1. Lead-up to July 14 End of June troops sent in to Paris
Feeling from the masses: ‘noble counter offensive’ or ‘aristocratic conspiracy’
Explanation of Illustration

2. Lead-up to July 14 July 11 - King exiles Necker
This action becomes a symbol of conspiracy, counter-revolution and of bankruptcy

3. Lead - Up to July 14 July 12 - Paris rebelled
Members of the Garde Française joined the rioters who soon controlled the streets
July13 - tolls broken down

4. Lead-up to July 14
July : first appearance of the National Guard - volunteer militia

5. July 14
The mob, in search of arms, stormed Les Invalides first, then the Bastille
But the storming of the Bastille took on a quite different motive: symbolism of structure:
A”monstrous urban, political and human anachronism”

6. Aftermath of July 14 15 July: recalls Necker and dismissal of troops
17 July: Louis XVI goes to Paris and acknowledges Bailly (Mayor) and La Fayette (commander of National Guard) as new order

7. The Great Fear (July 1789)
News of the Bastille reached the provinces gradually.
Harvest time: tensions high

8. The Great Fear (July 1789)
Peasants and townspeople begin to fear that the aristocracy is going to turn against them so, in retaliation they begin attacking chateaux, burning feudal documents etc.
Combination of hope and fear at the same time

9. August Decrees
August 3 - Patriot party (‘Breton club’) draw proposals to abolish feudalism
The reforms apply to serfdom and the corvée but to property (lods et ventes, champart)
Proposals given the legal form in the decrees of August

10. Results of the Decrees The final decree, written by Duport declared:
“The National Assembly completely destroys the feudal regime.”
What this meant: corporate society defined by shared privilege disappeared.

11. Results of the decrees
Even though the decrees were sealed on 11 August - not officially completed until
Keep in mind the importance, though.
A new legal society has occurred an economic society

12. What was feudalism?
Elements of true feudalism include aspects such as:
Seigneurial justice
Dues paid by tenant to his lord
Tenure in perpetuity

13. What was feudalism?
People saw that the following were ‘feudal’ eventhough they had nothing to do with feudalism:
Ecclesiastical levy of the tithe
Sale of offices

14. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Context
Came at a time when there had finally been a violent outbreak from the national past.
Were proclaimed against the backdrop of a system which was fraught with corruption and also a system which abhorred any idea of a social contract.

15. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
In such a context, some were fearful then of the ramifications of a contract. Why?
The main problem which faced the deputies in drawing up contract were that of reconciling freedom with duty.

16. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
Had its genesis before July 14
Final draft was agreed upon by 26 August
Influence of the American Declaration

17. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
Lafayette’s role
Why was it unrealistic to assume that such a document would be readily accepted?
Jefferson’s role

18. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
Key difference between the American model and the French one
American model had assumed the natural law existed before - therefore man was obliged to obey it

19. The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
The French Model:it was society’s responsibility to ensure that the rights of the individual were carried out

20. Cobban’s view in A History of Modern France Vol.1 P.164
The Declaration of Rights was the death-warrant of the system of privilege and so of the Old Regime. In this respect, it inaugurated a new age. Yet in the history of ideas, it belonged to the past rather than the future. The age of individual rights was not beginning but ending …the state had ceased to be simply a territory … under a single authority; it had become a people, a nation, and as the Declaration stated ‘the source of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.’