Name: _______________________
French Revolution DBQ
Directions: The following essay question is based on the accompanying documents. As you analyze the
documents, take into account both the source of the document and the author’s point of view.
Be sure to:
o Carefully read the document based question.
o Consider what you already know about the topic
o How would you answer the question if you had no documents to examine?
 Now, read each document carefully, underlining key phrases and words that address the document
based question.
o You may also wish to use the margin of your paper for notes.
o Answer the questions that follow each document
 Based on your knowledge of the topic and on the information found in the documents, formulate a
thesis that directly answers the question.
 Organize supportive and relevant information
o Completely write out your thesis statement in the appropriate place
o Completely write out each paragraph topic sentence
o Your outline should be able to prove your thesis
o The information in the outline should be logically presented
o The outline should include both information from the documents and from your outside
knowledge of the subject
o Vomit a list of words that should be used in your essay
Essay Question:
By 1791, how completely had the French government and society been transformed in terms of specific
political, economical, social, and religious changes? Use the documents AND your knowledge of the
French Revolution to develop your answer.
Requirements:




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
Use at least 5 documents (cite as Doc. 1, Doc. 2, etc…)
Take a positon
Write a well-organized 5 paragraph essay
Discuss at least 2 causes of the French Revolution.
Discuss at least 2 effects of the French Revolution.
_____
_________________
After reading each document, answer the questions that follow it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1
Document 1: The following quotes come from Enlightenment thinkers from the 17th century:
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” –Voltaire
“All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or
possessions.” -John Locke
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles.” -Jean Jacques Rousseau
“Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long freeing itself from, and whose deadly
grasp stops the progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished.” -Mary Wollstonecraft
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious

How do these quotes summarize the new ideas about government from the 18th century?

How did the Enlightenment encourage change?
Document 2: This excerpt is from John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government.
‘Men being…by nature are free, equal, and independent, no one can be…subjected to the political power
of another without his own consent…To protect natural rights governments are established…Since men
hope to preserve their property by establishing a government, they will not want that government to
destroy their objectives. When legislators try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to
reduce them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who can then refuse to
obey the laws.’
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious

2
According to the author, what is the purpose of government?
Document 3: This excerpt is adapted from Travels in France by Arthur Young.
In the south of France there is a taille [tax on the land and its produce]. There is an injustice in levying the
amount each person must pay. Lands held by the nobility are taxed very little. Lands held by the
commoners are taxed very heavily…
September 5, 1788: The poor people seem very poor indeed. The children are terribly ragged.
June 10, 1789: The lack of bread is terrible. Stories arrive every moment from provinces of riots…The price
of bread has risen above people’s ability to pay. This causes great misery.
July 1789:…I was joined by a poor woman who complained of the hard times. “The tailles and feudal dues
[rents owed to the landlords] are crushing us,” she said.
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious

Identify three issues/problems in France from 1787-1789.
Document 4:
Cobb & Jones (1988)
3

Identify the three figures in the cartoon
in relation to French society (1st, 2nd,
and 3rd estates)

What do you think the rock
represents?

What is the cartoonist trying to suggest
about social hierarchy of French
society in the 18th century?
Document 5:
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789
The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly…recognizes and
proclaims…the following rights of man and of the citizen.
Articles:
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…rights of man. These rights are
liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression…
13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of
administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious

How did the French National Assembly attempt to deal with the problems that caused the French
Revolution?
Document 6:
Maximilien Robespierre: Republic of Virtue, 1794
If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution
is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror
is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle
in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the
patrie.
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious
4

What is Robespierre’s political theory? And why does he advocate the use of terror in defending
democracy, which he equated with virtue?
Document 7:

What do the flag
and the guillotine
symbolize in this
painting of the
French
Revolution?

What do you think
the artist was
trying to “say”?
Document 8: Except from the London Times January 25, 1793
Execution_robespierre,_saint_just....jpg (750 × 460 pixel, file size: 133 KB, MIME
type: image/jpeg)
EXECUTION of LOUIS XVI
KING OF THE FRENCH
By an express which arrived yesterday morning from Messrs. Fector and Co. at Dover, we learn the
following particulars of the King's execution:
…The greatest tranquility prevailed in every street through which the procession passed. About half
past nine, the King arrived at the place of execution, which was in the Place de Louis XV. between the
pedestal which formerly supported the statue of his grandfather, and the promenade of the Elysian
Fields. Louis mounted the scaffold with composure, and that modest intrepidity peculiar to oppressed
innocence, the trumpets sounding and drums beating during the whole time. He made a sign of wishing
to harangue [criticize] the multitude, when the drums ceased, and Louis spoke these few words. “I die
innocent; I pardon my enemies; I only sanctioned upon compulsion the Civil Constitution of the
Clergy...” He was proceeding, but the beating of the drums drowned his voice. His executioners then
laid hold of him, and an instant after, his head was separated from his body; this was about a quarter
past ten o'clock.
After the execution, the people threw their hats up in the air, and cried out Vive la Nation! Some of them
endeavoured to seize the body, but it was removed by a strong guard to the Temple, and the lifeless
remains of the King were exempted from those outrages which his Majesty had experienced during his
life.
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
5
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious

What is the extent to which problems were solved by executing the king of France?
Document 9:
The Emperor
“To have good
soldiers, a nation
must always be at
war.”

Who is the ruler? What do the paintings tell you about him?

Explain the meaning of the quotation. What is this ruler’s goal?
Document 10: excerpt from World History: Patterns of Interaction
“The great powers affirmed the principal of legitimacy-agreeing that as many as possible of the rulers
whom Napoleon had driven from their thrones should be restored to power. In France, the brother of
Louis XVI (16th) returned to power as king. He wisely adopted a constitution and ruled as a
constitutional monarch.”
Type of Source
□ Primary
□ Secondary
Historical Perspective
□ Political
□ Economical
□ Social
□ Religious

6
According to this document, what kind of government did France end up with after the revolution?