1789-1795The French Revolution

THE THREE ESTATESThe First Estate: - Royal family & Clergy - ~1% of population - Paid no taxes - owned 10% of the landThe Second Estate: - Nobility ~2% of pop. - owned 25-30% of the land- Held leading positions in gov’t, army, church & law courts - Paid no taxesThe Third Estate: - All others ~97% of pop.3 subgroups - urban middle class –educated w/ $, resented nobility- City laborers – poor - Peasant farmers – pd.

Rent, tithe & taxes

Causes of the French Revolution

The Spark: The Meeting of the Estates General

• Last met in 1614 • May 1, 1789 – convened by the King to solve the problem of taxation in

France

Problem: How Do They Vote?Old Regime New Order

1 vote

1 vote

1 vote

1st Estate

2nd Estate

3rd Estate

1st Estate

2nd Estate

3rd Estate

Voting is based on

representation.

~300

~300

648

The King decreed that they must vote based on the ancient order – results?

Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes

1st What is the Third Estate? Everything!

2nd What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing!

3rd What does it demand? To become something therein! Abbé Sieyès

1748-1836

The National Assembly is formed

June 17, 1789 • The Members of the

Third Estate are determined to gain decision making power.

• Proclaim to end absolute monarchy and form a representative government.

• 1st Act of Revolution!

The Tennis Court Oath

June 20, 1789 Members of the 3rd Estate/National Assembly find themselves locked out of the meeting. Convene at the Tennis Court and vow

“Not to stop meeting until a new constitution has been established!”

The Storming of the Bastille A rumor that the king

was planning a military coup against the National Assembly.

Parisians were already rioting over the price of bread.

The mob organized and mobilized against the symbol of French tyranny and Feudalism.

Attacked for gunpowder.

De Launay – the governor (warden) is beaten and beheaded & paraded through the streets.

Results – Saved the National Assembly from being dissolved!

The “Great Fear” Spread Through France

Rumors that the feudal aristocracy were sending hired brigands to attack peasants and pillage their land.

In reaction peasants broke into nobles’ manors and looted & burned. They tore up legal papers binding them to pay feudal dues.

July 20, 1789

August 4, 1789

Fearing for their lives, property and family, Nobles got up one by one and gave impassioned speeches declaring their love of liberty and equality!

In one meeting of the National Assembly:

Ended Feudalism in France Forever!Abolished Serfdom!Canceled All Payments of Church TithesNobles and Clergy relinquished all special privileges

… In Theory

Liberty,

Equality,

Fraternity!

In Reality… Feudal dues were not renounced

outright [this had been too strong a threat to the principle of private property!]

Peasants would compensate their landlords through a series of direct payments for obligations from which they had supposedly been freed. Therefore, the National Assembly made

revolutionary gestures, but remained essentially moderate. Their Goal Safeguard the right of private

property!!

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

Main Ideals: Liberty! Property! Security! Resistance to

oppression!

August 26, 1789

Thomas Jefferson was in Paris at this time.

New Dilemmas Created

1. Did women have equal rights with men?

2. What about free blacks in the colonies?

3. How could slavery be justified if all men were born free?

4. Did religious toleration of Protestants and Jews include equal political rights?

MARCH OF THE WOMEN OCTOBER 5-6, 1789

A spontaneous demonstration of Parisian women for bread.

The rumor went out that the King and Queen were holding stockpiles of flour

The women marched to Versailles

They broke into the palace, ransacked the queen’s apartment & killed 3 guardsThe king was thought to be surrounded by evil

advisors at Versailles so he was forced to move to Paris and reside at the Tuileries Palace.

Financing the New Government

The Church is viewed as an important pillar of the old order

Church lands are confiscated and assignats (a form of paper money – which causes wild inflation) were issued backed by the nationalized church lands.

Church is secularized – creating strong opposition from church leaders & members.

One of the most controversial decisions of the entire revolutionary period.

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy July 12, 1790

Required bishops and priests to swear allegiance to the Civil Constitution

Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches.

The church was reorganized:Parish priests elected by the district

assemblies.Bishops named by the

department assemblies.The pope had NO

voice in the appointment of the French clergy.

It transformed France’sRoman Catholic Churchinto a branch of the state!!

Pope Pius VI[1775-1799]

The New Constitution 1791 Limited Constitutional

Monarchy Legislative Assembly

elected for 2 yr terms Aristocratic Electors = Aristocratic

National Government

Divided France in to 83 new districts Local Bourgeoisie Governments

The Opposition

Clergy vowing not to take the Oath of Allegiance

Lower class hurt by cost of living increase

Peasants opposed to dues that were not abolished

Political clubs called for more radical change

The Royal Family Attempts to Flee June, 1791

Helped by the Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fusen, supposed lover of Marie Antoinette.

Headed toward the Luxembourgborder.

The King wasrecognized atVarennes, nearthe border

How does the Royal Family’s Attempt to leave France, and their subsequent arrest, politically

and psychologically affect the revolution?

