The French Revolution
1789-1795
THE THREE ESTATES
The First Estate:
- Royal family & Clergy
- ~1% of population
- Paid no taxes
- owned 10% of the land
The Second Estate:
- Nobility ~2% of pop.
- owned 25-30% of the land
- Held leading positions in gov’t,
army, church & law courts
- Paid no taxes
The Third Estate:
- All others ~97% of pop.
3 subgroups
- urban middle class –educated
w/ $, resented nobility
-City laborers – poor
-Peasant farmers – pd. Rent,
tithe & taxes
Causes of the French Revolution
The Spark: The Meeting of the Estates General
•Last met in 1614
•May 1, 1789 – convened by the King to solve the problem of taxation in France
Problem: How Do They Vote?
Old Regime
1 vote
New Order
1st Estate
1st Estate
~300
1 vote
2nd Estate
Voting is based
on
representation.
~300
2nd Estate
648
1 vote
3rd Estate
3rd Estate
The King decreed that they must vote based on the ancient order – results?
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes
1st What is the Third
Estate? Everything!
2nd What has it been
heretofore in the
political order?
Nothing!
3rd What does it demand?
To become something
therein!
Abbé Sieyès
1748-1836
The National Assembly is formed
June 17, 1789
•The Members of the Third
Estate are determined to
gain decision making
power.
•Proclaim to end absolute
monarchy and form a
representative
government.
•1st Act of Revolution!
The Tennis Court Oath
June 20, 1789 Members of the 3rd Estate/National Assembly find themselves locked out of
the meeting. Convene at the Tennis Court and vow
“Not to stop meeting until a new constitution has been established!”
The Storming of the Bastille

A rumor that the king was
planning a military coup
against the National
Assembly.
 Parisians were already
rioting over the price of
bread.
 The mob organized and
mobilized against the
symbol of French tyranny
and Feudalism.
 Attacked for gunpowder.
Results – Saved the National
Assembly from being dissolved!
 De Launay – the
governor (warden) is
beaten and beheaded &
paraded through the
streets.
The “Great Fear” Spread Through France
July 20, 1789
 Rumors that the feudal aristocracy were sending hired brigands to attack peasants
and pillage their land.
 In reaction peasants broke into nobles’ manors and looted & burned. They tore up
legal papers binding them to pay feudal dues.
August 4, 1789
Fearing for their lives, property and family,
Nobles got up one by one and gave
impassioned speeches declaring their love of
liberty and equality!
Liberty,
In one meeting of the National Assembly:
Equality,
Ended Feudalism in France Forever!
Abolished Serfdom!
Canceled All Payments of Church
Tithes
Nobles and Clergy relinquished all
special privileges
… In Theory
Fraternity!
In Reality…


Feudal dues were not renounced outright [this
had been too strong a threat to the principle of
private property!]
Peasants would compensate their landlords
through a series of direct payments for
obligations from which they had supposedly
been freed.

Therefore, the National Assembly made
revolutionary gestures, but remained essentially
moderate.
Their Goal
Safeguard the right of private
property!!
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Main Ideals:
 Liberty!
 Property!
 Security!
 Resistance to oppression!
August 26, 1789
Thomas Jefferson was in Paris at this
time.
New Dilemmas Created
1. Did women have equal rights with men?
2. What about free blacks in the colonies?
3. How could slavery be justified if all men
were born free?
4. Did religious toleration of Protestants and
Jews include equal political rights?
MARCH OF THE WOMEN OCTOBER 5-6, 1789




A spontaneous
demonstration of Parisian
women for bread.
The rumor went out that
the King and Queen were
holding stockpiles of flour
The women marched to
Versailles
They broke into the
palace, ransacked the
queen’s apartment &
killed 3 guards
The king was thought to be surrounded by evil
advisors at Versailles so he was forced to move to
Paris and reside at the Tuileries Palace.
Financing the New Government
The Church is viewed as an
important pillar of the old order
Church lands are confiscated and
assignats (a form of paper
money – which causes wild
inflation) were issued backed by
the nationalized church lands.
Church is secularized – creating
strong opposition from church
leaders & members.
One of the most controversial
decisions of the entire
revolutionary period.
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
July 12, 1790
 Required bishops and priests to swear
allegiance to the Civil Constitution
 Government paid the salaries of the French
clergy and maintained the churches.
 The church was reorganized:
Parish priests  elected by the district
assemblies.
Bishops  named by the
department assemblies.
The pope had NO
voice in the
appointment of
the French clergy.
 It transformed France’s
Roman Catholic Church
into a branch of the state!!
Pope Pius VI
[1775-1799]
The New Constitution


Limited Constitutional
Monarchy
Legislative Assembly elected
for 2 yr terms


Aristocratic Electors = Aristocratic
National Government
Divided France in to 83 new
districts

Local Bourgeoisie Governments
1791
The Opposition
Clergy vowing not to take the Oath of Allegiance
 Lower class hurt by cost of living increase
 Peasants opposed to dues that were not
abolished
 Political clubs called for more radical change

The Royal Family Attempts to Flee
 June, 1791
 Helped by the Swedish Count Hans Axel
von Fusen, supposed lover of Marie
Antoinette.
 Headed toward the
Luxembourg
border.
 The King was
recognized at
Varennes, near
the border
How does the Royal Family’s Attempt to leave France, and
their subsequent arrest, politically and psychologically
affect the revolution?
RESULTS
Psychologically:



