1. Which of the following statements do you most agree with?
Before we begin….
Which of the following statements do you most agree with?
People should never take part in political revolution
People should take part in political revolution only if their family is in danger.
People should take part in political revolution only if their basic human rights are not met.
People should take part in political revolution

2. La Marseillaise, French National Anthem
The French Revolution
and Napoleon
video
FOCUS
What were the causes and effects of the French Revolution, and how did the revolution lead to the Napoleonic era?
La Marseillaise, French National Anthem

3. Four Segments of this Unit
What were the causes and effects of the French Revolution, and how did the revolution lead to the Napoleonic era?
Section 1:
On the Eve of Revolution
Section 2:
The French Revolution Unfolds
Section 3:
Radical Days of the Revolution
Section 4:
The Age of Napoleon

4. There will be plenty of visuals
Storming of the Bastille, a prison in Paris Was a symbol of royal power in the 1700s, used for political prisoners
The king could arrest anyone on a secret warrant and keep them there without trial

5. (6.1) I. On the Eve of Revolution
A) French Society Divided
B) Financial Troubles
C) Louis XIV calls the Estates-General
D) Parisians Storm the Bastille

6. A) French Society Divided
How did France look in 1789?
26 million French citizens
Still clinging to an outdated social system from the Middle Ages
Ancien régime (old order) was divided into three social classes (estates)
First Estate, Second Estate, and the Third Estate

7. The Three Estates The First Estate: Clergy (100,000)
Church owned about 10% of the land, collected tithes, and paid no direct taxes to the state
High church leaders such as bishops and abbots lived very well
Some social services provided (Nuns, monks, and priests ran schools, hospitals, and orphanages)
Remember that the Enlightenment targeted church for reform… criticizing the idleness of some clergy, the church’s interference in politics, and intolerance of dissent
Cleric, Knight, and Workman
In response many in this class criticized the Enlightenment for undermining religion and moral order

8. The Three Estates The Second Estate: Nobility (300,000)
Only 0.5% of the population
Rights included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church
Although they owned land, they had little financial income
As prices began to rise, they felt the pinch
Feared losing their traditional privileges, especially freedom from paying taxes
Members of the Second Estate

9. The Three Estates The Third Estate: ‘Everybody else’
The most diverse social class
Two ‘layers’ – Bourgeoisie and rural peasants
Bourgeoisie included: bankers, merchants, and manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and professors
Rural peasants were the bulk of the Third Estate
Members of the Third Estate

10. The Three Estates The Third Estate: ‘Everybody else’
The most diverse social class, two ‘layers’ – Bourgeoisie and rural peasants
Bourgeoisie included: bankers, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and professors
Rural peasants were the bulk of the Third Estate
Urban poor were unemployed
Members of the Third Estate
The poorest members were urban workers (apprentices, journeymen) in printing and cloth making

11. What was the Third Estate?
“1. What is the Third Estate? Everything 2. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing 3. What does it want to be? Something.” Abbé Emmanuel Sieyés
The vast Third Estate- peasants, dentists, laborers, and more- comprising more than 95% of France, was now ready to fight for equality

12. Trouble begins to brew
Whether rich or poor, members of the Third Estate resented privileges by their “social betters.” Although wealthy bourgeois families could buy political office, the best jobs were still reserved for nobles.
Urban workers earned miserable wages. Even the smallest increase in the price of bread, brought the threat of greater hunger or even starvation.

13. Trouble begins to brew First and Second Estates paid no taxes
Peasants burdened by taxes on everything from land to soap to salt
How does the cartoonist portray the Third Estate? What were the differences among the social classes in pre-revolutionary France?
taxes, money, land, and jobs available

14. Follow-Up from Yesterday
To what estate did most of the French population belong?
the Third Estate
How did the lives of the clergy and nobles differ from members of the Third Estate?
The clergy and nobles paid almost no taxes, while Third Estate paid taxes on almost everything.
Many of the clergy and nobles were wealthy and occupied positions of influence, while most of the Third Estate was poor and powerless.

