Chapter 7 Section 1 The French Revolution Begins

The Old Order In the 1770s, France was under the Old Regime The people were divided into three social classes called estates The First Estate was made up of the Roman Catholic Clergy The Second Estate was the rich nobles These groups paid no taxes

The Third Estate consisted of 97% of the population divided into three groups The Bourgeoisie were the middle class Believed in the Enlightenment and many had money The second group were the city workers They were the poorest The peasants were the largest group

The Forces of Change Other factors besides resentment between classes also led towards the revolution Enlightenment ideas and the American Revolution encouraged the Third Estate to seek a new government

Debt from the American Revolution placed a heavy tax burden on the people Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette also spent a lot Louis XVI was a weak leader who did not follow advice He also received poor advice from his wife who was hated by the people

Dawn of the Revolution The King was forced to call the Estates-General to help deal with the debt problems This was made up of representatives from all three estates Each estate was given a single vote, but the third estate wanted each representative to receive a vote

In protest, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes suggested the creation of the National Assembly They would pass laws in the name of the French people

The National Assembly was locked out of their meeting hall and broke into a tennis court to protest They took the Tennis Court Oath to not leave until a new constitution was created

Rumors of what was happening began to spread and the people of France became worried the military may became involved In response, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille prison looking for weapons

They massacred the prison commander and guards The fall of the prison became a symbol of the Revolution and July 14 has since been known as Bastille Day

A Great Fear Sweeps France The peasants feared the nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize them In return, the peasants began to attack the nobles’ manors

In October 1789, the women of Paris rioted over the price of bread They broke into Versailles and killed some of the guards They demanded Louis return to Paris and the king and his family left the palace for the last time