1. The Beginnings of the French Revolution

2. Three Estates France’s different social classes First Estate: Clergy
Second Estate: Nobles
Third Estate: Everyone else

3. Three Estates: Drastic Inequality

4. France’s Financial Crisis
By 1787, the French government was bankrupt.
4 billion livres in debt.
($44 billion today. Yikes!)
Where’d the money go?
Wars- Seven Years War
and American Revolution
Luxuries of nobility-
Versailles, Louis XVI, Marie
Antoinette
Tax system- tax collectors
were often corrupt
King Louis asks- “Where is the tax money?”

5. Bad Harvest Most people depended on farming
: terrible weather, heavy rain, hard winters, etc. led to 3 bad harvests in a row
Peasants and farmers= smaller incomes
Food prices= increase
Some farmers lost their jobs
People were starving

6. French Bread Riots

7. Poverty in France
“I was joined by a poor woman who complained of the times. Her husband had only a morsel of land, one cow and a poor horse. But they had to pay 20kg of wheat and 3 chickens as feudal dues to one lord, and 60kg of oats, one chicken and five pence to another, along with very heavy taxes to the king’s tax collectors. She said, “The taxes and feudal dues are crushing us.”- Travels in France by Arthur Young,

8. Estates General Louis was forced to call the Estates General
Had not been called in 175 years
Made up of 300 members of the 1st and 2nd Estates and 600 members of the 3rd Estate
Representatives were voted on by the people
Only landowners could vote
Each Estate got only one vote
Met in May, 1789 to approve a new tax system which would repair France’s financial state
Necker proposed taxing the 1st and 2nd Estate

9. Tennis Court Oath
The 3rd Estate knew that they would be outvoted on any issue involving fairer taxes
They demanded that each member of the Estates General have an individual vote
King said no and locked the doors to the meeting place
3rd Estate moved to the Tennis Courts and vowed to continue meeting until they had a fair Constitution
National Assembly June 1789

10. Storming of the Bastille
July 14, Rumors around Paris that the king’s troops were going to occupy the capital and get rid of the National Assembly
800 Parisian assembled outside the Bastille
Fortress/ Prison for political prisoners
Symbol of absolutism, abuse, and tyranny
Chaos ensued and many people were killed
Prisoners freed and wake up call for Louis XVI

11. National Assembly in Action
Feudalism abolished by nobles
Gave up manorial dues, exclusive hunting rights, legal status, and exemption from taxes
Moral victory for 3rd Estate
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Modeled by American Declaration of Independence
Declared all male citizens were equal before the law
Proclaimed France to be a republic

12. Women March on Versailles
Six thousand women march from Paris to Versailles, demanding bread to feed their families
Angry with the queen and the king
Brought Louis XVI to the Tuileries palace in Paris

13. Why Did the 3rd Estate Rebel?
Causes of The French Revolution?
Long Term?
_______________
Short Term?

14. When (Specifically) Did the French Revolution Begin?
Formation of National Assembly?
Storming of the Bastille?
Parisian Women’s March on Versailles?
Declaration of the Rights of Man?
Other?

15. Why Did the 3rd Estate Revolt WHEN they did?