Revolution Brings
Reform and Terror
Chapter 7 Section 2
The Assembly Reforms France
• August 4, 1789
– The Great Fear is making everything chaotic and
people are panicking
– Feel like something must be done- meet the night of
August 4 go all through the night
– People make grand speeches, people crying, denounce
all privileges.
• “Patriotic drunkenness”- One upped each other on the
amount they could give up
– By the next morning the Old Regime is completely
finished
The Assembly Reforms France
• Rights of Man
– August 26, 1789- Déclaration des droits de
l'homme et du citoyen – Declaration of rights of
man and citizen
• Ideas of Enlightenment
– Liberty, Egalite, Fraternité- Liberty, equality,
fraternity is adopted as thier slogan
The Assembly Reforms France
• A state controlled church
– Took over church lands and made church officials be
elected
– Made them swear a loyalty oath- many refuse and are
hunted down
– Lands helped pay off France’s debt
– Church becomes a place for political announcements
– Many peasants are devout Catholics and were
shocked by these reforms, thus no longer supported
the Assembly
• Separation of church and state
The Assembly Reforms France
• Louis tries to escape
– Mobs keep King and Queen in the city when they try to leave
to visit their priest
– Decide to flee the country and return at the head of the
Austrian Army ( Marie’s Brother Emperor)
– Writes a letter before he leaves saying he does not believe in
any part of the Revolution even though he had taken an oath
of loyalty
– Thought that only Paris would be the problem
– Family makes escape in costume, pretends to be someone else
– Louis gets cocky ( talked to people, put up curtains in carriage,
etc.)
– Recognized by Drouet from bank note- rides to the next town
– About 1,500 people from town stop them in Varennes and
return them to Paris under guard
Divisions Develop
• After 2 years of arguing finally make a new
constitution in 1791
• Limited constitutional monarchy
• Legislative Assembly- New body created by
the constitution, could create laws and
approve or reject declarations of war.
– King still had executive power to enforce laws
Divisions Develop
• Old problems still remain
• Legislative assembly split into 3 groups.
– 1. Radicals- sat on the left side of the hall
• Opposed the idea of Monarchy and wanted sweeping
changes
– 2. Moderates- Sat in the center
• Wanted some changes, but not like the radicals
– 3. Conservatives- Sat on the right
• Wanted limited monarchy and few changes
Divisions Develop
• Factions outside the Legislative Assembly
– Emigres
• Nobles and others who had fled France and wanted to
restore the old Regime
– Sans-Culottes
• Parisian workers who wanted the Revolution to bring
even bigger changes in France
• “Without Knee breeches”
War and Execution
• Europe looks on Horrified- Asks France to restore
Louis
– The Legislative Assembly Declares War in April 1792
– By Summer of 1792 Prussian forces almost to Paris
• Threaten to destroy Paris if Royal Family harmed
• August 10 20,000 people invade the royal palace and imprison
the royal family
• September Rumors again make them fearful so they raid the
prisons and kill over 1,000 people ( mainly nobles, priest, and
royal sympathizers)
War and Execution
• Radicals in the streets and among the Legislative
Assembly pressure the Assembly into getting rid of
the constitution
– Declared the King disposed, new election of a new
legislature
• Made a new governing body called the National
Convention
– Elected by universal manhood suffrage
– Took office on Sept. 21, 1792
– Abolished monarchy, declared France a republic, all male
citizens could hold office.
War and Execution
• Jacobins take control
– Jacobins – the most powerful radical political
organization during the French Revolution
– Most people involved in the changes in 1792 were
apart of this club
– Under their control they reduce the King to
commoner and tried him for treason
– Find him guilty (by a very close vote) and sentence
him to death
– January 21, 1793 Louis executed by the Guillotine
War and Execution
• Fall 1792 tide turns to France’s advantage
• Early 1793 Great Britain, Holland, and Spain all
join in fight against France.
• Jacobin Leaders force to have a draft
– 300,000 citizens between 18 and 40.
– By 1794 army had grown to 800,000 and included
women
The Terror Grips France
• The new government of France has enemies
from the inside as well as outside
• Maximilien Robespierre
– Radical leftist
– Very popular in the Jacobin clubs- wrote great
speeches, had the nick name “L’incorruptible”
– Wanted to build a “republic of virtue”
– New calendar( 10 day wk.), new religion(cult of
the supreme being), vous form outlawed
The terror grips France
• July 1793 Robespierre elected to committee of
public safety
• Next year he rules basically as a dictator- his
reign is know as the Reign of Terror
– Imposing a “single will” through political
surveillance and violence
• People tried in the morning and guillotined in
the afternoon
The Terror Grips France
• Saw fellow radicals who wanted to relax/ stop
the terror as willing to compromise and
therefore not virtuous
• Tried to revolt and are all executed
• Suspended laws in order to get a stable
government
– 1500 people killed between June 10 and July 15,
1794
– Up to 40,000 people died during the terror
End of the Terror
• Eventually no one feels safe, so they turn on
Robespierre
• July 1794 they come for Robespierre
– Tries to kill himself, but shoots his jaw off
– Take him to Guillotine and he dies the same place as
Louis
• Backlash against the terror
– Make a new government known as the directory
• Bicameral legislator and 5 men executive body
• Made up of moderates