The French Revolution – Phase 1: The Constitutional Monarchy 1789 - 1791

Louis XVI In 1774, just before the American Revolution began, Louis XV was succeeded as king of France by his grandson, Louis XVI. Louis inherited a kingdom heavily indebt, due both to internal problems as well as ties to external wars. IN fact, half of the countries current revenue was being used to pay off war debts. This does not improve when Louis in convinced to assist the Americans. Despite being on the winning side of that war, France gained nothing – except more debt. When Louis had first claimed the throne, there was hope things would improve over his grandfather’s lackluster government. But instead, things only seemed to get worse.

Marie Antoinette Complicating matters further, was the public’s dislike of his Queen - Marie Antoinette. First, there was the general distrust of the Hapsburgs (Antoinette was one of the daughters of Maria Theresa). Despite the countries being on nominally friendly terms, the Hapsburg Empire was still seen as one of the greatest threats to France. Secondly, the marriage was slow to produce an heir which, as the tradition of the day dictated, was blamed on the Queen rather than king. Newspapers that dislike the queen start to spread malicious gossip, rumors telling shocking stories of a myriad of lovers, both male and female, giving her the nickname “the Austrian whore.” Her second nickname, “Madame Deficit”, described Marie’s spending habits quite well. She spent enormous amounts of money on clothing, jewels, chateaux, and any kind of whim. At certain times, she would help the poor with huge amounts of money, but only sporadically, according to impulse.

The Three Estates France, since the middle ages, had bee divided into Three Estates. The First Estate was made up of the Clergy. They numbered around 130,000 and owned about 10% of the land. The Clergy found themselves divided by Class. The Higher Clergy (Cardinals, Bishops, and Heads of Monasteries) were from Noble families and shared their outlook and interests. The Parish Priests were often poor commoners. The Second Estate was made up of the Nobility. They numbered around 350 thousand and owned about 25 to 30 percent o the land. They held leading positions in the government, military, courts, and church. They held most of the national wealth, but neither Nobles, or Clergy, had to pay the Taille (TAH-yuh), France’s primary tax. The remainder of the population made up the Third Estate. They numbered somewhere between 24 Million and 27 Million. They vastly varied in occupation, level of education, and wealth. Peasants made up 75 to 80 percent of the Third Estate and owned about 35 to 40 percent of the land. Middle class members of the third estate owned the rest, At least half the peasants owned no land. France still practiced a form of Serfdom, from the middle ages, that had not fully been replaced yet, so many Peasants still owed portions of their harvest to the lords, something their fiercely resented. Many of the third estate had moved to the city, some as shopkeepers and craftsmen, others as a rising middle class – merchants, bankers, industrialists, lawyers, doctors, and writers – Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie were unhappy with the privileges of the Nobility, but did not want it abolished.

The Estates General 1789 In 1789, the King agreed to convene the Estates General to deal with the crisis. Debate on the organization of the Estates General split the aristocracy and the third estate before the meeting even began Aristocrats demanded an equal number of representative from each estate In September 1788, the Parlement of Paris ruled that each estate, not each delegate, should have one vote Intended to ensure aristocratic dominance, as the 1st and 2nd estate were likely to vote together Members of the 3rd estate charged the aristocracy , who were accusing the King of trampling on French liberties, of hypocrisy, and the meeting convened in an atmosphere of suspicion and resentment The royal council decided the Third Estate would be its best allying the fight for fiscal reform On December 1788, it granted the Third estate twice as many representatives as the nobles and the clergy Which meant the third estate could dominate the Estates General if votes were individually counted The king had not yet decided how voted would be taken when the Estates General gathered at Versailles in May 1789

Cahiers de Doléances The Cahiers de Doléances The men who assembled at Versailles presented the king with a list of grievances compiled by the citizens who had elected them Items included Government waste Indirect taxes Corrupt clergy Hunting rights of the Aristocracy Wanted Periodic meetings of the Estates General More equitable taxes More local control Unified weights and measures Free press Equality among all the king’s subjects Although their was conflict between the estates the cahiers indicated broad agreement across the estates on the need for major reforms