15. (6.1) I. On the Eve of Revolution
A) French Society Divided
B) Financial Troubles
C) Louis XIV calls the Estates-General
D) Parisians Storm the Bastille

16. B) Financial Troubles National Debt Soars
One of the causes of the economic troubles was mushrooming financial crisis due to years of deficit spending. So what is deficit spending?
Debt from the Seven Years War and lavish court
Bad harvests sent food prices soaring

17. Economic Reform Fails
Louis XVI chooses Jacques Necker as his financial advisor
Necker urged king to reduce extravagant court spending, reform government, and abolish tariffs on trade
Also proposed taxing the First and Second Estates
Nobles and high clergy were outraged and forced King Louis XVI to dismiss him
Pressure for reform mounted, wealthy and powerful classes demand that king to summon the Estates-General

18. Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General
At the end of 1788, France is on the verge of bankruptcy
Bread riots are spreading
Nobles (the Second Estate) are afraid of taxes, begin to denounce ‘royal tyranny’
King Louis XVI tells the Three Estates to prepare their cahiers (notebooks) which lists their grievances
In other words...“bring it on”
the Estates-General hadn’t been called for 175 years

19. Estates Prepare Grievance Notebooks
Many cahiers called for reforms such as fairer taxes, freedom of the press, or regular meetings of the E-G
Tensions rise: Tax collectors were “bloodsuckers of the nation who drink the tears of the unfortunate from goblets of gold.” -The courts of nobles were “vampires sucking the last drop of blood” from the people.
Delegates take the Tennis Court Oath, swore “never to separate and to meet wherever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and just constitution.”

20. Remember John Locke….
“People have a natural right to life, liberty, and property. Rulers have a responsibility to protect these rights. People have the right to change a government that fails to do so.”
Do you see how this quote relates to the events of the meeting of the Estates-General?

21. inspiring Enlightenment ideas
Circle back...
What three factors led to the start of the French Revolution?
social inequalities
economic troubles
inspiring Enlightenment ideas

22. Parisians Storm the Bastille
Reform-minded clergy and nobles join the Assembly and advocate change
Louis XVI becomes concerned, orders royal troops to streets of Paris
Crowds gather outside the Bastille, demanding weapons and gunpowder
July 14, 1789 – “Bastille Day”
This ‘rage’ demonstrated a new sense of empowerment by Parisians

23. (6.2) I. The French Revolution Unfolds
A) Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
B) The National Assembly Acts
C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
D) Radicals Take Over

24. A) Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
Europe stares at France in Disbelief
Midway through 1789 and the country is experiencing the worst famine in memory
Starving peasants roaming the countryside, flocking to towns where they join those who are unemployed
Grain prices are soaring, people spending up to 80% of their income on bread
When no one is in control, rumors spread
“GREAT FEAR”

25. A) Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
“GREAT FEAR”
Tales of attacks on villages and towns
“Government troops are seizing peasant crops”
IN RESPONSE
Peasants unleash their fury on nobles trying to reimpose medieval dues
Set fire to old records, stealing grain from storehouses

26. (6.2) I. The French Revolution Unfolds
A) Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
B) The National Assembly Acts
C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
D) Radicals Take Over

27. B) The National Assembly Acts
Special Privilege Ends
In response to the Bastille stampede, nobles in the National Assembly vote to end their own privileges
Agree to give up their manorial dues, exclusive hunting rights, special legal status, and exemption from taxes
What are ‘manorial dues’ ?
Peasants farmed small plots of land and owed rent and labor to their lord…most were not free to leave the estate.

28. B) The National Assembly Acts
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Issued by the Assembly in late August
Modeled in part on America’s Declaration of Independence (13 years before)
Based on the writings of Locke and the philosophes, the constitution insisted that governments exist to protect the natural rights of citizens

29. B) The National Assembly Acts
Declaration of the Rights of Man
All men were “born and remain free and equal in rights.”
They enjoyed natural rights to “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”
Furthermore, all male citizens were equal before the law
Every Frenchman had an equal right to hold public office

30. B) The National Assembly Acts
Declaration of the Rights of Man
In addition, the declaration asserted freedom of religion and called for taxes to be levied according to ability to pay
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
But what about women?
1791: Olympe de Gouges demands equal rights in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen

31. B) The National Assembly Acts
But did the Nobles really listen?
Nobles continue to enjoy gala banquets while people were starving in the streets.
By autumn, anger turns to action…

32. B) The National Assembly Acts
Women March on Versailles
In early October 6,000 women march 13 miles in pouring rain from Paris to Versailles to confront the king
Crowd’s anger was directed at Marie Antoinette
Women would not leave unless king agreed to return to Paris
Video: Chateau de Versailles

33. B) The National Assembly Acts
Louis XVI returns to Paris
“Now we won’t have to go so far when we want to see our king”
The royal family moves to the Tuileries palace
For the next three years, they are virtual prisoners
Note how the National Assembly reacted to peasant uprisings. The nobles in the National Assembly voted to give up privileges.

