what a grievous situation the Assembly finds itself; I propose that we deliberate
on what action to take under such tumultuous circumstances.
M. Mounier offers an opinion, seconded by Messieurs Target, Chapelier, and Barnave; he points out how strange it
is that the hall of the Estates General should be occupied by armed men; that no other locale has been offered to
the National Assembly; that its president was not forewarned by other means than letters from the Marquis de
Brezé, and the national representatives by public posters alone; that, finally, they were obliged to meet in the
Tennis Court of Old Versailles street, so as not to interrupt their work; that wounded in their rights and their
dignity, warned of the intensity of intrigue and determination with which the king is pushed to disastrous measures,
the representatives of the nation bind themselves to the public good and the interests of the fatherland with a
solemn oath.
This proposal is approved by unanimous applause. The Assembly quickly decrees the following:
The National Assembly, considering that it has been called to establish the constitution of the realm, to bring about
the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true principles of monarchy; nothing may prevent it from
continuing its deliberations in any place it is forced to establish itself.
Finally, the National Assembly exists wherever its members are gathered. [It] decrees that all members of this
assembly immediately take a solemn oath never to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require,
until the constitution of the realm is established and fixed upon solid foundations; and that said oath having been
sworn, all members and each one individually confirm this unwavering resolution with his signature.”
1. Why did this Tennis Court Oath take place?
2. What grievances do the members of the National Assembly have?
3. Who do they blame for these grievances?
4. What do the members of the National Assembly say their purpose is?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 3
Causes of the Revolution
This anonymous but well known description of a typical sans culotte appeared in France in mid-1793. It makes
reference to L’Ami des Lois (a fashionable comedy of 1793), Chaste Susanne (a light operetta), Gorsas (a Girondin
journalist) and La Chronique and Patriot Francais (two Girondin newspapers):
“A sans culotte, you rogues? He is someone who always goes about on foot, who has not got the millions
you would all like to have, who has no chateaux, no valets to wait on him, and who lives simply with his
wife and children, if he has any, on the fourth or fifth storey.
He is useful because he knows how to till a field; to forge iron; to use a saw; to roof a house, to make
shoes, and to spill his blood to the last drop for the safety of the Republic. And because he is a worker, you
are sure not to meet his person in the Cafe de Chartres, or in the gaming houses where others plot and
wager, nor in the National Theatre, where L ‘Ami des Lois is performed, nor in the Vaudeville Theatre at
a performance of Chaste Susanne, nor in the literary clubs where for two sous, which are so precious to
him, you are offered Gorsas’s muck, with the Chronique and the Patriot Français.
In the evening he goes to the assembly of his Section, not powdered and perfumed and nattily booted, in
the hope of being noticed by the citizenesses [females] in the galleries, but ready to support sound
proposals with all his might and ready to pulverise those which come from the despised faction of
politicians.
Finally, a sans culotte always has his sabre well sharpened, ready to cut off the ears of all opponents of the
Revolution. Sometimes he carries his pike about with him. But as soon as the drum beats you see him leave
for the Vendee, for the Army of the Alps, or for the Army of the North.”
1. How would you describe a sans-culotte?
2. What does a sans-culotte value? Support your answer with evidence from the primary source.
3. How do you think this description of a sans-culotte supports the revolutionary values in France during the French
Revolution?
4. Based on this primary source, what type of person does a revolutionary disapprove of? What kind of activities
would this type of person participate in?
5. What does this description of a sans-culotte tell you about what caused the French Revolution?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 4
Causes of the Revolution
Excerpts from Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen; adopted by the National Assembly on 26 August 1789
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These
rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. Nobody nor individual may exercise any authority
which does not proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights
of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same
rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by
law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his
representative, in its formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal
in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to
their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by
law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished.
But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an
offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary....
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable,
all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation
does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen
may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as
shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore,
established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be instructed.
**Complete analysis and chart on your handout using this document.
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 5
Effects of the Revolution
1. What is happening in this painting? Who is being executed? (If you can’t figure this out, ask )
2. If you were one of the members in the crowd watching this scene, what would you be thinking?
3. What do you think the man in the red coat is thinking? Why is he turned the other direction?
4. What do you think the man holding the head is thinking? Why is he doing what he’s doing?
5. What do you think daily life would be like in a place where this sort of scene is taking place?
6. What does this painting tell you about the effects of the French Revolution?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 6
Effects of the Revolution
1. What is the “feeling” of this painting? In other words, how would you describe the emotions in this scene?
2. What do you think is happening in this scene?
3. What do you think the people in the cart are thinking/feeling?
4. What do you think the people in the crowd are thinking/feeling?
5. What do you think the men on horseback are thinking/feeling?
6. What do you think daily life would be like in a place where this sort of scene is taking place?
7. What does this painting tell you about the effects of the French Revolution?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 7
Effects of the Revolution
Speech by Robespierre to the National Convention on February 5, 1794.
It is time to mark clearly the aim of the Revolution and the end toward which we wish to move; it is time to take
stock of ourselves, of the obstacles which we still face, and of the means which we ought to adopt to attain our
objectives....
What is the goal for which we strive? A peaceful enjoyment of liberty and equality, the rule of that eternal justice
whose laws are engraved, not upon marble or stone, but in the hearts of all men.