National Assembly & the Tennis Court Oath 1789 - Unresolved procedural problems prevented the Estates General from immediately taking up issues of substance, and things ground to a halt when the third estate refused to obey the king and convene as a separate group On June 1, the Third Estate took things into its own hands and invited the clergy and the nobles to join it in dissolving the Estates General and setting up a new legislative body. On June 17, the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly, and two days later the Second Estate, by a narrow margin, voted to join the Assembly The Tennis Court Oath On June 20, members of the National Assembly took an oath not to disperse until they had given France a constitution Called the Tennis court oath, as the assembly had been accidentally locked out of their meeting place, and convened on a nearby tennis court Louis XIV ordered the assembly to desist, but in a few days it had recruited most of the clergy and a large percentage of the nobles On June 27, the King capitulated and formally requested the First and Second Estates to meet with the National Assembly and to vote by head rather than by estate The National Assembly brought together men from all three estates who shared hope for liberal reform

Storming of the Bastille Many members of the National Assembly wanted to establish a constitutional monarchy, but were thwarted by Louis’s refuel to cooperate The kings decision to oppose the diverse groups converging against him only served to unite them and spur on the revolution he tried to halt His most conservative nobles urged him to use force to breakup the National Assembly He tried to intimidate it by mustering royal troops in the vicinity of Versailles and Paris. This spread fear through Paris, which housed over 600,000 people, and had only recently been the scene of bread riots On July 14, somewhat more than 800 mostly working-class people marched to the Bastille to demand weapons for the Cities Militia The governor of Bastille lost control of the situation and his troops fired into the crowd 98 people died, and many others were wounded. The enraged crowd stormed the fortress, gained entrance released seven prisoners, and killed the governor and some of his soldiers

Marquis de Lafayette & Tri-Colour On July 15, the militia of Paris – calling itself the national guard – offered its command to a hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette He suggested the guard’s insignia: red and blue stripes (the colors of Paris) separated by a white stripe (the emblem of the King). The pattern would become the symbol of the revolution and eventually France’s Flag

The Great Fear The disturbances in Paris spawned a rumor that royal troops were being sent to occupy the countryside This multiplied the few scattered peasant revolts that had also erupted that spring until a “Great Fear” swept the countryside Mobs burned chateaux, destroyed public records and documents, and declared an end to feudal dues The peasants seized stores of scare foods and reclaimed land that they had lost during the last quarter to the “aristocratic resurgence”

Night of August 4, 1789 in the National Assembly On the night of August 4, 1789, aristocrats in the Assembly made a gesture they hoped would calm the peasant rebels and restore order to the countryside Liberal nobles and clergy renounced their feudal rights, dues, and tithes and their emotional speeches inspired other member of the Assembly to divest themselves of their privileges In a sense, they gave up what they had already lost, and could not have gained back without civil war Nonetheless their act of renunciation put all French citizens on the same legal footing and paved the way for reconstruction of French law and society

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen August 27, 1789 On August 27, 1789, the Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, a statement of the political principles that would guide the writing of a new constitution. Drafted by Honoré Mirabeau and Marquis de Lafayette, assisted by Thomas Jefferson, who was the American ambassador to France at the time. The document is strongly influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the English Bill of Rights, and Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. It affirmed that all men were born free and equal with inalienable rights to liberty, property, and personal security Governments existed to protect those rights, and Gov’ts ought to guarantee all their citizens equal protection before the law and equal opportunity to serve in public office Affirmed due process of law, freedom of religion, and presumption of innocence until proof of guilt Indictment of the abuses of absolute monarchy and a death certificate for the Old Regime