RESULTS

Psychologically:

Mistrust of the people

Feelings of Anger & Abandonment

Inspiration to the radical revolutionaries

Politically: perception of instability of

the government Give the Nat. Assem. more

power Proof of the power of the

citizen Proof of the weakness of the

king Loss of support from the 1st &

2nd Estates

The National Assembly’s story:King was kidnapped - perception of stability to other European nationsThey needed the monarch to establish a legitimate government (commerce & allied for power)

LOUIS XVI “ACCEPTS” THE CONSTITUTION & THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 1791

THE WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA

Declaration of Pillnitz: created by Emperor

Leopold II of Austria and King Frederick William II of Prussia

Encouraged other European countries to help return the royal monarchy to France

Angered the Legislative assembly who favored a war hoping to expand their influence

Some worried the war might reinstate Louis XVI

April 1792 – the assembly voted to declare war on Austria Other European nations

would soon join the cause against France

THE SEPTEMBER MASSACRE 1792

Led by George Danton and the san culottes sought revenge on those who had aided the king× Rumors that the anti-revolutionary political prisoners were plotting to break out & attack from the rear the armies defending France, while the Prussians attacked from the front.× It discredited the Revolution among its remaining sympathizers abroad.

THE EXECUTION OF THE KING JAN.21, 1793

Fractions in the Nat. Convention (new gov’t) were divided over what to do with the monarch

September 21, 1792 abolished the monarch & establish a republic.

Decided to try Louis XVI for treason, after the verdict was read the Nat. Convention voted to put him to death.

× The National Convention put Marie Antoinette on trial and executed her on October 16, 1793

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION (SEPTEMBER, 1792)

Its first act was the formal abolition of the monarchy on September 21, 1792.

The Year I of the French Republic.

The Decree of Fraternity it offered French assistance to any

subject peoples who wished to overthrow their governments.

When France sneezes, all of Europe catches

cold!

THE POLITICS OF THE NATIONAL CONVENTION

(1792-1795)Montagnards

Girondists

Power base in Paris.

Main support from the

sans-culottes.

Would adopt extreme measures to achieve their goals.

Saw Paris as the center of the Revolution.

More centralized [in Paris] approach to government.

Power base in the provinces.

Feared the influence of the sans-culottes.

Feared the dominance of Paris in national politics.

Supported more national government centralization [federalism].

vs

ATTEMPTS TO CONTROLTHE GROWING CRISIS

1. Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris trysuspected counter-revolutionaries.

A.Representatives-on-Missione sent to the provinces & to the army.e had wide powers to oversee

conscription.

B. Watch Committees [comité de surveillance]e keep an eye on foreigners &

suspects.C. Sanctioned the trial & execution of

rebels and émigrés, should they ever return to France.

ATTEMPTS TO CONTROLTHE GROWING CRISIS

2. The printing of more assignats to pay for the war.

3. Committee of Public Safety [CPS]e Set up by NC 1793 to direct the army

and try enemies of the Revolution.e Conscription – able bodied men 18-25

subject to military service (Army of Merit)4. Committee of General Security [CGS]

e responsible for the pursuit of counter-revolutionaries, thetreatment of suspects, & other internal security matters.

COMMITTEE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY Revolutionary Tribunals. 300,000 arrested. 16,000 – 50,000 executed.

• 1793 French forces defeated Prussian and Austrian forces and prevented an invasion

• France invaded the Austria Netherlands and in reaction G.B., the Netherlands, Spain and Sardinia joined Austria and invaded France again.

Maximilien Robespierre (1758 –

1794)Georges Jacques Danton (1759 –

1794)

INFLUENTIAL LEADERS

THE REIGN OF TERROR Terror is nothing other than justice,

prompt, severe, inflexible. -- Robespierre

Let terror be the order of

the day!c The Revolutionary

Tribunal of Paris alone executed 2,639 victims in 15 months.

c The total number of victims nationwide was over 20,000!

Sept. 1793-July 1794

LEGISLATION PASSED BY THE

NATIONAL CONVENTION1. Law of General Maximum

September 5, 1793. Limited prices of grain & other essentials to 1/3

above the 1790 prices & wages to ½ of 1790figures.

Prices would be strictly enforced. Hoarders rooted out and punished. Food supplies would be secured by the army!

2. Law of Suspectse September 17, 1793.e This law was so widely drawn that almost anyone

not expressing enthusiastic support for the republic could be placed under arrest!

THE GUILLOTINE:AN “ENLIGHTENMENT

TOOL”? Oh, thou charming guillotine, You shorten kings and queens;

By your influence divine,We have re-conquered our

rights.Come to aid of the Country

And let your superb instrument

Become forever permanentTo destroy the impious sect.Sharpen your razor for Pitt

and his agentsFill your divine sack with

heads of tyrants.

DIFFERENT SOCIAL CLASSES EXECUTED

7%8

%

25%

31%

28%

%’s are out of total number killed

THE “MONSTER” GUILLOTINE

The last guillotine execution in France was in 1939!

“REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE”

Tried to create a democratic republic in which people would act in accordance with good citizenship (active citizens) Universal elementary education &

expanded universities Abolished slavery in French colonies Metric system New calendar 09/22/92

1795 French army expanded its territory to Rhine River Coalition forces began to break up & The

French army was used to break up a rebellion in Paris – new gov’t would accept no opposition

THE END OF TERROR In the spring of 1794 Danton

declared that the Reign of Terror was over – French army was winning and he believed the Terror had met its goals Robespierre accused his of

disloyalty to the Revolution – the Dantonists were put to death ( Colleagues feared for their lives)

Robespierre was arrested after giving a speech 1794 accusing other of disloyalty to the Revolution In an attempted suicide he

shot himself in the head and shattered his jaw

He was put to death July 28, 1794

THE DIRECTORY 1795-1799 1795 yet another New Constitution

establishing a new government called the Directory 2 House Legislature – lower proposed new

laws and upper accepted or rejected them Upper selected executive branch – 5 directors

(weak and indecisive) Eliminated male suffrage – property owners

could vote Used the army to crush rebellions Did not address financial issues Ultimately failed