Radical Days
French Revolution
Section 3
Vocabulary
 Suffrage: Right to vote
 Nationalism: An aggressive feeling of pride in,
and devotion to, one’s country
 National Convention
(a.k.a. “The Convention”): France’s legislative
assembly during the first years of the French
Republic (September 1792 to October 1795)
Outbreaks of Violence
 The French had declared war on numerous
countries, and these battles were not going well
 Revolutionaries blamed Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette for the military struggles, suggesting
he was in cahoots with the foreign armies
 August 10, 1792: Crowd invades Tuileries,
slaughter king’s guards as royal family runs to
the Legislative Assembly to avoid the mob
Outbreaks of Violence
 September 1792: September Massacre
– Citizens attack prisons filled with nobles and
priests accused of political offenses
– Hundreds, possibly just over 1,000, were killed
The Convention
 Radical members took over the Legislative
Assembly, called for elections for new body –
the National Convention
– Suffrage to be extended to all male citizens
• Wouldn’t have to own property
 The Convention abolished the monarchy,
created a Republic, and created another
constitution
– Jacobins (leading “party”) led charge to seize
nobles’ land, abolish noble titles, required French
men and women be called “Citizen”
• Louis XVI was now Citizen Capet
Death of Citizen Capet
 Louis XVI went on trial for treason, was
convicted by one vote, and sentenced to death
“
The procession lasted almost two hours; the streets
were lined with citizens, all armed, some with pikes
and some with guns … they had placed before the
horses a number of drums, intended to drown any
noise or murmur in favour of the king …
”
– Henry Essex Edgeworth, priest
“
Death of Citizen Capet
”
I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I
pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I
pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may
never be visited on France.”
– King Louis XVI’s last words, according to Henry Essex Edgeworth
 January, 21 1793: Louis XVI is beheaded by
the guillotine
“
… with one stroke severed his head from his body.
All this passed in a moment. The youngest guard …
immediately seized the head, and showed it to the
people as he walked round the scaffold … cries of
‘Viva le Republique!’ were heard …
”
– Henry Essex Edgeworth, priest
Death of Citizen Capet
Death of Widow Capet
 October 1793: Marie Antoinette goes on trial,
facing numerous charges, and is also found
guilty and sentenced to death
 October 16, 1793: Marie Antoinette is sent to
the guillotine
The Other Women
 Many women were disappointed with the
Declaration of the Rights of Man because it did
not grant them equal citizenship
 1791: In response, a female journalist named
Olympe de Gouges demanded equal rights in
the Declaration of the Rights of Woman
Olympe de Gouges
 Women would gain some rights
– Divorce became easier
• Done primarily as an attack against Church authority
– Women allowed to inherit property
• Done primarily as an attack against nobility
“
”
Woman is born free and her rights are the same as
those of man … All citizens, be they men or women,
being equal in the state’s eyes, must be equally
eligible for public offices, positions, and jobs …
[Women] have the right to go to the scaffold; they
must also have the right to go to parliament.”
– Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman
Convention Under Siege
 Lots of problems in early 1793
– At war w/most of Europe … not going well
– In the Vendee region, royalists & priests led
peasants in rebellion against new government
– Sans-culottes demanded relief from food shortages
& rising prices
– Jacobins and Girondins at each other’s throats
 Soon, recruits inspired by revolutionary fervor
marched off to defend France
 Effective new tactics developed
 French began winning military battles
 Monarchs feared spread of “freedom fever”
Committee of Public Safety
 To deal with threats to the France and its new
government, the Convention created the
Committee of Public Safety
– 12-member committee w/almost absolute power
Who would ultimately rise to the top of
the Committee of Public Safety?
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Francois Marie Isidore de Robespierre
 Born May 6, 1758 in Arras, France
 Conceived out of marriage, so
parents had shotgun wedding
 At age 17, gave welcome address
to newly crowned King Louis XVI
 Third-generation lawyer
 1782: Appointed as a criminal
judge, but quit job to avoid
issuing death sentences
 “The Incorruptible”
 Or the Bloodthirsty Dictator
 Member of the Jacobins
 Created Cult of the Supreme Being
 Died July 28, 1794 (aged 36) in
Paris, France
Robespierre
 Robespierre had embraced Rousseau’s idea of
the general will while also promoting religious
toleration and the abolishment of slavery
 Believed France could achieve a “republic of
virtue” only through the use of terror
“
Liberty cannot be secured unless
criminals lose their heads.
”
– Maximilien Robespierre
Reign of Terror
 Robespierre was a chief architect of the
Reign of Terror (July 1793-July 1794)
– Courts conducted hasty trials where spectators
greeted death sentences w/cries of “Hail the
Republic!” or “Perish the traitors!”
– About 40,000 people killed
• 15% were nobles and clergy
• 15% were middle-class citizens
• Remaining 70% were peasants and sans-culottes involved
in riots and revolts against the new Republic
– Became a witch hunt
– Essentially ends with the execution of Robespierre
The Directory
 With the Reign of Terror over, the French
abandoned the radical Jacobins and moved
towards the more moderate leaders
 Another constitution (3rd in 6 years) was written
– Constitution of 1795 established a five-man
Directory and a two-house legislature to be
elected by property-owning male citizens
The Directory
 The Directory held power from 1795 to 1799
 Same old problems: Weak but dictatorial,
leaders corrupt, problems were not fixed
 As problems continued to grow, politicians
soon turned to a popular military hero –
Napoleon Bonaparte – whom they believed
they could control and manipulate
Nationalism
 Revolution and war gave people a strong sense
of national identity
– Loyalty originally went to local authorities
– Monarchs centralized power and loyalty
Social Reform
 Elementary education became mandatory
 The Convention set up state schools
– Replaced Catholic schools
 Slavery abolished in French West Indian
colonies
 Religious toleration extended … yet many
religious festivals banned in favor of secular
celebrations