SimulationThe king assembles the Estates General for adviceThe king will read an announcement.The rest of the class will kneel as he speaksThe Three Estates prepare to meetStudents should take 15-20 minutes to prepare for the meeting

1. decide whether to vote by order or by head2. draft a proposal to solve the financial crisis

students should recall the expenditures of the state while doing thisshould also keep in mind were the income is coming fromdesignate a spokes personEach estate proposes a plan to save FranceHave the spokesperson for each group come before the king, kneel, and read their proposalThe king proposes a plan to save FranceThe king will read the proposalThe Estates General will vote on the proposal

King and Queen1st Estate

3rd Estate

2nd Estate

Controller

General

3rd Estate

3rd Estate

3rd Estate

3rd Estate

Complete these Tasks• Vote by head or by order• Propose a way to meet the

financial needs of France.

Proposals for the Kings Consideration

First, you MUST kneel when the king speaks or when you are speaking to the king.

Each group will write a proposal that will be presented to the king. It must have the following elements:

1) Should we vote by estate (each estate has 1 vote) or by head (each person has 1 vote)

2) Have at least three ideas for France to raise money• Higher taxes on - who?• Reduce expenses – where?• Be creative

The French Revolution

Stage 2

The Estates General• Estates General met at Versailles –

May 1789• Louis XVI had no plan

– no financial plan for debate – left the voting issue - vote by head or

by estate - unsettled. • As a result, the estates fought

over voting procedure and little was accomplished.

Creation of the National Assembly

• After 5 weeks…– Third Estate invited Clergy and Nobility

to join them in a new legislative (law making) body

– Voting would be by head (person).• A few clergy and nobles did so • June 17, 1789

– The National Assembly created.

The Tennis Court Oath• King Louis XVI locked National

Assembly out of hall in Versailles• June 20 –

– National Assembly moved to a large indoor tennis court in town and swore the Tennis Court Oath.

The Tennis Court Oath• The Assembly would not disband

until a new constitution had been written for France.

The King Concedes• Popular support rose

for National Assembly – more members of the

First and Second Estate joined it.

• Louis XVI recognized National Assembly– Needed taxes– Scared by growing

support• All Estates joined

The Storming of the Bastille

• Population still suspicious

• Royal troops began to gather near Paris– This seen as clear sign

that king was going to crack down

• Rumors spread of attack on Paris by King’s troops – people panicked.

• Crowds gathered arms to defend city.

The Storming of the Bastille

• July 14, 1789 – 100s of people

marched on Bastille, a medieval fort and prison, in search of gunpowder and weapons

The Storming of the Bastille

• Commanding officer refused to surrender – fired on crowd - 98

people killed• Soldiers forced to

surrender hours later

• This symbolized the start of the revolution.

The Great Fear• July 20 – August 5, 1789• Grain remained low and was

protected by armed guards• Peasants arm themselves to

secure the grain and attacked their nobles

• Great Fear– Panic and organized revolts

spread throughout France• August 4, 1789

– Nobles and clergy give up their feudal privileges.

Declaration of the Rights of Man

• August– the National Assembly wrote the Declaration

of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.– a short, concise document

• Promises basic personal rights• property • free speech• personal security

• Government derived it legitimacy from the consent of the people

Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.

The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.

Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.

No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.

As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.

No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be entrusted.

A general tax is indispensable for the maintenance of the public force and for the expenses of administration; it ought to be equally apportioned among all citizens according to their means.

All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.

A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.

Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of it, unless demanded by public necessity, legally constituted, explicitly demands it, and under the condition of a just and prior indemnity.

The March on Versailles• Following the

Storming of the Bastille, financial crisis continued.

• Unemployment and hunger increased.

The March on Versailles• October 5th, 1789 –

– 7,000 women / mothers marched 12 miles from Paris to Versailles to demand bread.

• Mob invaded the palace and killed several guards

The March on Versailles• King, captured in

quarters, promised to give them bread immediately and to accompany them back to Paris with his family

• Heads of two nobles, stuck on pikes, led the way, followed by the unarmed royal guard

Prisoner in a Gilded Cage

• The king and his family became prisoners at Tuilerie Palace in Paris and never returned to Versailles