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The French Revolution

Terms in this set (57)

Louis XV (r. 1715-1774)
nobility gained influence during his reign. His ministers/ mistresses influence on him, controlling affairs of state and undermining the prestige of the monarchy
Madame de Pompadour
famous mistress who influenced Louis XV in making gov't decisions & giving advice on appointments and foreign policy.
Parlement
The high court of Paris was restored with the power to approve or disapprove the king's decrees. Louis sought to raise taxes to pay for past wars but the Parlement refused. Same struggles as the english monarchs. Judicial opposition stated that the king could not levy taxes without the consent of the Parlement, the representative of the nation. support from educated public.
René de Maupeou
Louis XV appointed René de Maupeou as chancellor and ordered him to subdue judicial opposition. Parlement abolished and its members
exiled to isolated areas in the provinces. new and docile parlement of royal officials created. Privileged groups taxed again. Philosophes and educated public critical of new parlement and royal authority.
Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792)
dismissed Maupeou. old parliament is back. public hopes for reforms leading to more representative government, but they're disappointed by the stalemate between the monarchy and its judicial opponents.
France in 1789
most advanced country due to population, wealth of country, and more exports than britian. French culture prevalent since language of official diplomacy and also spoken in most European courts, center of enlightenment, pwrfl military.
First estate
Less than 1% of population but Catholic Church in France (Gallican Church) owned 20% of the land. exempt from taxes. church's income was drained away from local parishes by political appointees and high-
ranking aristocrats. Though the French church levied a tithe on all agricultural products, England did as well.
Bishops both in England and France often played a part in gov't affairs. The clergy and monastic orders had greatly declined by 1789 in the wake of the Enlightenment
Second Estate
exempt from taxation. Owned about 25% of the land. resurgence since the death of louis XIV in 1715. manorial rights that allowed them to tax peasants for their own profit.
Third Estate
few rich merchants or professionals, the middle class, urban artisans, unskilled workers and the mass of peasants. majority of tax burden. Taille: land tax, Tithe: church tax equivalent to 10% of annual
income, Income tax, Poll tax, Salt tax. Peasants also had to honor feudal obligations such as taxes and fees. Corvèe obligated peasants to work for nobles several days a year. Nobles enjoyed "hunting rights," or the
privilege of keeping game preserves, and
hunting on the peasant's land. not the same as with serfdo
Bourgeoisie
demanded that political and social power be congruent with their emerging economic power. Resented the First and Second Estates who held all political and social power. Wanted reduction of privileges for nobility and tax relief for themselves. Hated the Lettre de cachet: Gov't could imprison anyone without charges or trial.
Long-Term Causes - Breakdown of the old order—
ancien regime
French Revolution influenced by the American Revolution. French soldiers had served during American Revolution. French bourgeoisie and lower nobility
intrigued by American liberty. French aid to the Americans resulted in an increase in the French debt. Increased criticism of the French gov't due to the Enlightenment. Laissez faire economic ideas of French physiocrats (such as Quesnay) and Adam Smith. Middle class resented gov't interference in their economic activities. Criticism of gov't inefficiency, corruption, and privileges of the aristocracy. The legal system wasn't uniform or codified laws. Divine right theory invoked by the Crown did not fit in during the age of "enlightened despots". 3 estates not reflective of wealth and ability.
Immediate Cause: Financial Mismanagement
Louis XVI, France bankrupt. By the 1780s half of France's annual budget went for payment of interest on the mounting debt. Colonial wars with England.
French participation in the American Revolution. Gov't couldn't declare bankruptcy. Aristocratic and bourgeois creditors did not allow their loans to be repudiated by the monarchy. France had no central bank, no paper currency, and no means of creating credit. Only way for gov't to get revenue by increase taxes. dramatic price increases while wages did not keep up. The Parlements controlled by the nobility, blocked tax increases nd new taxes to force king to share power with the Second Estate: "fundamental laws" which king can't violate taxation and freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. King tried to exile judges but protests. On July 5, 1788, king summoned for Estates General. King asked that study tax situation and make proposals on the organization of the Estates General.By forcing the summoning of the Estates General, the nobility unwittingly initiated the Revolution.
Assembly of Notables
Louis XVI summoned an Assembly of Notables (1787) hoping they would either approve the king's new tax program or consent to remove their tax exemptions. Nobles refused tax increases and demanded that control over all gov't spending be given to the provincial assemblies (that nobles controlled). Louis refused. Nobles demanded that sweeping tax changes required approval of Estates General. The king then dismissed the nobles and established new taxes by decree.
