phase two: path to constitutional monarchy…and beyond! the french revolution
TRANSCRIPT
National Assembly Makes Reforms: The August
Decrees - 1789• Abolished remains of feudalism• Repealed tithe• Did away with the
special privileges of 1st & 2nd Estates
• Stated that all people were equal before the law (although women were not granted equal rights! When Olympe de Gouges proposed a Declaration of Rights of Women, she was declared an enemy of the revolution & executed!)
Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen – 1789
• Granted freedom of speech, press & religion
• Protected citizens against arbitrary arrest & imprisonment
Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen – 1789
The Forced Move to Paris!
• The king refused to accept new reforms and the Declaration of Rights
• Women marched on Versailles, rioting over the price of bread
• Forced royal family & National Assembly to move to Paris!
• The king and family attempted to flee to Austria-Hungary
• They are caught & forced to return to Paris
The King’s Escape?!?!
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
• Placed the French Catholic Church under government control
• Clergy became elected & paid officials
• The Assembly required them to swear an oath of allegiance to the gov’t
• Church lost lands & political independence
Constitution of 1791
• Kept monarchy, but limited royal powers = Constitutional Monarchy!!
• Set up a unicameral legislature – the Legislative Assembly
• King lost much authority but reluctantly accepts the limited monarchy
• BUT people didn’t trust the king – many pushed for a REPUBLIC (citizens elect the leaders)
Constitution of 1791
Political Factions & Seating in the
LegislatureRadical
sModerates Conservative
s
Wanted to end
monarchy - wanted a republic; change!!
Wanted king to share
power with legislature;
some change!!
Favored Limited
Monarchy; no change!!
(left) (center) (right)
Émigrés• Nobles who fled France• Plotted to overturn the
revolution & restore Louis XVI & Old Regime
• Tried to convince the rulers of Austria & Prussia to put down the revolution – Why?
• …or their OWN rule would be threatened!
War With Austria-Hungary
War With Austria-Hungary
• French Revolutionary leaders feared that Austria would help the French monarch
War With Austria-Hungary
• France declared war on Austria in 1792
• Proclaimed that the war advanced the cause of liberty in France
• War threw France into total upheaval
Down with the King!
• August 1792: Paris crowds attacked the king’s palace
• King & family fled to Legislative Assembly for protection, but the radicals voted for their imprisonment!