French Revolution W.4 DRAW EVIDENCE FROM THE INFORMATIONAL TEXTS TO EXPLAIN HOW THE IDEOLOGY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION LED FRANCE TO EVOLVE FROM A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY TO DEMOCRATIC DESPOTISM TO THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE.

French Society – 3 social classes or “estates” 1. Clergy : the Church; very wealthy; owned 10% of land 2. Nobles : a dying class during this time; were originally knights, but also included people in other positions such as clergy or gov’t 3. Rest of population : top of class were “bourgeoisie” or middle class which included bankers, merchants, lawyers, doctors; most of this class were rural peasants and urban workers

Financial Troubles in France  For too many years, France spent more money than it took in – known as “deficit spending”  Former Kings spent money on extravagant personal items  King Louis XVI called for economic reform; called a meeting with his legislative branch known as Estates- General  Estates General had not been called in 175 years  Former Kings feared they would take too much control

Estate-General  They prepared “cahiers” or a list of grievances; 3 estates = 3 votes, each estate represented one vote  Clergy Estate and Noble Estate always voted against the Third Estate; Third Estate made up most of population  Third Estate decides they should take action and declare themselves the Nation Assembly to represent the people  National Assembly were locked out of own meeting hall and went nearby to tennis court  Took the famous “Tennis Court Oath” – swore to never separate and to meet wherever the circumstances might require until we have a sound and just constitution

Bastille - old fortress in Paris  Rumors that royal troops were going to occupy Paris  More than 800 Parisians assembled outside Bastille demanding access to gunpowder and firearms  Commander of Bastille refused to open gates and fired upon crowd  Crowd stormed Bastille, killed the commander and 5 guards  Bastille became a symbol to people of France representing years of abuse from the monarchy  “Bastille Day” became France’s national independence day