Mistrust of the people
Feelings of Anger &
Abandonment
Inspiration to the
radical revolutionaries
Politically:
 perception of instability of the
government
Give the Nat. Assem. more power
Proof of the power of the citizen
Proof of the weakness of the king
Loss of support from the 1st & 2nd
Estates
The National Assembly’s story:
King was kidnapped - perception of stability to other European nations
They needed the monarch to establish a legitimate government (commerce
& allied for power)
LOUIS XVI “ACCEPTS” THE CONSTITUTION
& THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 1791
THE WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA
Declaration of Pillnitz:




created by Emperor Leopold
II of Austria and King
Frederick William II of
Prussia
Encouraged other European
countries to help return the
royal monarchy to France
Angered the Legislative
assembly who favored a war
hoping to expand their
influence
Some worried the war might
reinstate Louis XVI
THE SEPTEMBER MASSACRE 1792
Led by George Danton and the
san culottes sought revenge on
those who had aided the king
× Rumors that the antirevolutionary political prisoners
were plotting to break out &
attack from the rear the armies
defending France, while the
Prussians attacked from the
front.
× It discredited the Revolution among its remaining
sympathizers abroad.

THE EXECUTION OF THE KING



JAN.21, 1793
Fractions in the Nat. Convention
(new gov’t) were divided over what
to do with the monarch
September 21, 1792 abolished
the monarch & establish a
republic.
Decided to try Louis XVI for
treason, after the verdict was read
the Nat. Convention voted to put
him to death.
× The National Convention put Marie
Antoinette on trial and executed her on October
16, 1793
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION

(SEPTEMBER, 1792)
Its first act was the formal abolition of the monarchy on
September 21, 1792.
 The Year I of the French Republic.

The Decree of Fraternity
 it offered French assistance to any subject peoples who wished
to overthrow their governments.
When France sneezes,
all of Europe catches cold!
THE POLITICS OF THE
NATIONAL CONVENTION (1792-1795)
Montagnards
vs
Girondists
Power base in Paris.
Power base in the provinces.
Main support from the
sans-culottes.
Feared the influence of the sansculottes.
Would adopt extreme measures to
achieve their goals.
Feared the dominance of Paris
in national politics.
Saw Paris as the center of the
Revolution.
Supported more national
government centralization
[federalism].
More centralized [in Paris] approach
to government.
ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL
THE GROWING CRISIS
1.
Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris  try
suspected counter-revolutionaries.
A. Representatives-on-Mission
sent to the provinces & to the army.
had wide powers to oversee
conscription.
B. Watch Committees [comité de surveillance]
keep an eye on foreigners & suspects.
C. Sanctioned the trial & execution of rebels and émigrés, should
they ever return to France.
ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL
THE GROWING CRISIS
2.
3.
4.
The printing of more assignats to
pay for the war.
Committee of Public Safety [CPS]
 Set up by NC 1793 to direct the army and try enemies of the
Revolution.
 Conscription – able bodied men 18-25 subject to military service
(Army of Merit)
Committee of General Security [CGS]
 responsible for the pursuit of counter-revolutionaries, the
treatment of suspects, & other internal security matters.
COMMITTEE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
 Revolutionary Tribunals.
 300,000 arrested.
 16,000 – 50,000 executed.
•1793 French forces defeated Prussian and
Austrian forces and prevented an invasion
• France invaded the Austria Netherlands and in
reaction G.B., the Netherlands, Spain and
Sardinia joined Austria and invaded France again.
INFLUENTIAL LEADERS
Maximilien Robespierre (1758 –
1794)
Georges Jacques Danton (1759 –
1794)
THE REIGN OF TERROR
Sept. 1793-July 1794

Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible. -Robespierre
Let terror be the order
of the day!
c
The Revolutionary
Tribunal of Paris alone
executed 2,639 victims
in 15 months.
c
The total number of
victims nationwide was
over 20,000!
LEGISLATION PASSED BY THE
NATIONAL CONVENTION
1.
Law of General Maximum
 September 5, 1793.
 Limited prices of grain & other essentials to 1/3
above the 1790 prices & wages to ½ of 1790
figures.
 Prices would be strictly enforced.
 Hoarders rooted out and punished.
 Food supplies would be secured by the army!
2. Law of Suspects
September 17, 1793.
This law was so widely drawn that almost anyone
not expressing enthusiastic support for the
republic could be placed under arrest!
THE GUILLOTINE:
AN “ENLIGHTENMENT TOOL”?
Oh, thou charming guillotine,
You shorten kings and queens;
By your influence divine,
We have re-conquered our rights.
Come to aid of the Country
And let your superb instrument
Become forever permanent
To destroy the impious sect.
Sharpen your razor for Pitt and his agents
Fill your divine sack with heads of tyrants.
DIFFERENT SOCIAL CLASSES EXECUTED
8%
7%
28%
25%
31%
%’s are out of total number killed
THE “MONSTER” GUILLOTINE
The last guillotine execution in France was in 1939!
“REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE”

Tried to create a democratic republic in which
people would act in accordance with good
citizenship (active citizens)
 Universal
elementary education & expanded
universities
 Abolished slavery in French colonies
 Metric system
 New calendar 09/22/92

1795 French army expanded its territory to
Rhine River
THE END OF TERROR

In the spring of 1794 Danton
declared that the Reign of Terror
was over – French army was
winning and he believed the Terror
had met its goals


Robespierre accused his of disloyalty
to the Revolution – the Dantonists
were put to death ( Colleagues feared
for their lives)
Robespierre was arrested after
giving a speech 1794 accusing
other of disloyalty to the
THE DIRECTORY

1795-1799
1795 yet another New Constitution
establishing a new government called the
Directory
House Legislature – lower proposed new laws
and upper accepted or rejected them
2
selected executive branch – 5 directors (weak
and indecisive)
 Eliminated male suffrage – property owners could vote
 Used the army to crush rebellions
 Did not address financial issues
 Ultimately failed
 Upper