The Parisian Women’s March October 5, 1789 When Louis XVI was slow to ratify the declaration and the aristocrats’ renunciation of their feudal privileges, rumors spread that the king was again contemplating military action On October 5, a crowd of about 7,000 Parisian women (armed with pikes, guns, swords, and knives) marched to Versailles to demand relief from the bread shortage The intimidated Louis, and he agreed to sanction the decrees of the Assembly The Parisians, however, did not trust him, and they insisted the royal family move to Paris so its conduct could be monitored Having no option, Louis’s carriage followed the crowd into the city to the palace of the Tuileries on October 6, 1789 The women’s march was the first mass insurrection to use the language of popular sovereignty against a monarch

Olympe de Gouges Declaration of the Rights of Women Olympe de Gouges’s Declaration of Rights of Woman Some women objected to the exclusion of their gender from politics In 1791, Olympe de Gouges, a butcher’s daughter from Montauban, published, published a Declaration of the Rights of Women It added the word woman to each clause in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen that mentioned men and demanded that women be regarded as citizens in their own right and not simply as dependents of citizen families Wanted property rights and improved education for women Equality between wives and husbands

Assignats The key problem that had started the revolution had been the economy, so it was here that the Assembly took what may well have been their most decisive action - It confiscated and sold off the property belonging to the country’s Roman Catholic Church. This put so much wealth into circulation that it ignited inflation as well as schism and civil war In December 1789, the assembly authorized the issuance of assignats, government bonds whose value was backed up by the revenue to be generated from the sale of church property. Initially a limit was to be set on how many were sold, but they were so popular that the assembly was tempted to print enough to liquidate the national debt This created a large body of bondholders with personal stakes in the survival of the revolutionary government, but within a few months their value began to fall, and rising inflation further stressed the urban poor. Nonetheless, assignats were so popular that they ceased to function as bonds, and instead became true currency.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy July 1790 The confiscation of Church lands necessitated the reorganization of the Church. In July 1790, the assembly (without consulting the pope for the French Clergy) issued the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. This imposed state control on the Roman Catholic Church in France. The number of bishoprics was reduced from 135 to 83 to make the dioceses of religious administrators conform with the new departments of civil government. Priests and bishops became salaries employees of the state and were to be elected like other state officials The CCC was a major blunder, the French clergy vigorously opposed it, and their opposition provoked the assembly to demand that all clergy take an oath of loyalty to the state Only seven bishops and about half the clergy complied. Those who refused were removed tom their ecclesiastical offices. In February 1791, the pope condemned not only the Civil constitution of the Clergy but also the Declaration of the Rights of man and citizen Many French people found themselves in the position of having to choose between their faith and their loyalty to the revolution

The Émigrés Charles Philippe, Count of Artois The revolution had other enemies beside the pope and devout Catholics Many aristocrats (known as émigrés) fled to countries on France’s borders and set up bases for counterrevolutionary activities. One of the more important was Charles Philippe, the Count of Artois – King Louis 16th’s youngest brother.

Flight to Varennes Charles believed his brother was not safe in Paris, and in the Summer of 1791, he and the queen persuaded Louis XIV to attempt to flee France On the night of June 20, 1791, Louis and his immediate family donned disguises and set out for Metz At Varennes the king was recognized and prevented from going further A company of solider brought the royal family back to Paris on June 24 The leaders of the assembly, who hopes to preserve support for establishing a constitutional monarchy, claimed the king had not fled, but been abducted

Declaration of Pillnitz Two months later, Marie Antoinette’s brother, Leopold II of Austria, and Prussia’s King, Frederick William II issued the Declaration of Pillnitz IT stated that both rulers were prepared to intervene to protect the royal family and to preserve the French monarchy if the major European powers supported them. French revolutionaries concluded that they were surrounded by hostile monarchists, and their anger increase the precariousness of the royal family’s situation The Declaration of Pillnitz Leopold II (Austria) and Frederick William II (Prussia)