Estates General-- May, 1789
"Cahiers de doléances": Each estate was instructed
to compile a list of suggestions and grievances and
present them to the king: constitutional monarchy, Individual liberties guaranteed by law, Position of parish clergy be improved, Abolition of internal trade barriers. Each Estate to elect its representatives. Parlement of Paris ruled that voting in the Estates General follow the tradition of each Estate voting separately. May 5, 1789: the Estates General met and the Third Estate mad that the voting method was by Estate and not per capita. The Third Estate insisted that the entire Estates General vote together. A 6-week deadlock followed until the Third Estate asserted its power in June, aided by some parish priests who defected from the First Estate.
Abbé Sieyès
most influential writer in the 3rd Estate: wrote, "What is the Third Estate?" Claimed the Third Estate should have the power in France. Stated nobility should be abolished. Believed the Third Estate represented the vast majority of French society, Brought the ideas of Rousseau's Social Contract to the forefront.
IV. The French Revolution and the "Age of Montesquieu" A. National Assembly, 1789-1791
June 17, the Third Estate declared itself the true National Assembly of France. locked out of their meeting place by Louis XVI they met instead in an indoor tennis court. Third Estate thus assumed sovereign power on behalf of the nation. Defections from the 1st and 2nd Estates caused Louis XVI to recognize the National Assembly on June 27, after he dissolved the Estates General. National Assembly dominated by the bourgeoisie. Point of no return: the king was now allied with the nobles while the Third Estate now feared the nobles more than ever.
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate swore to remain together until it had given France a constitution.
Storming of the Bastille - July 14, 1789
"Parisian" revolution began in response to food
shortages, soaring bread prices, 25% unemployment, and fear of military repression. king's dismissal of his liberal finance minister created fear of subjugation by aristocratic landowners and grain speculators. Workers and tradesmen began to arm themselves in response to the king's summoning of troops to Versailles. July 14, an angry mob stormed the Bastille in search of gunpowder and weapons.The heads of the prison's governor and the mayor were put on pikes and paraded throughthe streets. Citizens appointed marquis de Lafayette commander of the city's armed forces.Paris was lost to the king. The storming of the Bastille inadvertently saved the National Assembly. The king had been prepared to use force to put down the new government.
The "Great Fear" of 1789
Spirit of rebellion spread to countryside. violence. Peasants attacked manor houses to destroy the legal records of their feudal obligations. Middle class landowners were attacked. Recent enclosures were undone, old common lands were reoccupied, and forests were seized. Taxes went unpaid. Middle class responded by forming a National Guard Militia to protect property rights.
National Assembly's acheivements
voted to abolish feudalism in France and declared equality of taxation to all classes. Constituted one of the two great social changes of the Revolution (the other was the abolition of guilds). This was an attempt to stop further violence. Amounted to a peaceful social revolution. Ended serfdom (where it existed), exclusive hunting rights for nobles, fees for justice, village monopolies, the corvée, and other dues. Peasantry thus achieved a great and unprecedented victory. Henceforth, they would work to consolidate their gains. As the Great Fear ended, peasants became a force for order and stability.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen issued August 26, 1789
Became the constitutional blueprint for France. Influenced by American constitutional ideas. Guaranteed due process of law; a citizen was
innocent until proven guilty. Sovereignty of the people. Enlightenment philosophy: classical liberalism. "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights." Natural rights are "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." (Locke) Law is expression of the "General Will" (Rousseau). Freedom of expression and religion. Liberty defined as freedom to do anything not injurious to others, as determined only by law. Taxes could be raised only with common consent. All public servants accountable for conduct in office. Separation of powers through separate branches. Confiscation of property from private persons had to be done with fair compensation. "Citizen" applied to all French people, regardless of class.
Rights of Women
Women gained increased rights to divorce, to
inherit property, and to get child support from the
fathers of their illegitimate children.
Drawback of Declaration of Rights: Women did not
share in equal rights.Women could not vote or hold office while theexisting system gave males the advantage in family law, property rights, and education.
At this point in history, there were very few that believed in gender equality. Among the leaders of the revolution, only Condorcet argued for gender equality
Olympe de Gouges
The Rights of Woman. Following official Declaration in each of its 17 articles, she applied them to women explicitly in each case. Also asserted the right of women to divorce under certain conditions, to control property in marriage, and equal access to higher education and civilian careers and public employment.
Mary Wollstonecraft
England published Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Women's march to Versailles
(Oct. 1789)
Women pushed the revolution when shortages of bread persisted. Incited by Jean-Paul Marat, 7,000 women (along with the Paris national guard) from Paris to Versailles demanding the king redress their economic problems. Unemployment resulting from reduced demand for garments devastated women in the putting-out system. Women invaded royal apartments, slaughtered bodyguards while searching for Queen Marie Antoinette. King and Queen forced to move to Paris to live at the Tuleries, the royal residence in Paris. Louis XVI met with a group of women in the
palace and signed decrees guaranteeing bread
in Paris at reasonable prices. National Assembly also moved to Paris and was intimidated by the Parisians.
