Title: Why is everyone in France mad at King Louis XVI?
Lesson Author: Jennifer Mecca and Ashton Hoff
Key Words: First, Second, and Third Estates, bourgeoisie, King Louis XVI
Grade Level:10th grade
Time Allotted: 60 minutes
Rationale/ Purpose (so what?)
Students will learn that causes of major events (such as Revolutions) often
build over time. These events don’t just happen but there are other events
that led up to the big event. Students will also describe how inequalities in
society and various changes (extravagant spending, natural disasters, new
ideas) can led to ordinary people demanding reform and changing the
course of history.
Key Concept(s) include definition:
Old Order or Ancien Regime: a social and political structure deeply
rooted in pre-Revolutionary France, led to a variety of inequalities
Enlightenment Ideas: ideas that focused on the reasoning of human
nature and society, including those ideas from Rousseau, Locke,
Montesquieu and other thinkers
Bourgeoisie: the French middle Class, usually at the top of the Third
Estate and including city dwelling merchant, factory owners, and
professionals such as doctors and lawyers—some of them were educated
and wealthy
NCSS Standard(s)
SOL Information (As written in the Virginia SOL “Curriculum Framework”
for the grade level)
NCSS Theme (s) with indicators: Theme Two: Time Continuity and
Change—Learners will focus on the causes of the French Revolution and
explain the complexity of this conflict. Students will also focus on past
events (such as the Enlightenment, past injustices, and the American
Revolution) has led to such changes.
SOL:
WHII.6e
The Student will demonstrate knowledge of scientific, political, economic,
and religious changes during the sixteenth, seventieth, and eighteenths
centuries by
e) describing the French Revolution
Essential Knowledge
Essential Skills
(minimum for SOL Resource Guide)
Causes of the French Revolution
• Influence of Enlightenment
Ideas
• Influence of American
Revolution
(minimum for SOL Resource Guide)
Analyze trends in human migration
and cultural interaction (WHII.le)
Guiding Question(s): --These guiding questions will be written on the
board for the students to see
• How can a social structure lead to inequality throughout society?
What impact would this have on the whole population
• How can changes throughout a society lead to specific avenues of
change? In other words what is behind a Revolution?
Assessment Tool(s):
• Student In Class Work as well as a 3-2-1 processor at the end of
the lesson to help student process what they have just learned (three
causes of the French Revolution, two causes that could have been
prevented, and one thing you think might happen as a result of these
causes)
Background: How does this lesson fit into a unit of study?
Looking backwards,
looking forwards
Before this unit students have just learned about all the Enlightenment ideas,
Scientific Revolution, and briefly the American Revolution. This will provide
students with a basis for this unit of study. After this students will move
towards Revolutions around the world, specifically those in Latin and South
America.
Lesson Objective(s) (Please number):
1.
Students will be able to describe the causes of the French
Revolution including inequalities in society, enlightenment ideas,
and widespread crisis in the country. Students will demonstrate
this by completing the day’s activities of analyzing the pictures and
completion of the chart.
2.
Students will be able to explain how problems, such as societal
inequalities, natural disasters, and the introduction of new ideas,
happen over time and often develop into avenues of change.
Students will demonstrate this by completing the activities of the
day analyzing the pictures and completing the associated chart.
Materials: Historical
Source(s): (include copies in
Additional
Materials/Resources: (include
materials section)
copies in materials section)
Materials A-I: Causation Cards
(some primary sources others
taken out of history text and
websites)
Material J: SCIM-C worksheet
Material K: Diamond 9 chart
Material L: Corroboration Chart
Procedure/Process:
JUST DO IT! The “Hook”: (A high-interest activity that introduces new content with
connections to students’ prior knowledge. Between 1-5 minutes (Could also introduce
the days guiding question)
• At the beginning of class ask students what they would bring about a Revolution
for? Encourage them to think of things that truly upset them, that they feel are
unjust. Have students write out a few of their ideas on a piece of paper.
Obj #
See
above.
Just do it.
Processing Activity and Procedure include directions, question frames,
assignment detail to be given to
students (these should all be made
into explicit materials (e.g. see
material A), and time estimates
Ask Students to think about the following
questions and write a few of their ideas
on a sheet of paper
What would you start a Revolution for?
What does injustice mean?—5 minutes
Check for Evidence of
Understanding
-Either Formal or Informal(Checks Essential Knowledge
and Skills)
Informally students will share
their answers with the class.
After seeing some common answers, ask students why there are
Transition: commonalities, and remind them that people often have similar feelings
when they are dealing with the same problems.