Update the Timeline Franco-American Treaty – 1778 Battle of Yorktown – 1781 Treaty of Paris of 1783 The Estates General – 1789 The Tennis Court Oath – June 20, 1789 Storming of the Bastille - July 14, 1789 End of the Great Fear - August 4, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen - August 27, 1789 The Parisian Women’s March - October 5, 1789 Civil Constitution of the Clergy - July 1790 Flight to Varennes - June 20, 1791 Declaration of Pillnitz - August 27, 1791 Mary Wollstonecraft’s - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is published – 1792 Second Partition of Poland – 1793 Final Partition of Poland – 1795

The French Revolution – Phase 2: The First French Republic & The Reign of Terror Circa 1774 - 1799

Legislative Assembly October 1791 Constitution of 1791 Departments Tax reform Factionalism The constitution, which the assembly issued in 1791, created a constitutional Monarchy with a unicameral Legislative Assembly It granted the monarch a veto that could delay, but not halt, legislation. Assembly decreed a rational reorganization of France’s government and judiciary It eliminated provinces that conformed to medieval baronies and divided the country into eighty three departments of approximately equal size Assembly chose to replace old, much resented indirect taxes, with new taxes on land The NA completed the work of establishing a constitutional monarchy and dissolved itself in September 1791 Its last act was to declare its members ineligible for election to the new legislative Assembly The New assembly would convene on October 1 faces with a large series of problems Even worse, the assembly was plagued with factionalism which would last throughout its short life Many of these problems stemmed from the activities of clubs that deputies form the third estate had established Legislative Assembly October 1791

Jacobins Republic Girondists War Austria Prussia The Jacobins were the most organized of the new political clubs Their name came from the Dominican (Jacobin) monastery in Paris where their leaders met Embraced the most radical of the Enlightenments political theories Wanted a republic, not a constitutional monarchy Diminishing support for the monarchy, strengthen their hand A group of Jacobins, called Girondists, assumed leadership of the Legislative Assembly Persuaded the assembly to declare war on Austria and Prussia, who had threatened to intervene in France to protect the royal family, in April of 1792 War at first went badly, an Prussian threats of dire consequences if the royal family was harmed only increased suspicion of the King’s loyalty

Invasion of the Tuileries September Massacres Call for new Elections Paris Commune Invasion of the Tuileries September Massacres Call for new Elections Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, a new government had formed in the city of Paris referred to as the Paris Commune. By 1792 it was dominated by Jacobins who had served in the National Assembly, therefore were not allowed to serve on the Legislative Assembly. On August 10, 1792, a large crowd of Parisians, urged on the Commune, invaded the Tuileries palace. King was placed under house arrest and prohibited form exercising political power Two months later, the Paris Commune ordered the September Massacres Approximately 1200 people executed Some clergy and aristocrats but mostly common criminals, who because they were in jail, were assumed to be counter revolutionaries Along with imprisonment of Royal family, roused hostility in Europe to the revolution Commune compelled the Assembly to institute universal male suffrage and call an election for a new assembly to write a democratic constitution

The Convention Newly elected body called the Convention Named after the American constitutional convention of 1787 September 21, 1792, one day after the army halted the Prussian advance at the Battle of Valmy in eastern France First act was to declare France a republic The Convention

Idealized Portrait of a Sans-Culotte “The Mountain” Sans-culottes “Without Breeches” Goals: relief from food shortages government price controls end to social inequality This new republic was controlled by two groups A new, even more radical sect of the Jacobins, called “the Mountain” (from their seats at the top of the Assembly), and the Sans-culottes - “Without Breeches” Referred to the long trousers that working men wore in place of the Knee Breeches sported by aristocratic courtiers Parisian shopkeepers, artisans, wage earners, and Factory workers who had been ignored by the Old regime and victimized by the economic polices of the National Assembly Between the summers of 1792 and 1794, they were the dominating force that set the course of the revolution Knew what they wanted – immediate relief from food shortages, government imposed price controls, and an end to social inequality Intensely hostile to aristocrats and suspected the original leaders of the revolution of aspiring to become a new aristocracy Idealized Portrait of a Sans-Culotte

Execution of “Citizen Capet” Louis XVI In December 1792, Louis XVI was charged with conspiring against the liberty and security of France Girondists tried to spare his life, but the Mountain won his conviction Louis was stripped of his title on January 21, 1793, “Citizen Capet” as he was renamed after the founder of his dynasty, was beheaded

France at war with: Royalists, Austria, Prussia, Britain, Spain, Sardinia, and Holland (Netherlands) The death of the king lead to a royalist revolt in western France. IT also turned the rest of Europe thoroughly against the revolution. France soon found itself at war with not just Austria and Prussia, but Great Britain, Spain, Sardinia, and Holland as well.

