French Revolution Chapter 18

Division of French Society Ancient regime - older order of society Estates - social classes –1 Clergy –2 Nobility –3 Rest of the population

1st Estate Own 10% of the land Collected tithes but paid no taxes Bishops and abbots were typically nobles Services: –Schools, hospitals, and orphanages

2nd Estate Government positions Feared loss status

3rd Estate Very diverse Bourgeoisie - middle class –Bankers, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, professors Most are peasants Only estate to pay taxes

Financial Troubles Deficit spending - spending more money than the government collects Debt - Louis XIV, American Revolution, Seven Years' War, Borrowed Money

Economic Reform Louis XV - increased debt Louis XVI - weak and indecisive Jacques Necker - financial expert and advisor –Reduce gov't spending –Reform the govt –Abolish tariffs on internal spending –dismissed for proposing taxes on 1st and 2nd estates

Estates-General the legislative body consisting of representatives of the three estates Cahiers - notebooks that listed grievances of the estates –e.g. fairer taxes, freedom of the press, regular meetings

Estates-General Reform Voting: 1st and 2nd vs. 3rd 3rd estate declares themselves to be the National Assembly –Building is locked and guarded –Move to indoor tennis court Tennis Court Oath –"never to separate and to meet whenever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and just constitution."

Storm the Bastille Medieval prison Believed to have weapons Commander opened fire on the crowd, crowd broke through and killed commander and released prisoners

Moderate Phase of the French Revolution "Great Fear" –Peasants revolt for fear of military control Factions - dissenting groups of people Marquis de Lafayette - head of the middle-class National Guard Paris Commune is new city government

National Assembly Members give up manorial dues, hunting rights, and exemption from taxes Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen –Modeled after our Declaration of Independence –Freedom of office, religion –Taxes based on pay

Women in France Olympe de Gouges - Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen Marie Antoinette - Austrian born queen, Joseph II is brother –Lived extravagantly Women to Versailles –6K walk shouting "Bread" –Women stayed until king agreed to move back to Paris

National Assembly Catholic Church under State Control Civil Constitution of the Clergy –Church officials are elected and salaried

Constitution of 1791 Sets up a limited monarchy Legislative Assembly –Make laws, collect taxes, decide on war/peace Voters: taxpaying, males 25+ Provinces turned into 83 equal sized departments

Results of the Moderate Phase Louis and Marie Antoinette try to leave the country –Captured and taken back to Paris Border patrols increase in other countries to stop the "French plague" Émigrés - nobles, clergy, and other who had fled France and its revolutionary forces

Results of the Moderate Phase Declaration of Pilnitz - Frederick II and Joseph II threaten to take over France and restore the monarchy Sans-culottes - working-class men and women –Call for a Republic- elected, representative government Jocobins - middle-class lawyers and intellectuals Leg. Assembly declares war on Prussia, Britain, and Austria

The French Revolution Radical Phase August 10, Parisians storm palace and kill guards –Royal family escapes to the National Assembly Assembly gets overrun –Radicals call for new legislature –National convention Suffrage - right to vote –All male citizens

National Convention Abolish monarchy Establish the French Republic Abolish titles of nobility Seized land Louis XVI is tried as a traitor and sentenced to death (Jan.) Oct: Marie Antoinette is executed

Danger and Terror At war with Britain, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, and Prussia Committee of Public Safety –Created to save the revolution –Created taxes

Maximilien Robespierre lawyer and politician that became the head of the Committee of Public Safety "the incorruptible" Promoted religious toleration Wanted to abolish slavery

Reign of Terror (Sept July 1794) Killed anyone against the revolution –17K killed –300K arrested –July 27, 1794 Robespierre arrested and executed the next day Guillotine - machine for execution

3rd Stage of the Revolution Constitution of 1795 created –5 man directory –2 house legislature Elected by male property owners

Directory Ruled for 4 years Make peace with Spain and Prussia War continued with Great Britain and Austria supporters of constitutional monarchy win the legislature

Revolutionary Change Financial chaos and low levels of food lead to Napoleon Bonaparte –A military hero who fought the Austrians "citizen" is only title Nationalism - a strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country Marseilles - port city where the French national anthem was born