The French Monarchy: Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI
Population of France 13million
The French Urban Poor
French Budget, 1774
Where is the tax money?
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
Lettres de Cachet YThe French king could warrant imprisonment or death in a signed letter under his seal. YA carte-blanche warrant. YCardinal Fleury issued 80,000 during the reign of Louis XV! YEliminated in 1790.
Europe on the Eve of the French Revolution
Convening the Estates General May, 1789 Last time it was called into session was 1614!
Commoners 3rd Estate Aristocracy 2nd Estate Clergy 1st Estate The Suggested Voting Pattern: Voting by Estates Louis XIV insisted that the ancient distinction of the three orders be conserved in its entirety.
Commoners 3rd Estate Aristocracy 2nd Estate Clergy 1st Estate The Number of Representatives in the Estates General: Vote by Head!
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes 1 st What is the Third Estate? Everything! 2 nd What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing! 3 rd What does it demand? To become something therein! Abbé Sieyès
“The Third Estate Awakens” YThe commoners finally presented their credentials not as delegates of the Third Estate, but as “representatives of the nation.” YThey proclaimed themselves the “National Assembly” of France.
Les Tricoteuses Women who fight for the French Revolution.
Storming the Bastille, July 14, 1789 YA rumor that the king was planning a military coup against the National Assembly. Y18 died. Y73 wounded. Y7 guards killed. YIt held 7 prisoners [5 ordinary criminals & 2 madmen].
The Great Fear: Peasant Revolt (July 20, 1789) YRumors that the feudal aristocracy [the aristos] were sending hired brigands to attack peasants and pillage their land.
Night Session of August 4, 1789 Y Before the night was over: The feudal regime in France had been abolished. All Frenchmen were, at least in principle, subject to the same laws and the same taxes and eligible for the same offices. Equality & Meritocracy! Equality & Meritocracy!
The Tricolor (1789) The WHITE of the Bourbons + the RED & BLUE of Paris. Citizen! Citizen!
National Constituent Assembly August Decrees August 4-11, 1789 (A renunciation of aristocratic privileges!) Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen August 26, 1789 VLiberty! VProperty! VResistance to oppression!
Olympe de Gouges ( ) Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen (1791) VWomen played a vital role in the Revolution. VBut, The Declaration of the Rights of Man did NOT extend the rights and protections of citizenship to women.
The “October Days” (1789) The king was thought to be surrounded by evil advisors at Versailles so he was forced to move to Paris and reside at the Tuileries Palace.
March of the Women, October 5-6, 1789 We want the baker, the baker’s wife and the baker’s boy! A spontaneous demonstration of Parisian women for bread.
The Tricolor is the Fashion!
The “Liberty Cap”: Bonne Rouge
Revolutionary Symbols Cockade Revolutionary Clock La Republic Liberté
Revolutionary Playing Cards
How to Finance the New Govt.? 1. Confiscate Church Lands (1790) One of the most controversial decisions of the entire revolutionary period.
2. Print Assignats V Issued by the National Constituent Assembly. V Interest-bearing notes which had the church lands as security.
New Relations Between Church & State V Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches. V The church was reorganized: Parish priests elected by the district assemblies. Bishops named by the department assemblies. The pope had NO voice in the appointment of the French clergy. VIt transformed France’s Roman Catholic Church into a branch of the state!! Pope Pius VI [ ]
Constitution of 1791
The French Constitution of 1791: A Bourgeois Government VThe king got the “suspensive” veto [which prevented the passage of laws for 4 years]. He could not pass laws. His ministers were responsible for their own actions. VA permanent, elected, single chamber National Assembly. Had the power to grant taxation. VAn independent judiciary.
Louis XVI “Accepts” the Constitution & the National Assembly. 1791
The Royal Family Attempts to Flee Y June, 1791 Y Helped by the Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fusen [Marie Antoinette’s lover]. Y Headed toward the Luxembourg border. Y The King was recognized at Varennes, near the border
The First Coalition & The Brunswick Manifesto (August 3, 1792) FRANCE AUSTRIA PRUSSIA BRITAIN SPAIN PIEDMONT Duke of Brunswick if the Royal Family is harmed, Paris will be leveled!! This military crisis undermined the new Legislative Assembly.
Marie Antoinette and the Royal Children
Petite Trianon, Chateau
Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant Cottage”
Marie Antoinette’s Boudoir
The Necklace Scandal YCardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan YThe Countess de LaMotte 1,600,000 livres [$100 million today]
Let Them Eat Cake! YMarie Antoinette NEVER said that! Y“Madame Deficit” Y“The Austrian Whore”
Attitudes & actions of monarchy & court Fear of Counter- Revolution Religious divisions Political divisions War Economi c Crises The Causes of Instability in France
The September Massacres, 1792 Buveurs de sang [“drinkers of blood.”] Over 1,000 Parisians killed!
Louis XVI as a Pig
The Guillotine Single purpose: decapitation Blade: 89 inches, could cut in seconds. Never mass-produced, made by hand.
History Dr. Joseph Guillotine recognized the swift method and thought it fit in with human rights and promoted it in 1789-he was laughed at by other National Assembly members. First one built in 1792 and supported by Dr. Louis-called the “louison” or “louisette” Prototype tested on animals and dead poor people. Later changed to the “Guillotine” to commemorate Dr. Guillotine who NEVER built one. The First criminal was beheaded on April 24, 1792.
King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette The most famous victims. Louis was beheaded for treason in Marie-Antoinette was imprisoned for nine moths before being executed. During the Revolution 17,000 to 40,000 were killed. During the Reign of Terror about 3,000 a month. (3/4 innocent) Beheading were violent, with blood still pumping out of the bodies, pouring over gutters, and running down the streets.
Louis XVI’s Head (January 21, 1793)
Marie Antoinette as a Serpent
Marie Antoinette on the Way to the Guillotine Marie Antoinette on the Way to the Guillotine
Marie Antoinette Died in October, 1793
The French Revolution “Radical Phase
What was the National Convention? All the members of the National Assembly got together to decided what to do with the king.
The First French Republic: The Jacobins ruled it.
The Jacobins The Jacobins were the main political party that existed during the French Revolution. This party was in control and its leader was Robespierre
Committee for Public Safety Revolutionary Tribunals. Created to “protect” the people 300,000 arrested. 16,000 – 50,000 executed.
The Political Spectrum Jacobins Montagnards (“The Mountain”) Girondists Monarchíen (Royalis ts) 1790s: The Plain (uncom mitted) TODAY:
The Reign of Terror Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible. -- Robespierre Let terror be the order of the day!
Leaders of the Reign of Terror!
Maximillian Robespierre (1758 – 1794)
Jean-Paul Marat (1744 – 1793)
“The Death of Marat” by Jacques Louis David, 1793
The Assassination of Marat by Charlotte Corday (Paul Jacques Aimee Baudry, 19c)
Robespierre Arrested! Robespierre is put on trial for his brutality!!
The Revolution Consumes Its Own Children! Danton Awaits Execution, 1793 Robespierre Lies Wounded Before the Revolutionary Tribunal that will order him to be guillotined, 1794.
Napoleon Comes to Power The People are tired of a “republic” and the great military commander Napoleon comes to power. He crowns himself emperor in 1802.