The Committee for Public Safety: Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, Lazare Carnot Levée en Masse The Task of mobilizing the country for war led to the formation of a number of powerful committees, the most notable being: The Committee for Public Safety chaired by Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, and Lazare Carnot acquired almost dictatorial power Leaders were committed republicans who believed it was their duty to save the revolution form moral enemies at home and abroad Allied with the Sans-Culottes, and began to suppress many of the rights the revolution claimed to protect In June of 1793 the Parisian SC’s invaded the convention, expelled the Girondists, and established the radical Mountain in control On June 22, the convention approved a fully democratic constitution, but delayed its implementation until the end of the war On August 23, Carnot issued a Levée en Masse, and order for total military mobilization of both men and property

Festival of the Cult of the Supreme Being, 1794 De-Christianization New Calendar “Temple of Reason” “Cult of the Supreme Being” Christian Persecution Most dramatic effort to break from the past was the decision to de-Christianize France In October 1793, the convention issued a new calendar that chose the day on which the Republic was established, not the birth of Christ, as histories pivotal point The year was divided into 12 months of 30 days, each with names derived form the seasons Every 10th day, rather that every 7th, was a holiday Declared the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a “Temple of Reason” Officers were dispatched to the provinces to close churches, and persecute believers Drove a wedge between the provinces and the revolutionary government In May 1794, the government abandoned the worship of Reason as too abstract an idea for the masses, and endorsed the “Cult of the Supreme Being” Deistic civic religion Purpose of which was to promote morality Festival of the Cult of the Supreme Being, 1794

The Reign of Terror Late 1793 – Summer 1794 Revolutionary Tribunals “Enemies of the Revolution” Royal Family Nobles Monarchists Conservatives Moderates Girondists Etc… In the Autumn of 1793, the most infamous phase of the revolution began, the new republic unleashed the Reign of Terror, a spate of self-inflicted quasi-judicial bloodletting that continued until midsummer 1794 The spectacle did nothing to persuade the other European states that they could risk reform and revolution, and it can be understood only in the context of a foreign war and an overheated political situation in which the SC’s presses the Convention for a rapid transformation of Society Revolutionary Tribunals During the Summer of 1793, the convention established tribunals to search out and try the enemies of the republic, though the definition of “enemy” would change as the months past The term eventually included some republicans, who made the mistake of opposing the will of the dominant faction of the government First victims of the terror where Marie Antoinette, members of the Royal family, and some aristocrats, who were executed in October 1793 Certain Girondist politicians were next By the early months of 1794, the search for enemies had spread to the provinces and had begun to include members of every social class. Thousands died. (between 20 and 40 thousand, if anyone asks) The Reign of Terror Late 1793 – Summer 1794

Robespierre in control Execution of the Enragés Law of 22 Prairial Late winter of 1794 – Robespierre began to manipulate the Terror to remove persons who threatened him – both radicals and conservatives On March 24, he executed leaders of the enrages, SC extremists who were pressing for more price regulation, social equalization, and de-Christianization On June 10, he secured the passage of the Law of 22 Prairial, which increased the murderous efficiency of the tribunals by permitting then to convict suspects without hearing substantial evidence