The instructor will divide students into
As groups work the instructor
groups alphabetically (approximately 5
will walk around clearing up
people per group) each getting a packet
any misunderstandings and
of cards (see Material A- I), after getting
focusing the student learning
Objective about 20 minutes to analyze the cards in
#1
their groups, the class will come back
together and complete a SCIM-C on the
board, while student complete their own
SCIM worksheet (see Material J)—20
minutes
As a class, we will fill out their SCIM-C chart for each source (see Material
J), this will allow students to dig even deeper into the sources and ensure
Transition:
they develop an appreciation and understanding for the Causes and how
they impacted ordinary people
Objective
#2
After analyzing each source as a class,
students will get back into their groups to
complete the corroboration chart (see
Material L). After deciding how these
sources are similar and different they will
then complete their own diamond 9 chart
(see Material K)—What were the most
important reasons for them personally?—
approximately 15 minutes
Ask students to share their
findings and their diamond 9
chart with their peers; ask
them why they chose that
answer? (remember no answer
is right or wrong they are ALL
causes!)
Do they believe the French
Revolution was inevitable? If
it could have been prevented,
how?
Modifications/Accommodations for Diverse Learners:
All learners will be given the proper accommodations and modifications
based on their unique situation in accordance will all IEPs, 504s, and any
other adaptations required for their specific learning.
In addition students that are having a very difficult time with the primary
sources could be given the SCIM-C to look at before to scaffold them in
their analysis
Closure/Writing Prompt/Rubric:
3-2-1 processor (three causes of the French Revolution, two causes that
could have been prevented, and one thing you think might happen as a
result of these causes)
Materials (one resource per page- so it becomes a teacher or student handout, or
overhead directions or ppt presentation.)
Materials A-I
“Man was born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.”
--Rousseau, Social Contract
“Rousseau believed that government should work for the benefit of the common good,
not for the wealthy few….Rousseau despised inequality in society. He believed that all
people were equal and should be recognized as equal in society. His view would inspire
Revolutionaries in years to come”
Taken From: Goldberg, Steven (Ed.). (2008). Human legacy, Modern era. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
The plan of this book is fairly simple. We must ask ourselves three questions.
1. What is the Third State? Everything.
2. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing.
3. What does it want to be? Something....
The Third Estate embraces then all that which belongs to the nation; and all that which
is not the Third Estate, cannot be regarded as being of the nation.
What is the Third Estate?
It is everything.
--Abbe Sieyes, Qu'est-ce que le tiers état,), pamphlet written as an attack on the Clergy and Nobility
Finances
By 1789, France was bankrupt. The country could no longer pay its debts, debts that
were all the result of war. One example says a great deal about this situation. By 1789,
France was still paying off debts incurred by the wars of Louis XIV, that is, wars of the
late 17th and early 18th century. Furthermore, a number of social groups and institutions
did not pay taxes of any kind. Many universities were exempt from taxation as were the
thirteen Parlements, cites like Paris, the Church and the clergy, the aristocracy and
numerous members of the bourgeoisie. And of course, it was simply brilliant planning to
continue to tax the peasants - peasants who, having nothing to contribute were, over the
course of the century, forced to contribute even more.
Taken From: http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture11a.html
“Nature was creating economic problems. First, a hailstorm and a drought
ruined the harvest. Then the winter of 1788 was the worst in 80 years.
Frozen rivers prevented waterwheels from powering the mills that ground
wheat into flour. Food and firewood were scarce and expensive. As hunger
and cold made life wretched for thousands of French citizens, misery grew
into anger.”
Taken From: Goldberg, Steven (Ed.). (2008). Human legacy, Modern era. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Alas, much more lies sick than poor Louis: not the French King
only, but the French Kingship; this too, after long rough tear and
wear, is breaking down. The world is all so changed...--Borne
over the Atlantic, to the closing ear of Louis, King by the Grace of
God, what sounds are these; muffled ominous, new in our
centuries? Boston Harbour is black with unexpected Tea: behold
a Pennsylvanian Congress gather; and ere long, on Bunker Hill,
DEMOCRACY announcing, in rifle-volleys death-winged, under
her Star Banner, to the tune of Yankee-doodle-doo, that she is
born, and, whirlwind-like, will envelope the whole world!
Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution (1837)
Question:
?
Monitoring/Questioning: What else would I like to find out?
What questions do I now need to ask?
Inferencing: What does the source suggest?
Contextualizing: When, why and how was the source produced?
Summarizing: What does the source tell us?
Source Description: Morale Poster
Source description
Material J
Material K
Name:____________________________
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3
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9
Material L
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SOURCES:
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOURCES:
ACCUMULATED CONCLUSIONS
GAPS IN INFORMATION..