1. The French Revolution

2. MEDIEVAL French 1700s King Clergy Nobles Artisans/Merchants
Peasants/Serfs
King
MEDIEVAL
French 1700s
Clergy
Nobles
Bourgeoisie
Artisans/Merchants
Peasants/Serfs

3. ESTATES
One of the three classes into which French society was divided before the Revolution.

4. 1st estate: Clergy – 130,000 out of 27 million people = .5%
Land: Owned 10%
Taxes: Paid 0%
King
2nd estate: Nobility 350,000 out of 27 million people = 1.3%
Land: Owned 25-30%
Taxes: Paid 0%
Held Government, Military, religious, and legal positions
French 1700s
Clergy
Nobles
Bourgeoisie
3rd estate: “Commoners: - EVERYONE ELSE – 98%
Land: Varied among groups
Taxes: Paid 100%
Artisans/Merchants
Peasants/Serfs

6. TAILLE
An annual direct tax, usually on land or property, that provided a regular source of income for the French monarchy

7. The Third Estate Peasants Middle Class “Bourgeoisie” owned the rest
75-80%
35-40% of land
Middle Class “Bourgeoisie” owned the rest
Many peasants had little or no land to own/live on
Also, crafts people, shopkeepers, workers
Struggling b/c price of consumer goods increased faster than wages

10. Serfdom continues
Ex: Peasants have to pay fees to grind flour/press grapes because lord controlled flour mill/wine press
Harvest time: peasants had to work to harvest noble’s crops

11. Bourgeoisie
The middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people

12. Bourgeoisie 8% of the 3rd Estate population Owned 20-25% of the land
Merchants
Bankers
Industrialists
Lawyers, doctors, writers
Unhappy with noble’s privileges
Did not want to abolish nobility
About 6500 new nobles had been created by appointment throughout the 1700s
Shared the goals of trying to employ Enlightenment ideas
Both groups increasingly upset with monarchical system

13. Louis XVI
LOUIE 16th
King of France during the late 1700s, king prior to/during the French Revolution

14. Financial Crisis Issue #1: Long standing social imbalance
Issue #2: Near collapse of French Budget
Bad harvests
Slowdown in manufacturing
Led to food shortages
Rising prices for food
Unemployment
King and Advisers continued to spend the money!
Wars
Court Luxuries
Esp. Marie Antoinette

15. Estates-General B/c of budget crisis May 5, 1789
Louis XVI forced to call meeting of Estates-General
A meeting of representatives from all 3 estates
Had not met since 1614
b/c French kings held ALL power
May 5, 1789
1st and 2nd estates had 300 reps each
3rd estate had 600!
Wanted to set up a constitutional government that would make clergy/nobility pay taxes too

16. Meeting with the E-G Arguments about voting
Tradition
Each estate had 1 vote
SO… 1st+2nd estate could outvote 3rd (even though combined they only represented 2% of the population)
3rd estate wanted each deputy have one vote
Would eventually give them the majority vote
King said he like things the way they were
3rd estate had had ENOUGH
Declared themselves the “National Assembly”
Arrived at their meeting chambers to find the doors locked
Moved to an indoor tennis court
Tennis court oath

17. Tennis Court Oath
The National Assembly met on an indoor tennis court and vowed to continue meeting until they had formed/adopted a new constitution.

18. Prepping for War Louis prepared to use force against 3rd estate
July 14, 1789
900 Parisians (someone from Paris) gathered at Bastille (BA-STEEL)
A prison/armory (Former fortress)
Price of bread record high
Crowd starving and agitated
Rumor said King’s troops were coming
There was supposed to be ammunition in the Bastille
The Parisians stormed the Bastille and after hours of fighting eventually took it
Released 7 prisoners (murderers… yay!)
Beheaded prison warden
Found no munitions
Tore down Bastille brick by brick

20. Revolt  Revolution
Louis mistakenly thought the Bastille was just a “Revolt”
Revolution
Could no longer trust royal troops to shoot at mobs
King’s authority had collapsed in Paris
Revolts were breaking out all over France
Enough was enough!
“Great Fear”
Panic sparked by peasant rebellions
Peasants afraid the work of the National Assembly would be stopped by foreign armies
Rumors spread that foreign troops were on their way
Reaction: breaking into houses of lords to destroy records of their obligations

21. Out with the old, in with the new
Aug 4, 1789
N.A. gets rid of legal privileges of clergy and nobility
Aug 26
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Inspired by English Bill of Rights & American Declaration of Independence/Constitution
Charter of basic liberties
“liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”
All men are equal under the law
Appointment to public office based on talent
No group is exempt from taxes

22. Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
The declaration of guaranteed equal rights drawn up by the National Assembly during the French Revolution.

23. Olympe de Gouges
When men made claims that women were not equal under the law because they “do not hope to exercise political rights and functions” she refused to accept their opinions and spoke out in favor of women’s rights.

24. King goes to Paris
Louis refused to accept the National Assembly’s decrees
October 5
Women’s March
Thousands of Parisian women marched on Versailles
Met with the king
Told him their children were starving because there was no bread
Forced him to accept it
Forced to go to Paris with son and wife as prisoners

25. New Constitution Limited monarchy Change spread
Only “active” citizens could vote
Men over 25 who paid a certain amount of taxes
Really, only wealthy reps. would be chosen
Change spread
Some still wanted more radical changes
Poor
Louis hated the regulation of the church & limited power of the monarchy
Tried to flee with family
Almost made it
Caught and brought back
Assembly met and made a law that allowed to try the king if he turned against the country

26. It gets worse
Other nations feared what the revolution would mean, talked of using force to restore Louis XVI
Assembly struck first
Declared war on Austria
1792
Protests – bread shortages
Defeats in the war
Paris radicals declared themselves a commune
Organized mob attack on royal palace and assembly

27. Sans-Culottes “without breeches”
Members of the Paris Commune who considered themselves ordinary patriots (they wore long trousers instead of fine knee length breeches of the nobles.

28. Radicals More radical/violent stage
Calling for universal male suffrage
Birth of the sans-culottes
REALLY starting from the ground up