2. Causes of Revolution Old Order Ideas of Enlightenment thinkers
Everyone in France divided into three social classes, or estates
Ideas of Enlightenment thinkers
Poor leadership

3. First Estate Made up of the Roman Catholic Clergy
About 1 percent of the population
Paid no taxes, owned 10% of land & church leaders became very rich

4. Second Estate Made up of the Nobility
About 2 percent of the population
Controlled much of wealth but paid little taxes

5. Third Estate Made up of several groups
Bourgeoisie → very wealthy but had no influence in gov’t
Sans culottes → rural peasants
Urban Peasants → miserably poor
About 97% of the population
If Church & Nobles pay no taxes...

6. Third Estate What is the Third Estate? Everything.
What has it been now in the political order? Nothing.
What does it want to be? Something.
----Abbe Emmanuel Sieyes----
What does this tell us?

7. Financial Troubles Deficit spending Louis XVI Estates-General
When a government spends more than it takes in
Louis XVI
Well meaning but weak and indecisive
Estates-General
Legislative body consisting of representative from the three estates

8. Forming the National Assembly 1789
Estates-General had not been called for 175 years
Traditionally, 1st, 2nd & 3rd Estate all had one vote. Problem- --?
Third Estate split off, forming the National Assembly
Locked out of meeting hall, members went to a neighboring Tennis Court [Tennis Court Oath]
Swore to never separate and meet wherever the circumstances might require until they established a sound and just constitution

9. Storming the Bastille 14 July 1789
Enraged mob of Parisians attacked the Bastille
Medieval fortress that represented years of abuse by the monarchy
Mob pushed through and killed the commander & guards within
Wake-up call to Louis XVI
Existence of French regime now threatened

10. French Revolution Unfolds

11. Phases of Revolution Moderate phase of National Assembly (1789-1791)
Radical phase ( ) [led to Reign of Terror]
The Directory ( )
Age of Napoleon ( )

12. National Assembly Acts
NA = members of the Third Estate
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Modeled after American Declaration of Independence
Proclaimed ALL male citizens equal before the law

13. Assembly cont’d Church placed under State control Constitution of 1791
Forced to give up land and ended papal authority
Constitution of 1791
Set up a limited monarchy
Far cry from Louis XIV’s absolute monarchy
Any tax-paying male citizen over 25 could vote

14. Radicals Take Over Rulers fear spread of Revolution
Even Enlightenment rulers turned against France
Some rulers made “threats” to intervene
Revolutionaries took seriously and prepared for war

15. Radicals Take Over Sans-culottes
Pushed revolution into more radical phase
Wanted a republic instead of a monarchy
The sans-culottes were the working class people of Paris, so named because they wore long pants (pantaloons) rather than the knee breeches (Knickers) favored by the aristocracy.
The leaders of the Parisian sans-culottes were found in the sectional assemblies and the Commune, particularly after August 1792.
Jacobins
Supported sans-culottes in the Assembly
Revolutionary “group” made up of middle-class lawyers & intellectuals
The Jacobins were the most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution, and worked with Robespierre- they instituted the Reign of Terror.