1. The French Revolution:

2. What Should We Remember the French Revolution For -
Its Idealism or
Its Destructiveness?
Causes of the French Revolution
The Bourgeoisie or Moderate Phase
The Radical Phase
The Conservative Phase

3. the French Revolution:
Causes of
the French Revolution:

4. The Monarchy Seeks New Taxes
Reasons the monarchy sought new taxes: Debt from the Seven Years’ War Financial support of the American Revolution Interest and payments of the royal debt (half the budget) – but similar in size to other nations Inability to tap into the wealth of the nobility A clash between the parlements and the monarchy
Louis XVI
Louis XV

5. Necker’s Report (1781)
French aid during the American Revolution increased national debt Necker’s report suggested that if one removed the expenditure for the Revolution, the French actually had a budget surplus Much of the national expense was being spent on pensions for the nobility and those favored by the king
Jacques Necker

6. Calonne’s Reform Plan
Wanted to encourage trade, lower some taxes (i.e. salt), transform the corvee (peasants’ labor services on public works into money payments), remove internal barriers to trade, and reduce government regulation of the grain trade
Also wanted to introduce a new land tax that all landowners would have to pay, regardless of their social status
Would have allowed monarchy to drop all remaining indirect taxes and less of a need to seek the approval for other taxes from the parlements
Wanted to establish local assemblies made up of landowners to approve land taxes
Voting power would depend on the amount of land owned, not social status – reward the producers and undermine the political and social power of the aristocracy
Charles Alexandre de Calonne

7. Deadlock & the Calling of the Estates General
Meeting of the Estates General

8. “The Third Estate Awakens”
The commoners finally presented their credentials not as delegates of the Third Estate, but as “representatives of the nation.”
They proclaimed themselves the “National Assembly” of France.

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

10. Storming the Bastille, July 14, 1789

11. The Path of the “Great Fear”

12. National Constituent Assembly 1789 - 1791
Liberté!
Egalité!
Fraternité!
August Decrees August 4-11, 1789
(A renunciation of aristocratic privileges and to safeguard the right of private property)

13. The Tricolor is the Fashion! The “Liberty Cap”: Bonne Rouge
The WHITE of the Bourbons + the RED & BLUE of Paris.
The Tricolor is the Fashion!
The “Liberty Cap”: Bonne Rouge

14. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
August 26, 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen (1791)

15. March of the Women, October 5-6, 1789
We want the baker, the baker’s wife and the baker’s boy!

16. How to Finance the New Govt.? 1. Confiscate Church Lands (1790)
2. Print Assignats

17. Jurying vs. Non-Jurying [refractory] Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
July 12, 1790
Jurying vs. Non-Jurying [refractory] Clergy

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

19. The Royal Family Attempts to Flee
June 20, 1791

20. The First Coalition & The Brunswick Manifesto (August 3, 1792)
Duke of Brunswick if the Royal Family is harmed, Paris will be leveled!!
FRANCE
AUSTRIA PRUSSIA BRITAIN SPAIN PIEDMONT
This military crisis undermined the new Legislative Assembly.

21. The French Revolution
"Radical" Phase:

22. The “Second” French Revolution
The National Convention:
Girondin Rule:
Jacobin Rule: [“Reign of Terror”]
Thermidorian Reaction:
The Directory 

23. The Causes of Instability in France 1792 - 1795
Attitudes & actions of monarchy & court
Fear of Counter-Revolution
Religious divisions
The Causes of Instability in France
Economic Crises
Political divisions
War

24. The Jacobins
Jacobin Meeting House

25. The Sans-Culottes: The Parisian Working Class
Small shopkeepers.
Tradesmen.
Artisans.
They shared many of the ideals of their middle class representatives in government!

26. The Storming of the Tuilieres: August 9-10, 1792

27. The September Massacres, 1792 (The dark side of the Revolution!)

28. The Political Spectrum
TODAY:
1790s:
The Plain (swing votes)
Montagnards (“The Mountain”)
Girondists
Monarchíen (Royalists)
Jacobins

29. Marie Antoinette Died in October, 1793
Louis XVI’s Head
(January 21, 1793)
Marie Antoinette Died in October, 1793

30. Committee for Public Safety
Maximillian Robespierre (1758 – 1794)
Revolutionary Tribunals.
300,000 arrested.
16,000 – 50,000 executed.

