The French Revolution
From Estates to a Constitution
The French Urban Poor
80
70
60
50
1787
1788
40
30
20
10
0
% of Income Spent on Bread
Weak Monarchy
• Louie XVI
– Father was a weak ruler, had not known a strong monarch
– Not interested in politics
– Incapable of decisive action
– Ignored economic problems
– Strongly influenced by wife
• Marie Antoniette (Austrian)
Marie Antoinette &
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette’s
“Peasant Cottage”
Marie Antoinette’s
“Peasant Cottage”
Convening the Estates General May, 1789
Last time it was called into session was 1614! (175 years before!)
Why now?
- Louis XIV had left France in deep debt. Under Louis XV, the
government had borrowed just to pay their debt.
- Poor Harvests led to bread shortages and riots
- 1st and 2nd estates DEMANDED it before they would accept
changes to France.
The Suggested Voting Pattern:
Voting by Estates
1
1
Clergy
1st Estate
Aristocracy
2nd Estate
1
Commoners
3rd Estate
Louis XIV insisted that the ancient distinction of the
three orders (estates) be conserved in its entirety.
The Number of Representatives
in the Estates General: Vote by Head!
300
Clergy
1st Estate
Aristocracy
2nd Estate
300
648
Commoners
3rd Estate
“The Third Estate Awakens”
•
The members of the Third Estate call themselves the “representatives
of the nation.”
•
Each estate was asked to
prepare cahiers, a notebook
listing the issues they want
addressed.
•
They proclaimed themselves the
“National Assembly” of France.
They are all middle class men
who own property.
•
They invite any member of the
other estates to join them in
creating a new constitution for
France.
•
When they find their meeting
hall locked, they move to a
nearby tennis court.
“The Tennis Court Oath” by Jacques Louis David
•The Third Estate representatives
swore “never to separate” until they
had created a just constitution.
•Some clergy and nobles DID join
the National Assembly, which forced
the king to accept it, for now.
•Rumors, however, began to fly
around that the king intended to
use troops to shut down the
National Assembly.
June 20, 1789
Europe on the Eve of the
French Revolution
Storming the Bastille, July 14, 1789
•
A rumor that the king was planning a military coup
against the National Assembly.
•
18 died.
•
73 wounded.
•
7 guards
killed.
•
It held 7
prisoners
[5 ordinary
criminals & 2
madmen].
The Great Fear: Peasant Revolt
(July 20, 1789)
•
Rumors that the nobles were sending hired brigands
to attack peasants and pillage their land sparked a
serious of riots by peasants all over France.
The Path
of the
“Great
Fear”
Reforms or Revolution?
•
The National Assembly did pass some
reforms
•
The feudal system of privileges was
abolished.
•
All people were technically equal before
the law.
•
But the nobility didn’t give up anything it
didn’t already lose.
MODERATE REFORM
National Constituent Assembly
1789 - 1791
Liberté!
Egalité!
Fraternité!
August Decrees
August 4-11, 1789
(A renunciation of aristocratic privileges!)
The Tricolor (1789)
The WHITE of the
Bourbons + the RED &
BLUE of Paris.
Citizen!
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
August 26,
1789
• Liberty!
• Property!
• Resistance to
oppression!
• Thomas Jefferson
was in Paris at this
time.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
Posed New Dilemmas
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?
The Royal Family Attempts
to Flee
•
June, 1791
•
Helped by the Swedish Count Hans Axel
von Fusen [Marie Antoinette’s lover].
•
Headed toward the
Luxembourg
border.
•
The King was
recognized at
Varennes, near
the border
Olympe de Gouges (1745-1793)
• Women played a vital
role in the Revolution.
• But, The Declaration
of the Rights of Man
did NOT extend the
rights and protections
of citizenship to
women.
Declaration of the
Rights of Woman
and of the Citizen
(1791)