ing in the interest of King

Louis XVI. The royal author-

ity still failed and the new

laws continued to require the

king’s constant. In August of

1789, the National Assembly

drafted and instituted the

“Declaration of the Rights of

Men and Citizens”. The legis-

lative proclaimed: “Man is

born and remains free and

equal in rights”. And those

rights protected from any

government actions or legis-

lation. Minority groups

throughout the French empire

fought to be included as

French Citizens and for them

to receive equal rights.

James Walker

During the French revolution,

the National Assembly,

which existed from June 17,

1789 to July 9, 1789, was a

transitional body between the

Estates-general and the Na-

tional Constituent Assembly

(Proof from the Wikipedia).

Estate-general had been

called on May 5, 1789 to deal

with France’s financial crisis,

but promptly fell to squab-

bling over its own structure.

The Third Estate has been

granted for “Double Repre-

sentation” which is twice as

much delegates as each of the

other Estates. On May 5,

1789 they were informed that

all voting would be “by es-

tates” not “by head”, so their

Double Representation was

meaningless in terms of

power. But they refused this

and proceeded to meet sepa-

rately. The Third Estate “The

Commons” began to meet on

their own. Proceeding their

“verifications of powers”

independently of the other

bodies; From June 13 to June

17 they were gradually joined

by nobles and clergy such as

peasants. The Assembly es-

tablished a committee of sub-

stances to deal with the food

shortages. The Assembly

announced itself to be operat-

The National Assembly

The Tennis Court Oath

Zoe Austin

June 20, 1789- Third Estate

Delegates were shocked to

find out we had been locked

out of our meeting room three

days after breaking away

from the Estates General and

voting to establish the Na-

tional Assembly. We feared

there would be a royal attack

from Louis XVI and were led

by Honore Gabriel Riqueti to

the nearest meeting

place.After we had broken

down the door to the nearest

indoor tennis court, located in

the Saint-Louis district of the

city of Versailles, we made a

pledge not to leave until a

new French Constitution had

been drawn up. Members and

Nobles who favored the re-

form joined the Third Estate

delegates. The Third estate

wants a stronger voice than

the Estates General.The Ten-

nis Court Oath has been

signed by 576 out of 577 of

the Third Estate Delegate

members. Joseph Martin-

Dauch was the only member

that did not sign the oath be-

cause he would not “execute

decisions not sanctioned by

the king.”We are still unclear

as to why the chamber doors

were locked and guarded by

soldiers. But the most prob-

able reason is because the

king and his family were still

mourning for the death of

their eldest son, Dauphin.

Others say it is because the

King arranged for a royal

speech and wanted the meet-

ing room to be renovated.

Also, the weather was not

appropriate for an outdoor

meeting. King Louis has now

stationed his mercenary army

of Swiss guards around Ver-

sailles. People are calling this

the beginning of a revolution.

The French Inquirer

Revolution Newspapers Inc. August 1789 Volume 1, Issue 1

Inside this issue:

National Assembly 1

The Tennis Court Oath 1

We Want Our Bread

Back!

2

The Estates General

1789

2

Reign of Terror 3

Robespierre’s Contri-

bution to the Constitu-

tion

3

Word Search 4

It all started on an early

morning on October 5, 1789

me and a group of angry

women had gotten together

and made a big crowd in the

central market-

place of Paris.

The march on

Versailles main

purpose was to

obtain bread and

force the price of

bread down to

where it has been.

Versailles was a

place where you could go

party and have fun, the king

even lived there. It was a very

huge surprise to have all of

this working class people

march in the palace and de-

mand bread from the king.

Bread was the main diet for

French people at the time;

half of the money was for

bread. Suddenly in August

the price of bread increased

causing me and my family to

not be able to buy it anymore.

One morning we went to the

baker to try to get bread

someway somehow he denied

us later that day, angry people

were so mad they even killed

the baker moments later.

Meanwhile the men would

encourage us women to

march, and then they started

screaming at us women to

march. As we marched

there were other women

who would come out of

their house and join the

march. We were armed

with pitch forks, mus-

kets, pikes, swords,

bludgeons, crowbars

etc. Once they we Ver-

sailles they stormed

through the gates, we de-

manded bread while they

stood in the palace of Ver-

sailles sopping wet and

muddy. The king was scared

and overwhelmed by us that

stood in front of him. The

was the clergy, the Second

Estate the nobility, and the

Third Estate effectively the

rest of French society.On

May 5, 1789, Louis XVI con-

vened the Estates-General.

Almost immediately, it be-

came apparent that this ar-

chaic arrangement of the

group had last been assem-

bled in 1614 would not sit

well with its present mem-

bers. Although Louis XVI

granted the Third Estate

greater numerical representa-

tion, the Parliament of Pa-

Mackenzie Drury

In the wake of Calonne’s

dismissal, Louis XVI brought

back Swiss banker Jacques

Necker, who had previously

served a ten-year stint as

director general of finance.

After assessing the situation,

Necker insisted that Louis

XVI call together the Estates

-General, a French congress

that originated in the medie-

val period and consisted of

three estates. The First Estate

ristepped in and invoked an

old rule mandating that each

estate receive one vote, re-

gardless of size. As a result,

though the Third Estate was

vastly larger than the clergy

and nobility, each estate had

the same representation and

one vote. Inevitably, the

Third Estate’s vote was over-

ridden by the combined votes

of the clergy and nobility.

(Continued on page 4)

We Want Our Bread Back!

The Estates General 1789

Page 2 The French Inquirer

Robespierre. The king was

executed in January 1793.In

May 1794, Robespierre in-

sisted that the National Con-

vention proclaim a new offi-

cial religion for France - the

cult of the Supreme Being.

