THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BEGINS

I.Conditions – 1780s  French assistance in the American Revolution  and – American failure to pays its debt  poor harvests – 1787 & 1788  by the end of 1789, nearly half of the French people needed relief or food assistance  unemployment – in July 1789, 150,000 people (out of 600,000) were without jobs in Paris alone  extravagance of French court life  Marie Antoinette – queen  The French Revolution is THE revolution that opened the modern era in politics.

II. The Three Estates  estates = levels (orders) in French society  the estates had been in existence since the Middle Ages  First Estate  members of the clergy  owned 10% of the land  exempt from the taille (the primary tax)  Second Estate  members of the nobility held leading positions in govt, military & courts tried to expand their power  owned 25-30% of the land  exempt from the taille First Estate (130,000) Second Estate (350,000) Third Estate (26,520,000)

 Third Estate  the commoners (75-80% of population)... or everyone else  owned 35-40% of the land  over half of peasants had no or little land  peasants had to pay relics of feudalism – obligations to local landlords, including fees to use village facilities  included skilled craftspeople & wage earners in the cities  included the bourgeoisie – the middle class  8% of population  owned 20-25% of land  included merchants, bankers & other professionals  intrigued by Enlightenment ideas

III.A Financial Crisis  Louis XVI – king of France  by the 1780s, French budgetary expenditures were:  50% for interest payments on the debt  25% to maintain the military  6% to pay for the lifestyle of the king & his court at Versailles  <20% of the budget paid for essential state functions  France had no central bank and no paper currency  difficult to get loans to help the financial crisis  the only solution...

IV.The Estates-General  on May 5, 1789, the Estates-General met for the first time since 1614  met at Versailles  nearly 1200 delegates  all three estates supported some changes to the absolute monarchy  formation of a constitutional monarchy? laws would require the consent of the Estates-General  guarantees of some individual liberties?  economic development that would require some reforms?  the Third Estate also wanted to require that all classes pay taxes  problem: each estate had only one vote  when the Third Estate delegates were locked out of the meeting hall, they took matters into their own hands  renamed themselves the National Assembly (June 17)  met on a nearby tennis court and took what became known as the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789 promised to continue to meet until a new French constitution was written

V.The Revolution Begins  reminder – economic conditions  July 14, 1789 – the commoners stormed the Bastille, a notorious Paris prison  broke the power monopoly of the royal army  popular revolts began to occur all over France  National Assembly voted to eliminate the relics of feudalism  Declaration of the Rights of Man & the Citizen  issued August 26, 1789  inspiration of Am. Rev. & Enlightenment philosophies  proclaimed equal rights for all men, the need to respect the general will and guaranteed some freedom of speech & the press  Olympe de Gouges’ response? Declaration of the Rights of Woman & the Female Citizen

VI. Louis’ Resistance?  Louis XVI objected to these reforms, especially those that reduced his power  October 5, 1789 – 7000 women marched from Paris to Versailles to demand action  demanded bread  raided the palace & killed a number of guards  to stop the rebellion, the royal family was forced to live in Paris  description of travel procession  essentially lived under house arrest at the Tuileries Palace

VII.A Constitutional Monarchy  created in July 1790 with Louis XVI’s reluctant approval  eliminated the French nobility as a class  lawmaking power was given to the National Assembly  religious freedom granted to Jews & Protestants  nationalization of the Catholic Church