1. SOL 6e
French Revolution

2. Causes of the French Revolution
Influence of Enlightenment ideas
Influence of the American Revolution

3. Causes of the French Revolution
Class inequality
1st Estate (Clergy)
2nd Estate (Nobles)
3rd Estate (Bourgeoisie[middle class- bankers, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and professors], rural peasants, urban workers)
National debt
Bad harvests (famine)

5. Events leading up to the Revolution
1789
3rd Estate seeks reforms in voting, taxes, freedom of the press and regular meetings of the Estates General
June- 3rd Estate declares itself the National Assembly (representing the people)
Tennis Court Oath- swore “never to separate and to meet whenever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and just constitution”

7. Events of the French Revolution
Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille was a political prison for individuals who opposed the absolutism of the monarchy, and its fall was a symbolic beginning of the revolution.
Bastille Day, July 14th, is similar to July 4th in the United States.

9. French Revolution Phases of Revolution: National Assembly (1789-1791)
Radical Phase ( )
Directory ( )
Age of Napoleon ( )

10. Declaration of the Rights of Man
August National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Modeled on U.S. Constitution
All men were “born and remain free and equal in rights”
They enjoyed natural rights “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”

11. Declaration of the Rights of Man
All male citizens were equal before the law
All men have equal right to hold public office
Freedom of religion
Taxes to be levied according to ability to pay

12. Declaration of the Rights of Man
Principles created into the slogan of the Revolution “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
Women were not given rights (anger)
Louis XVI did not want to accept these reforms, 1st and 2nd Estates continue to live lavishly

14. Women March on Versailles
October 5, ,000 women marched 13 miles from Paris to Versailles
Women demanded the king return to Paris
Anger towards Marie Antoinette and her lavish lifestyle (“Let them eat cake”)

17. State vs. Church French Catholic Church is placed under State control
Dissolved convents and missionaries- land is sold to pay off huge national debt
***Other European nations tried to limit the “French Plague” or revolutionary ideas***

18. Civil Constitution of 1791 Set up a limited monarchy
Legislative Assembly can make laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues of war and peace, lawmakers were elected by tax-paying male citizens over 25
To many this signified the end of the Revolution
Newly elected Legislative Assembly lasted less than a year

20. National Convention Radicals take control of the Legislative Assembly
Create the National Convention
equal suffrage to all men not just landowners
Abolished the monarchy and nobility
Seized land of nobles
Created a republic-Republic of France

22. Committee of Public Safety
12 members had absolute power to “save the revolution”
All citizens had to contribute to the war effort
In charge of trials and executions
Leader of the committee: Maximilen Robespierre “the incorruptible”
Rousseau’s idea of general will as the source of legitimate law

24. Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was an attempt to equalize every person and create a republic.
September 1793-July 1794
300,000 were arrested as traitors to the Revolution, 17,000 were executed
Guillotine became the symbol of the Revolution

26. Reign of Terror
After a year, the National Convention turned on the Committee
Members were arrested and executed
Executions slowed dramatically

27. Execution of Royals Louis XVI- executed January 1793
Marie Antoinette-executed October 1793

28. Outcomes of the French Revolution
End of the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI
The execution of Louis XVI
War with neighboring countries, who feared this revolution would spread to them
The rise of Napoleon as a strong figure who could bring order out of chaos.