The French Revolution

Stage 1

Liberal Stage - Bourgeois Phase1789 - 1792

Long term causes• Enlightenment ideas

• Privileges and resentment among social classes:

• nobles of the robe v. noble of the sword

• bourgeoisie v. nobles

• peasants resent seigneurial rights and dues

• Financial crisis due to wars

• Social tensions due to high prices, low wages, high unemployment and bad harvests for several years.

• Ineffective and weak king

• Unpopular queen

The French Monarchy

1775 - 1793

Louis XVIBourbon Dynasty

Marie AntoinetteHabsburg Dynasty

The Royal Family

Marie Antoinette’s Peasant Cottage

“let them eat cake”“Madame deficit”

“The Austrian Whore”

Burden of taxation falls on the peasantry.

Burdens of the French Urban Poor

Estates General meets first time

since 1614

Problem #1 - How to vote.

Vote by head or Estate?1st Estate = clergy

3rd Estate = Everyone else2nd Estate = nobles

96%

2%

2%

648

300

300

lawyers

Abbe Emmanuel Sieyes

cahiers de doleances or list of grievancescritical of:• absolutism• seigneuralism• tax system• lettres de cachetwanted:• a new national assembly

The Third Estate proclaims itself the

National Assembly of France, next. . .

Time out for art. . .

Neoclassicism

•Glorifies heroes

•Revival of Classical Style

•Greco-Roman influence

•Order, Intellectual

•Very realistic looking;

The Death of Socrates (1787)

Jacques-Louis David

On the eve of the Revolution, this picture served as a trumpet call to duty, and resistance to unjust authority.

Storming the BastilleJuly 14, 1789

“Is it a revolt?” No, Sire, it is a Revolution.”

The Great Fear: Peasant Revolt

July 19 - August 3

August 4th Decrees• nobles stand and renounce their privileges • feudal dues are abolished• freedom of worship• abolition of sale of offices• abolition of exclusive right of hunting for nobles

Death of the Old Regime

The WHITE of the The WHITE of the Bourbons + the RED & Bourbons + the RED &

BLUE of Paris.BLUE of Paris.

Women’s March October 1789

The National Assembly also. . .

• Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

• Civil Constitution of the French Clergy

• juring vs. non-juring priests or refractory priests (those refusing to swear an oath of loyalty to the Revolution)

• Constitution of 1791

• sets up a constitutional monarchy

• active (paid taxes = 3-days wages) v. passive citizens

• Granted citizenship and civil rights to Protestants and Jews

• Ended the monopoly of the guilds

• passed the Le Chapelier law - prohibiting workmen from joining together to refuse to work.

• established civil marriages, divorce, inheritances to be divided equally among children

• abolished slavery in France but not in the colonies (will lead to slave revolt in Haiti)

The National Assembly also. . .

Depreciation of the Assignat

Whoever acquired them were Whoever acquired them were entitled to certain privileges in entitled to certain privileges in the purchase of church land.the purchase of church land.

The state would retire the notes The state would retire the notes as the land was sold.as the land was sold.

They began circulating as paper They began circulating as paper currency.currency.

Government printed more Government printed more INFLATIONINFLATION [they lost 99% of their value [they lost 99% of their value ultimately].ultimately].

Therefore, future governments paid off Therefore, future governments paid off their creditors with cheap money.their creditors with cheap money.

Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches.Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches.The church was reorganized:The church was reorganized:Parish priests elected by the district assemblies.Parish priests elected by the district assemblies.Bishops named by the Bishops named by the

department assemblies.department assemblies.The pope had NO The pope had NO

voice in the voice in the appointment of appointment of the French clergy.the French clergy.

It transformed France’sIt transformed France’sRoman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Churchinto a branch of the state!!into a branch of the state!!

New Relations Between Church & StateNew Relations Between Church & State

Attacked the king in his newspaper.Used popular sovereignty rhetoric of Rousseau

Meanwhile. . . Jean Paul Marat

Sir Edmund Burke Sir Edmund Burke (1790):(1790):Reflections on the Revolution in FranceReflections on the Revolution in France

attacks the French Revolution

change should come through gradual evolution

not revolution

Father of modern conservatism

Olympe de Gouges Olympe de Gouges

(1745-1793)(1745-1793)

Women played a vital role in the Women played a vital role in the Revolution.Revolution.

But, The Declaration of the Rights But, The Declaration of the Rights of Man did NOT extend the of Man did NOT extend the rights and protections of rights and protections of citizenship to women.citizenship to women.

The First Coalition &The First Coalition &TheThe Brunswick ManifestoBrunswick Manifesto

(August 3, 1792)(August 3, 1792)

AustriaPrussiaBritainSpain

France vs.

The First Coalition:

Revolutionary government will

declare war.