31. “The Death of Marat” by Jacques Louis David, 1793
The Assassination of Marat by Charlotte Corday
“The Death of Marat” by Jacques Louis David, 1793

32. Let terror be the order of the day!
The Reign of Terror
Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible. -- Robespierre
Let terror be the order of the day! 7% 8%
28%
25%
31%

33. War of Resistance to the Revolution: The Vendee Revolt, 1793

34. A New Republican Calendar Year
Vendemaire
(Vintage)
22 September-21 October
Brumaire
(Fog)
22 October-20 November
Frimaire
(Frost)
21 November-20 December
Nivose
(Snow)
21 December-19 January
Pluviose
(Rain)
20 January-18 February
Ventose
(Wind)
19 February-20 March
Germinal
(Budding)
21 March-19 April
Floreal
(Flowers)
20 April-19 May
Prairial
(Meadows)
20 May-18 June
Messidor
(Harvest)
19 June-18 July
Thermidor
(Heat)
19 July-17 August
Fructidor
(Fruit)
18 August-21 September
A New Republican Calendar Year I
1792 – 1793 II
1793 – 1794
III
1794 – 1795 IV
1795 – 1796 V
1796 – 1797 VI
1797 – 1798
VII
1798 – 1799
VIII
1799 – 1800 IX
1800 – 1801 X
1801 – 1802 XI
1802 – 1803
XII
1803 – 1804
XIII
1804 – 1805
XIV
1805
The Gregorian System returned in 1806.

35. The Festival of Supreme Being
More De-Christianization
The public exercise of religion was banned.
The Paris Commune supported the: destruction of religious & royal statues.
A ban on clerical dress.
The encouragement of the clergy to give up their vocations.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was turned into the “Temple of Reason.”
The deportation of priests denounced by six citizens.
Backlash to the De-Christianization Program
It alienated most of the population (especially in the rural areas).
Robespierre never supported it and he persuaded the Convention to reaffirm the principle of religious toleration.
Decree on the “Liberty of Cults” was passed December 6, BUT, it had little practical effect!
A new secular holiday

36. The “Cultural Revolution” Brought About by the Convention
It was premised upon Enlightenment principles of rationality.
The metric system of weights and measures
Was defined by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791 and enforced in 1793.
It replaced weights and measures that had their origins in the Middle Ages.
The abolition of slavery within France in 1791 and throughout the French colonies in 1794.
The Convention legalized divorce and enacted shared inheritance laws [even for illegitimate offspring] in an attempt to eradicate inequalities.

37. The “Thermidorean Reaction,” 1794
Jacques Hébert & the Hérbetists
Danton & the “Indulgents”
Executed in March, 1794
Executed in April, 1794
Law of 22 Prairial [June 10, 1794].
Trials were now limited to deciding only on liberty OR death, with defendants having no rights.
Were you an “enemy of the people?” (the law was so broadly written that almost anyone could fall within its definition!)
1,500 executed between June & July.
July 26  Robespierre gives a speech illustrating new plots & conspiracies. He alienated members of the CPS & CGS and many felt threatened by his implications.
July 27  the Convention arrests Robespierre.
July 28  Robespierre is tried & guillotined!
Robespierre Lies Wounded Before the Revolutionary Tribunal that will order him to be guillotined, 1794.
Danton Awaits Execution, 1793

38. The “Thermidorian Reaction”
Curtailed the power of the Committee for Public Safety.
Closed the Jacobin Clubs.
Churches were reopened.
1795  freedom of worship for all cults was granted.
Economic restrictions were lifted in favor of laissez-faire policies.
August, 1795  a new Constitution is written
more conservative republicanism.

39. The French Revolution "Conservative" Phase: 1795-1799
Special Fonts:
Biblo Display
Black Chancery
DavysOtherWingdings
Edwardian Script ITC

40. Characteristics of the Directory
The Paris Commune was outlawed.
The Law of 22 Prairial was revoked.
People involved in the original Terror were now attacked  “White” Terror
Inflation continues.
Rule by rich bourgeois liberals.
Self-indulgence  frivolous culture; salons return; wild fashions.
Political corruption.
Revival of Catholicism.

41. The Government Structure of the New Directory
5-man executive committee or oligarchy [to avoid a dictatorship].
Tried to avoid the dangers of a one-house legislature.
Council of 500  initiates legislation.
Council of Elders [250 members]  married or widowed males over 40 years of age.
They accepted or rejected the legislation.
Both houses elected by electors who owned or rented property worth days’ labor [limited to 30,000 voters].
The electors were elected by all males over 21 who were taxpayers.

42. Political Instability: 1795-1796
April, 1795  Inflation; bread riots.
May 20, 1795  Revolt of Prairial [Year III]
October, 1795 :
Vendée and Brittany revolted.
Military suppressed them.
May, 1796  First “communist” revolt
Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of Equals”

43. 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799) Coup d’état by Napoleon.
Approved by a plebiscite in December.
Abbe Sieyès: Confidence from below; authority from above.

44. A British Cartoon about Napoleon’s Coup in 1799