French Revolution
Explain the connections among
the Enlightenment ideas and the
French Revolution.
French
Revolution
The French
Revolution began
as a democratic
movement.
When it ended,
however, France
was ruled by the
Emperor
Napoleon
Bonaparte.
French Social Structure
Late 18th century France was
ruled by King Louis XVI, who
exercised absolute power over
his subjects.
French Society was divided into
three classes, called estates.
French Social Structure
 The First Estate was made up of the
clergy of the Roman Catholic Church.
 Clergy=members of the Catholic
Church
 The church owned about 15 percent
of the land.
 The higher ranks of clergy (cardinals
and bishops) came from aristocratic
families and were generally wealthy
and powerful.
French Social Structure
However, most members of the
clergy were local parish priests,
and they were often poor.
All clergy were exempt from
paying the taille (a French tax).
French Social Structure
The Second Estate was composed
of wealthy nobles, who also did
not have to pay the taille.
They owned approximately 20
percent of the land in France and
often occupied the highest
government and military
positions.
French Social Structure
The first two estates combined
for only 2 percent of France’s
population.
The monarchy owned about 20
percent of the land.
French Social
Structure
Ninety-eight
percent of
France’s
population
belonged to the
Third Estate.
It included
members of the
wealthy middle
class called the
bourgeoisie.
French Social Structure
These were mainly merchants.
The Third Estate also included
workers and servants, skilled
craftspeople, and peasants (the
vast majority of the French
population).
French Social Structure
Although this group owned
about half the land in France,
the land was not equally
distributed.
Many peasants had no land at
all, and instead worked on
estates owned by the nobles.
French Social Structure
The members of the Third
Estate were not exempt from
the taille.
They had to pay 100 percent of
taxes that supported the
monarchy, nobles, and the
Church.
Concept Triangle:
Write a sentence
explaining how all
the words relate to
each other.
1st Estate:
Clergy
2nd Estate: Wealthy
Nobles
3rd Estate: Everyone Else
(Merchants, workers and
servants, skilled craftspeople,
and peasants-vast majority
of French Population
Outbreak of the Revolution
Enlightenment ideas of natural
rights, the social contract, and
limited powers of government
appealed to the people of the
Third Estate, especially to the
wealthy and educated members
of the middle class.
Outbreak of the Revolution
 Some of the members of the middle
class decided to assert these ideas
when King Louis XVI called the
Estates-General, or assembly, into
session in 1789 to pass new taxes.
 The representatives from the First
and Second Estates had more voting
power than those from the Third
Estate, even though the Third Estate
had the largest number of
representatives.
 The Third Estate delegates demanded
that this imbalance be corrected.
National Assembly
When the members of the First
and Second Estates refused to
equalize the distribution of votes,
the delegates of the Third Estate
withdrew from the EstatesGeneral.
They formed a separate
assembly, which they named the
National Assembly.
National Assembly
 Some members of the clergy and
nobility joined the members of the Third
Estate in the National Assembly and
voted with them for reforms.
 Violence erupted as the people of Paris
stormed the Bastille, a hated prison in
the city.
 The turmoil soon spread from Paris into
the countryside and other cities.
 Peasants seized the homes of the
nobles, and looted and burned them.
Partner
Question
Why do
you think
women
were
involved
in the
storming
of the
Bastille?
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!
 In August 1789, the National Assembly
issued a revolutionary document known
as the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen.
 This statement, based on Enlightenment
ideas, called for universal freedom of
speech, religion, and justice.
 “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!” became
the main slogan of the French
Revolution.
Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity!
In 1790, the Assembly took away
the privileges of the clergy.
In 1791, it issued a constitution
that limited the powers of the
monarchy and aristocracy.
In 1792, the French Revolution
entered an even more violent
stage.
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!
The new legislative body, the
National Convention, overthrew
the French Monarchy.
By then, all male French
citizens who paid taxes could
vote.
Primary Source Activity
A) French Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
B) Enlightenment Thinker/Idea Reference
Sheet
Locke=Highlight
Montesquieu=Circle
Voltaire=Underline
Beccaria=Box/Square
Wollstonecraft=Star/Asterisk
Beginning Directions
Pull out French Declaration
(Highlighting, Circling, Squaring,
Underlying,
Starring/Asterisking).
Work with a partner sitting to
your right/left to go over your
selections.
If you finish early, begin the
“Execution of a King” packet you
picked up on the way in.
Beginning Directions
Finish the “Execution
of a King” packet
Napoleon Bonaparte and the End
of the Revolution
The French Revolution ended with
the rise to power of Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Napoleon had won popularity with
the French people by a series of
military victories (1795-1799)
over foreign leaders who had
attacked France in support of the
royal family.
Propaganda
Napoleon
Bonaparte
Partner
Question:
Describe
what is
happening
in the
painting.
Propaganda
In order to justify the coup of Brumaire, the
myth of an assassination attempt against
Bonaparte was circulated both in the print
media and in anonymous popular engravings
that could be bought on the streets.
The attack on Bonaparte’s person was
meant to be equated with an attack on
liberty.
The assassination attempt never took place.
Pg. 136 The French Revolution and Napoleon: A Sourcebook
Napoleon
Bonaparte and
the End of the
Revolution
By 1800, he had
become First
Consul of France.
In 1804, he was
made emperor by
the French Senate
and votes of the
French people.
Napoleon Bonaparte and the End
of the Revolution
 While in power, Napoleon waged a number
of wars with other European countries.
 These resulted in the French military
conquest of most of the European
continent.
 As Napoleon seized territory, he exposed
the peoples of those regions to the liberal
laws of the French government, such as
equality before the law, freedom of
religion, and the abolishment of state
religions.
 This was one way that the ideas of the
Enlightenment spread across Europe.
Partner Question
Describe how Napoleon helped
spread Enlightenment ideas across
Europe.
What are some Enlightenment ideas
Napoleon helped spread across
Europe?
Connect those Enlightenment ideas
to their Enlightenment thinker.