We wish an order of things where all low and cruel passions are enchained by the laws, all beneficent and generous
feelings aroused; where ambition is the desire to merit glory and to serve one's fatherland; where distinctions are
born only of equality itself; where the citizen is subject to the magistrate, the magistrate to the people, the people to
justice; where the nation safeguards the welfare of each individual, and each individual proudly enjoys the
prosperity and glory of his fatherland; where all spirits are enlarged by the constant exchange of republican
sentiments and by the need of earning the respect of a great people; where the arts are the adornment of liberty,
which ennobles them; and where commerce is the source of public wealth, not simply of monstrous opulence for a
few families.
In our country we wish to substitute morality for egotism, probity for honor, principles for conventions, duties for
etiquette, the empire of reason for the tyranny of customs, contempt for vice for contempt for misfortune, pride for
insolence, the love of honor for the love of money . . . that is to say, all the virtues and miracles of the Republic for all
the vices and snobbishness of the monarchy …
What kind of government can realize these marvels? Only a democratic government.... But to found and to
consolidate among us this democracy, to realize the peaceable rule of constitutional laws, it is necessary to conclude
the war of liberty against tyranny and to pass successfully through the storms of revolution. Such is the aim of the
revolutionary system which you have set up....
Now what is the fundamental principle of democratic, or popular government- that is to say, the essential
mainspring upon which it depends and which makes it function? It is virtue: I mean public virtue . .that virtue is
nothing else but love of fatherland and its laws....
It is necessary to stifle the domestic and foreign enemies of the Republic or perish with them. Now in these
circumstances, the first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of
the people by terror.
If the basis of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular government in time of revolution is
both virtue and terror: virtue without which terror is murderous, terror without which virtue is powerless. Terror is
nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue.
1. How does Robespierre say revolutionaries should move forward now that they have achieved change (what are
their goals)?
2. What will be the effects of the French Revolution according Robespierre?
3. How does Robespierre defend the use of terror to achieve his goals?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 8
Effects of the Revolution
Edmund Burke on the Death of Marie Antoinette
It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely
never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the
horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like the morning star
full of life and splendor and joy. 0, what a revolution! and what a heart must I have, to contemplate without
emotion that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream, when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic,
distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in
that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her, in a nation of gallant
men, in a nation of men of honor, and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their
scabbards, to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult.
But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of
Europe is extinguished forever. Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud
submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the
spirit of an exalted freedom! The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment
and heroic enterprise is gone. It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor, which felt a stain like a
wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which
vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.
Edmund Burke - 1793
1. Not everyone agreed with the ideals of the French Revolution. According to Burke, how has the world changed
due to the French Revolution?
2. Does Burke support a government based on monarchy or democracy? Give details from the text to support your
answer.
3. Using what you’ve learned in this assignment, and what you know about other revolutions, how did the Age of
Revolutions change the world?
French Revolution Primary Sources – Station 9
Effects of the Revolution
"The Padua Circular" (5 July 1791)
Letter from Emperor Leopold von Habsburg of Austria, brother of Marie Antoinette, to encourage a coalition of
European monarchs and French nobility (that had fled France) to put an end to the French Revolution
I am sure Your Majesty will have learned, with as much surprise and indignation as I, of the unprecedented outrage
of the arrest of the King of France, of my sister the Queen, and of the Royal Family. I am also sure your sentiments
cannot differ from mine with regard to this event which immediately compromises the honor of all sovereigns and
the security of all governments by inspiring fear of still more dreadful acts to follow, and by placing the seal of
illegality upon previous excesses in France.
I am determined to fulfill my obligation as to these considerations, both as chosen head of the Germanic State, with
its support, and as Sovereign of the Austrian states. I therefore propose to you, as I propose to the Kings of Spain,
England, Prussia, Naples, and Sardinia, as well as to the Empress of Russia, to unite with them and me to consult on
cooperation and measures to restore the liberty and honor of the Most Christian King and his family, and to limit the
dangerous extremes of the French Revolution.
The most pressing [need] appears to be our immediate cooperation . . . having our ministers in France deliver a
common declaration, or numerous similar and simultaneous declarations, which may curb the leaders of the violent
party and forestall desperate decisions. This will still leave them an opportunity for honest repentance and for the
peaceful establishment of a regime in France that will preserve at least the dignity of the crown and the essential
requirements for general tranquility. For this purpose, I propose to Your Majesty the plan annexed hereto which
appears to me satisfactory.
However, since the success of such a declaration is problematical, and since complete success can be assured only in
so far as we are prepared to support it by sufficiently respectable means, my Minister to Your Majesty will receive at
once the necessary instructions to discuss with your Minister such agreement on vigorous measures as
circumstances may require. I also intend to have him inform you concerning the replies of the other powers as soon
as I have received them.
I regard it as an infinitely precious advantage that the disposition they all show for the reestablishment of peace and
harmony gives promise to the removal of the obstacles which might be detrimental to the unanimity of the views
and sentiments concerning an event so closely associated with the welfare of all Europe.
Signed, Leopold
Plan of the Common Declaration
Padua, 5 July 1791.
1. Why does Emperor Leopold of Austria care about what’s going on in the French Revolution?
2. Why would other monarchs across Europe want to help him end the French Revolution and restore the
monarchy?
3. What effect could the French Revolution have on the rest of Europe?