34. (6.2) I. The French Revolution Unfolds
A) Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
B) The National Assembly Acts
C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
D) Radicals Take Over

35. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
The church is placed under state control
The National Assembly follows the king to Paris
Worked to draft a constitution and solve ongoing financial crisis
In order to pay off their debt, the Assembly votes to take over and sell Church lands
Remember, 95% of France was Roman Catholic, so the Church had great power and was the largest land owner at the time

36. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
The ‘Dechristianisation’ of France
Involved revoking church lands and destroying all signs of the religion, such as crosses
The threat of death and imprisonment forced French religious figures to resign
In its place, the government started civic cults such as the Cult of Reason and the Cult of Supreme Being

37. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
Notre Dame Cathedral Ransacked
Many sculptures and treasures were destroyed
The cathedral was rededicated to the Cult of Reason, later to the Cult of the Supreme Being
The Virgin Mary replaced by Lady Liberty on several altars
The cathedral also used as warehouse for food storage

38. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
The Constitution of 1791 Establishes a New Government
The main task of producing a constitution is completed!
Limited monarchy replaces a absolute monarchy
New Legislative Assembly has power to make laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues of war and peace
Lawmakers to be elected by tax- paying male citizens over age 25

39. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
The Constitution of 1791 Establishes a New Government

40. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
The Constitution of 1791 Establishes a New Government
Government is made more efficient, replacing provinces with 83 departments of equal size
Old provincial courts abolished and laws were reformed
Did this complete the revolution?
Those of the Enlightenment were satisfied, but it also put power in the hands of men with the means and leisure to serve in government

41. C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
Louis’s Escape Fails
June 1791, Marie Antoinette convinces King Louis XVI that it’s time to leave town
Why would the French people see this as treason?

42. (6.2) I. The French Revolution Unfolds
A) Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
B) The National Assembly Acts
C) The National Assembly Presses Onward
D) Radicals Take Over

43. Rulers Fear Spread of Revolution
D) Radicals Take Over
Rulers Fear Spread of Revolution
European rulers refer to the French Revolution as the “French Plague”
Border patrols (by surrounding countries) to maintain stability
Horror stories spread by émigrés (nobles, clergy, and other who fled France)

44. Rulers Fear Spread of Revolution
D) Radicals Take Over
Rulers Fear Spread of Revolution
Émigrés report of attacks on their privileges, their property, their religion…even their lives!
Enlightened rulers turn against France – Catherine the Great burns Voltaire’s letters and locks up critics
“When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away…we have no compass to govern us”

45. Threats Come from Abroad
D) Radicals Take Over
Threats Come from Abroad
When news of the king’s failed escape reaches other countries, there is talk of intervention
August 1791, king of Prussia and the emperor of Austria (who is also Marie Antoinette’s brother) issues Declaration of Pilnitz
The declaration stated Austria would go to war if and only if all the other major European powers also went to war with France. Leopold chose this wording so that he would not be forced to go to war; he knew William Pitt, prime minister of Great Britain, did not support war with France. Leopold merely issued the declaration to satisfy the French emigres who had taken refuge in his country and were calling for foreign interference in their homeland.

46. Threats Come from Abroad
D) Radicals Take Over
Threats Come from Abroad
This “declaration” threatens to intervene to protect the French monarchy, but was it a bluff?
Revolutionaries in France now prepare for war
No one was going to stop their movement and it was FULL STEAM AHEAD!

47. D) Radicals Take Over Radicals Fight for Power and Declare War
October 1791, France’s Legislative Assembly takes office
Survives less than a year
Assignats, the revolutionary currency, drops in value, causing prices to rise
Results in hoarding, food shortages
Sans-culottes demand a republic…a government ruled by elected representatives instead of a monarch
The National Assembly Declares War on Tyranny