Beginning the French Revolution

Chapter 11, Section 1

Background to Revolution• Enlightenment ideas

– Encouragement of the use of reason and rationalism

• Influence of the American Revolution– Helped Americans win independence– America formed in 1789, French

Revolution begins in 1789

• French society– The three estates– Conditions of the poor

• Debt– Extravagant spending of Louis XVI– Spending on wars

• Other immediate problems– Failure of reforms– Famine

The Three Estates• Society was divided into three

orders, or estates• _______ (1st Estate)

– 130,000 people– Rich families and powerful

Church members

• ________ (2nd Estate)– 350,000 people– Leading positions in government,

military, law, and Church

• ________ (3rd Estate)– 27 million people– Varying jobs

The Clergy• Made up of wealthy families

(higher clergy) and powerful Church officials (lower clergy)

• 0.5% of the population, owned 10% of the land

• Exempt from the _____, the chief tax in France

• Split on who they sided with regarding political and social matters– Higher – sided with nobility– Lower – sided with commoners

The Nobility

• Held high positions in many fields across France

• 1.5% of the population, owned 25-30% of the land

• Also exempt from the ________

• Not necessarily 100% in support of the monarchy– Fought more for their

interest– Wanted to maintain

positions and wealth

The Commoners• Everyone else in France• 98% of the population, owned

65% of the land• Responsible for 100% of the

_________• Divided into three sub-

sections– _____________

• Middle class, closest to nobility

– Skilled laborers• Urban shopkeepers, craftspeople

– Peasants• Rural farmers• Serfdom was gone but peasants

still had ________ ________ that they resented

A Financial Crisis• Signs of concern?

– Periodic economic issues– Bad harvests– Increase in poor (up to 1/3 of the

people)• Economy begins to suffer

– “All the country girls or women are without shoes or stockings; and the plowmen at their work have neither shoes nor stockings to their feet. This is the poverty that strikes at the root of national prosperity”

• What to do?– Court continues to finance wars and

lavish spending– French parliament (the Estates-

General) is called to meet in late 1780s…first time since 1614

– Choose to raise taxes

Exit Slip

• List and describe the three estates present in France prior to the French Revolution

• What was the taille? Do you feel it was implemented in a fair way?

• How did the financial crisis affect the French Revolution?

Estates-General to National Assembly• Three Estates each have 1 vote in

_____________– First and Second can override Third

despite lower representation

• May 1789 – Third Estate proposes each deputy have a vote– Turned down

• June 1789 – Third decides to draft constitution, call themselves a _____________– Doors are locked so they move to

tennis courts– Deputies promise to continue to

meet until they had a constitution…known as _____________

• Riots take place across France– Riots known as _____________

Declaration of the Rights of Man

• Inspired by American Declaration of Independence and English Bill of Rights– Freedom and equal rights for

all men– Ended exemptions to taxation– All citizens have the rights to

take part in making of laws

• Did this include women?– _____________ wrote

pamphlets and plays to encourage the inclusion of women

The King and the Church Reformed• King

– October 1789, thousands of Parisian women storm the throne

– Demanded new decrees based on conditions of poor

– King and family become prisoners in Paris

• Church– National Assembly takes

control of Church– Sells land to make money– Bishops and priests elected by

the people

A New Constitution

• 1791 – ______ _______put into place– Still a king, but Legislative

Assembly makes laws

• 745 elected representatives– Tax-paying men over 25

could vote

• First meeting occurs in October of 1791

War with Austria

• Austria and Prussia threatened war if France didn’t give power back to Louis XVI

• Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria in 1792

• French quickly began losing– What happens to morale?– What happens to the

revolution movement?

The Paris Commune

• Still varying levels of support for National Assembly– How do Catholics feel?

Women?

• New Paris Commune formed– Many called themselves

_____________, or ordinary patriots

– Take King captive, order suspension of monarchy

– Call for a national convention

• French Revolution was about to enter a much more radical phase

Exit Slip

• Explain the purpose of the National Assembly

• How does a limited monarchy work?

• What factors led to the rise of the Paris Commune?