This was based on the think-

ing of the philosopher Jean-

Jacques Rousseau of whom

Robespierre was a passionate

advocate..The wrath of the

Reign of Terror and Robespi-

erre's autocracy made him

increasingly unpopular.

French military successes

served to undermine the justi-

fication for such ruthlessness

and a conspiracy was formed

to overthrow Robespierre. On

27 July 1794, he was arrested

after a struggle. The follow-

ing day Robespierre,

Shawn Shrewsberry

Robespierre was a French

lawyer and politician who

became one of the most influ-

ential figures of the French

Revolution..Robespierre be-

came increasingly popular for

his attacks on the monarchy

and his advocacy of democ-

ratic reforms. In April 1790,

was elected president of the

powerful Jacobin political

club..After the downfall of

the monarchy in August 1792,

Robespierre was elected first

deputy for Paris to the Na-

tional Convention. The con-

vention abolished the monar-

chy, declared France a repub-

lic and put the king on trial

for treason, all measures

strongly supported by

wounded from a bullet to the

jaw, and 21 of his closest

supporters were executed at

the guillotine.

The Reign of Terror

25,000 in summary execu-

tions across France. as well as

many others, such as pioneer-

ing chemist Antoine Lavois-

ier, lost their lives under its

blade. During 1794 revolu-

tionary France was with con-

spiracies by internal and for-

eign enemies. Within France,

the revolution was opposed

by the French nobility

Through the Revolutionary

Tribunal, the Terror's leaders

exercised broad dictatorial

powers and used them to in-

stigate mass executions and

political purges. The repres-

sion accelerated in June and

July 1794, a period called la

Grande Terreur (the Great

Terror), and ended in (27 July

1794), leading to the Thermi-

dorian Reaction, in which

several protagonists of the

Reign of Terror were exe-

cuted , including Saint-Just

and Robespierre. What hap-

pened was the French govern-

ment established the commit-

tee of public saftey which

took its final form on 6 Sep-

tember 1793 in order to sup-

press internal counter-

revolutionary activities and

raise additional French mili-

tary forces.

A bloody terror is being created by

this picture showing

Shawn Shrewsberry

September 5, 1793 – July 28

1794 a period of violence that

occurred after the onset of the

French Revolution, incited by

conflict between rival politi-

cal factions, the Girondins

and the Jacobins and marked

by mass executions of

"enemies of the revolution".

The death toll ranged in the

tens of thousands, with

16,594 executed by guillotine

(2,639 in Paris) and another

Volume 1, Issue 1

Page 3

Robespierre's contribution to the French Revolution

Additionally, in a country

as secularized as France at

the time, giving the church

a full third of the vote was

ill-advised: although

France’s citizens would

ultimately have their re-

venge, at the time the

church’s voting power just

fostered more animosity.

There were numerous phi-

losophers in France speak-

ing out against religion and

the mindless following that

it supposedly demanded,

and many resented being

forced to follow the deci-

The fact that the Estates-

General hadn’t been sum-

moned in nearly 200 years

probably says a thing or

two about its effectiveness.

The First and Second Es-

tates—clergy and nobility,

respectively—were too

closely related in many

matters. Both were linked

intrinsically to the royalty

and shared many similar

privileges. As a result, their

votes often went the same

way, automatically neutral-

izing any effort by the

Third Estate.

sions of the church on a

national scale.Beyond the

chasm that existed between

it and the other estates, the

Third Estate itself varied

greatly in socioeconomic

status. Some members were

peasants and laborers,

where as others had the

occupations, wealth, and

lifestyles of nobility. These

disparities between mem-

bers of the Third Estate

made As the impasse in the

Estates-General continued,

the Third Estate became

more convinced of its enti-

The Estates General 1789 (Continued)

more convinced of its entitlement

to liberty. Seeing that neither the

king nor the other estates would

acquiesce to its requests, the Third

Estate began to organize within

itself and recruit actively from the

other estates. On June 17, 1789,

bolstered by communitywide sup-

port, the Third Estate officially

broke away from the Estates-

General and proclaimed itself the

National Assembly. In so doing, it

also granted itself control over

taxation. Shortly thereafter, many

members of the other estates joined

the cause.

Laura Deatherage

Women's clothing styles maintained an emphasis on the shape of the torso while the shape of the skirts

changed throughout the period. The wide panniers (holding the skirts out at the side) disappeared by 1780 for

all but the most formal court functions, and bum-pads or hip-pads were worn

for a time.

Marie Antoinette had a marked influence on French fashion beginning in the

1780s. Around this time, she had begun to rebel against the structure of court

life. She abolished her morning toilette and often escaped to the Petit Trianon

with increasing frequency, leading to criticism of her exclusivity by cutting

off the traditional right of the aristocracy to their monarch. Marie Antoinette

found refuge from the stresses of the rigidity of court life and the scrutiny of

the public eye, the ailing health of her children, and her sense of powerless in

her marriage by carrying out a pseudo-country life in her newly constructed

Hameau de la reine. She and an elite circle of friends would dress in peasant

clothing and straw hats and retreat to the hameau. It was out of this practice

that her style of dress evolved. By tradition, a lady of the court was instanta-

neously recognizable by her panniers, corset and weighty silk materials that

constructed her gown in the style of a la francasise or a l’englaise. By doing

away with these things, Marie Antoinette’s gaulle or chemise á la Rein

stripped female aristocrats of their traditional identity; noblewomen could

now be confused with peasant girls, confusing long standing sartorial differ-

ences in class. The chemise was made from a white muslin and the Queen

was further accused of importing foreign fabrics and crippling the French silk industry.

Fashion in the French Revolution