Death of Robespierre – End of the Terror Fall of Robespierre On July 26, R made and ill-tempered speech in the convention, declaring unnamed leaders of the government were conspiring against the revolution This vague, but potent, threat caused members of the convention, fearing becoming his next victims, to act on their instinct for self preservation The next day, the 9th of Thermidor (new month’s name), they shouted him down when re rose to make another speech That night he was arrested and the following day, July 28, 1794, he was executed. R had destroyed his rivals without creating any supporters of his own

The Thermidorian Reaction Image - The Closing of the Jacobin Club By late summer of 1794, the uprisings in the provinces had been crushed, and the foreign war was also going well A growing sense of security and a spreading conviction that the revolution had consumed enough of its children brought the terror to an end The largest number of its over 25, 000 victims had been peasants and sans-culottes By July 1794 a tempering of revolutionary fervor, the Termidorian reaction, had set in and led to the establishment of a new constitutional regime The reigns of power passed from the sans-culottes for the wealthy middle class and professionals The power of the committee on public safety was reduced, and the Law of 22 Prairial was repealed The Paris commune was outlawed, and some of its leaders and some convention deputies were executed A bloody reaction, “the White Terror” set in as persons who had been involved in the Reign of terror were attacked and often murdered The Jacobin club closed, and Jacobins were executed with no more due process than they had extended their victims The Thermidorian Reaction Image - The Closing of the Jacobin Club

The Directory Napoleon Bonaparte 1795 Corsica Minor Nobility Jacobin Parisian Mob With the Terror at an end, the convention movement would eventually be phased out and replace in November of 1795 with a five person Directory. But the Directory lacked popular support, so it needed Military backing to take total control of the state. For that they turned to a young commander originally from Corsica called Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte’s family was impoverished minor nobility, but he had been a fiery Jacobin, and strong supporter of the revolution. He won the trust of the directory by putting down the Parisian royalist Mob with grapeshot from a cannon

Napoleon’s Early campaigns Italy Treaty with Austria Egypt British Admiral Horatio Nelson Directory made peace with Prussia and Spain And placed pressure on austria by sending Napoleon to Italy to evict the Austrians from Lombardy and Venetia Napoleon won a quick victory and of his own initiative negotiated a Treaty with Austria Austria Ended hostilities and acknowledged France’s domination of Italy and Switzerland Napoleon did not believe it was possible to invade England form France, so he instead proposed to undermine Britain by weakening its hold on its empire His plan was to take Egypt from the Ottomans, and use it as a base to drive the British fleet from the Med. And cut British communication with India Napoleon overran Egypt without difficulty, but was trapped there when his fleet was destroyed by the British Admiral Horatio Nelson in August of 1798

The Coup d'état of 18/19 Brumaire Abbé Siéyès Napoleon The Consulate As confidence in the Directory faded, one of the Directors (Abbé Siéyès) plotted to establish a new government with an executive powerful enough to ignore the whims of the electorate Military support was essential to any coup, so Napoleon saw this as an opportunity He abandoned his post in Egypt, and returned to France Many believed he deserved court-martial, but Siéyès needed the help he had to offer On 19 Brumaire (November 10, 1799), Napoleon’s troops dispersed the Legislature and cleared the way for Siéyès’s faction to implement a new constitution S intended to place executive authority in three consuls – their title a reference to the heads of the Roman Republic Napoleon, however, would sweep him aside and issue a new Constitution Behind a screen of democratic and republican gestures, it gave total power to a magistrate called the First Consul - a post Napoleon claimed for himself The founding of the Consulate is considered the official end of the French Revolution The Coup d'état of 18/19 Brumaire

Update the Timeline Declaration of Pillnitz - August 27, 1791 Legislative Assembly - October 1791 Mary Wollstonecraft’s - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is published – 1792 September Massacres – September 1792 The Convention - September 21, 1792 Execution of Louis XIV - January 21, 1793 Second Partition of Poland – 1793 The Reign of Terror – Late 1793 - Summer 1794 Law of 22 Prairial - June 10, 1794 The Thermidorian Reaction - July 1794 The Directory Established – 1795 Final Partition of Poland – 1795 Napoleon’s Coup d'état - November 10, 1799