The French Revolution

The Enlightenment in France The King, First Estate, and Second Estate largely ignored Enlightenment ideas They were satisfied with the current social structure The bourgeoisie and other members of the Third Estate identified with Enlightenment ideas like justice, equality, and a democratic government

The Financial Crisis Deepens France borrowed huge amounts of money to help America during the American Revolution Louis XV threw lavish parties and spent great amounts of money Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette did not control their personal spending and drove the country deep into debt Louis tried to get the nobility to pay more taxes, but they refused Food prices kept getting more expensive Banks refused to lend more money to French government

Conditions Get Worse France experiences the worst winter in almost a century It was so cold that rivers froze and prevented mills from making flour The following Spring, France experiences a crop failure The price of bread skyrockets The average peasant cannot afford to buy food after paying taxes and tithe Louis XVI tries again to get 1 st and 2 nd estates to pay taxes They refuse

aUrban Commoner’s Budget: –Food 80% –Rent 25% –Tithe 10% –Taxes 35% –Clothing 20% –TOTAL 170% aKing’s Budget: –Interest 50% –Army 25% –Versailles 25% –Coronation 10% –Loans 25% –Admin. 25% –TOTAL 160% Financial Problems in France, 1789

The Estates General Louis XVI has no choice but to call the Estates General together to approve new taxes he France would place on the 3 rd Estate E.G. had not been called for more than 175 years, and representatives had many grievances They expected the E.G. to pass major reforms, but the traditional voting system would probably prevent most changes

Commoners 3rd Estate Aristocracy 2nd Estate Clergy 1st Estate The Traditional Voting Pattern: Voting by Estates Each estate got one vote. This is how the Estates General worked in the past

Commoners 3rd Estate Aristocracy 2nd Estate Clergy 1st Estate The Voting Pattern Suggested by the Third Estate: Vote by Representative

The National Assembly The 3 rd Estate refused participate in the traditional method and declared themselves the National Assembly –Believed they had the right to make laws for France Louis XVI locked out the 3 rd Estate from the meeting of the E.G. The National Assembly did not leave – instead they met on an indoor tennis court and swore not to leave until they had made a constitution for France –Called the Tennis Court Oath Louis gave in and allowed a vote by representative

Louis’ Big Mistake After he allowed the new voting pattern, Louis worried that the monarchy might be in danger He called for troops to move into Paris and Versailles to protect the monarchy “just in case” The 3 rd Estate thought Louis was going to use the army to put down the National Assembly

The Bastille Members of the National Assembly wanted to arm themselves in case the king’s army attacked A mob went to the Bastille, a prison in Paris, to look for weapons

About the Bastille During the Middle Ages, the French government used Bastille to imprison people who spoke out against the king Bastille was a symbol of oppression and tyranny In 1789, however, the prison only held 7 prisoners

Storming the Bastille The mob tried to negotiate with the prison commander for weapons Commander refused, negotiations broke down, and the mob invaded the prison They killed the commander, put his head on a post and paraded it through the streets of Paris

The Great Fear Many people were shocked at the violence that occurred at the Bastille They were afraid the king would punish the commoners and end any chance for reform Rumors spread that Louis had asked foreign armies to come in and attack the peasants Peasants across France began to revolt against the government and the nobility, burning houses and destroying records of debt and feudal dues

The Path of the “Great Fear” Started in the big cities and spread to the countryside

Meanwhile… The National Assembly continued meeting When the violence from the Great Fear cooled down,the N.A. began passing huge reforms Feudalism was abolished The First Estate lost all of its legal privileges A declaration was written

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Expressed the Enlightenment ideas of “liberty, equality, and fraternity” Was inspired by England’s Bill of Rights and America’s Declaration of Independence –All men are equal before the law –Freedom of speech, press, and religion –Rights did not apply to women

Reaction to the Declaration Many nobles fled France Some nobles stayed with Louis XVI at Versailles, and he called in the royal army to protect them At Versailles they threw a massive dinner party to celebrate the king and queen and bash the National Assembly

The End of the Monarchy In October 1789 a mob of more than 7,000 marched to Versailles to demand bread Louis agreed to leave Versailles and move back to Paris under house arrest N.A. seized Church lands and sold them to pay off national debt, turned clergy into public servants Many people were shocked and horrified

The Constitution of 1791 Kept the monarchy intact but greatly limited the authority of the king Divided the government into three branches –Executive, legislative, judicial King could no longer make or block laws The National Assembly became the Legislative Assembly Louis XVI reluctantly accepted the new constitution

The King Flees Louis tried to get support from foreign governments to overthrow the legislative assembly His advisors told him to flee the country Louis and Marie were caught trying to escape and were arrested, taken back to Paris The people of France no longer trusted Louis as their king, so they stormed his Paris palace and threw the royal family in prison

The Monarchy Ends Austria and Prussia warned France not to harm the monarchs, so France declared war on them France lost badly, and the people were afraid their reforms would be overturned unless they did something drastic The Legislative Assembly abolished the monarchy and put the king on trial for treason The constitution was thrown out and the Legislative Assembly was disbanded so a new government could be formed: a Republic