The French Revolution

Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI The French Monarchy: 1775 - 1793 Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI

Let Them Eat Cake! The Necklace Scandal “Madame Deficit” “The Austrian Whore”

The French Urban Poor Arthur Young Travels in France

Socio-Economic Data, 1789

Where is the tax money?

Lettres de Cachet The French king could warrant imprisonment or death in a signed letter under his seal. A carte-blanche warrant. Cardinal Fleury issued 80,000 during the reign of Louis XV! Eliminated in 1790.

The Number of Representatives in the Estates General: Clergy 1st Estate 300 Aristocracy 2nd Estate 300 648 Commoners 3rd Estate

The Suggested Voting Pattern: Voting by Estates Clergy 1st Estate 1 Aristocracy 2nd Estate 1 1 Commoners 3rd Estate Sieyes What is the Third Estate?

Convening the Estates General May, 1789 The Cahiers

Key Causes Property Rights Financial ruin - still very feudal Financial ruin - debt, ineffective taxation, failed reforms, poverty Resurgence of nobility v. Rising Bourgeoisie OR Purely Political (Classical vs Revisionist view) Commoners Fear, desperation, Storming of Bastille & The Great Fear

“The Tennis Court Oath” by Jacques Louis David June 20, 1789

Storming the Bastille, July 14, 1789 A rumor that the king was planning a military coup against the National Assembly. 18 died. 73 wounded. 7 guards killed.

The Great Fear: Peasant Revolt (July 20, 1789) Rumors that the feudal aristocracy were sending hired brigands to attack peasants and pillage their land.

“Great Fear”

The First Phase Moderate Constituent Assembly 1789-1791

National Constituent Assembly 1789 - 1791 Adopt the August Decrees August 4-11, 1789 A rejection of aristocratic privileges! 2. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Liberty, property

Garnering Peaceful Support

The “October Days” (1789) Violence & Fear Again!... Tuileries Palace Flight of the Émigrés March of the Women

To Versailles

Louis XVI “Accepts” the Constitution & the National Assembly. 1791

Would it be correct to say that the French Revolution did not truly get underway until two years after its beginning?

French Constitution of 1791 A Bourgeois Government

A New Government King with suspensive veto Legislative Assembly Elected by “active citizens” An independent judiciary 83 Departments Financed by church lands - assignats

Relationship with the Church Revolution is anti-clerical! Begins the long relationship between the Church and Conservative forces

Civil Constitution of the Clergy Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches. The church was reorganized: Parish priests were elected by the district assemblies. Bishops were named by the department assemblies. The pope had NO voice in the appointment of the French clergy. It transformed France’s Roman Catholic Church into a branch of the state!!

October 1791: Constituent Assembly disbands for Legislative Assembly under New Constitution