King's power reduced to temporary veto in
lawmaking process. King and Assembly made sure bread was available to the masses. The more conservative revolutionaries began to drop out of the Assembly due to disillusionment by mob violence.
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)
secularized religio, Created a national church with 83 bishops and dioceses. Biggest mistake made by the National Assembly. Convents and monasteries abolished. Church property was confiscated to pay off
the national debt. Significantly undermined religious orders and schools. Archbishoprics abolished. All clergymen would be paid by the state and elected by all citizens. Protestants, Jews, and agnostics could legally
take part in the elections based on citizenship
and property qualifications. Clergy forbidden to accept the authority of the pope. Clergy forced to take a loyalty oath to the new gov't (since the pope had condemned the Revolution).
Result of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
divided France over the issue of religion. Pope condemned the act as an attempt to subjugate the church. Half of French priests refused to accept it—"refactory clergy". They had the support of the king, former aristocrats, peasants, and the urban
working-class. The backlash later led to increased papal
influence on the French church during Napoleon's rule and beyond.
Constitutional monarchy
France became a constitutional monarchy with a unicameral Legislative Assembly. Middle class controlled the gov't through an indirect method of voting and property qualifications. Half of males over 25 years eligible to vote. Nobility was abolished
83 departments
The National Assembly divided France into 83 departments governed by elected officials. Replaced the old provincial boundary lines. New system of law courts gave France a uniform administrative structure: 83 dioceses, departments and judicial districts. Weakness: Local communities enforced national legislation at their discretion; proved ruinous when war came.
Economic reform
Favored the middle rather than the lowest classes. Metric system replaced sloppy system of weights
and measures. Le Chapelier Law (1791) outlawed strikes, workers coalitions and assemblies. Monopolies also were prohibited. Internal tariffs abolished. Assignats became new paper currency Former church property was used to guarantee value of assignats. Church land sold to pay off national debt. Much of it purchased by peasants.
Flight to Varennes:
Louis XVI tried to escape France in June, 1791 to avoid having to approve the Constitution of 1791 and to raise a counter- revolutionary army with émigré noblemen and seek help from foreign powers. He was captured and the King and Queen became prisoners of the Parisian mobs. King forced to accept a constitutional monarchy.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797): Reflections on
the Revolution in France (1790)
One of the great intellectual defenses of
European conservatism. Defended inherited privileges, especially those of English monarchy and aristocracy. Predicted anarchy and dictatorship in France. Advised England to go slow in adapting its own liberties. Denounced political philosophy based on abstract principles of right and wrong. Believed nations should be shaped by national circumstance, national history, and national character. Eventually, Burke came to urge war as an ideological struggle against French barbarism.
Thomas Paine: Rights of Man (1791)
Responded to Burke's argument by defending Enlightenment principles and France's revolution. Saw triumph of liberty over despotism. Kings and nobles of Europe, some of which initially welcomed the Revolution, began to feel threatened.
Legislative Assembly, 1791-1792
group of legislators replaced the
National Assembly in the new government. National Assembly had agreed that no one would take part in the new gov't. emergence of political factions in the revolution competing for power. Jacobins dominate the Legislative Assembly. Girondins were Jacobins nd advanced party in the Legislative Assembly nd led the country into war. War was the main issue during the period of the Legislative Assembly
Declaration of Pillnitz
issued by Prussia and Austria in August, 1791. Émigrés, French nobles who fled France beginning in 1789, influenced Prussia and Austria to declare the restoration of the French monarchy as their goal. The Austrian Emperor, Leopold, would be willing to take military steps to restore order to France if all other powers joined him. The Declaration was really a bluff intended to slow down the revolution and rid himself of
French émigrés. Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria in April, 1792.
War of the First Coalition
French revolutionary forces were soundly defeated by the Austrian military. Only the conflict between eastern monarchs over the division of Poland saved France from defeat. Intensified existing unrest and dissatisfaction of unpropertied classes.
Brunswick Manifesto
July 25, 1792: Brunswick Manifesto issued by Prussia and Austria and threatened to destroy Paris if the royal family was harmed.In response to Brunswick Manifesto, Jacobin-incited mobs seized power in Paris. Revolutionary sentiment was stoked by Robespierre, Danton, and the journalist, Marat. August 10, 1792: Tuleries (the king's palace in Paris) was stormed and the King was taken prisoner, after fleeing to the Legislative
Assembly. Swiss Guards were defeated and many
were murdered by the Parisian mob. Marked the beginning of the "Second Revolution"
Paris Commune
Revolutionary municipal gov't set up in Paris,
which effectively usurped the power of the
Legislative Assembly. Led by Georges-Jacques Danton. At the urging of radicals, the Legislative Assembly
suspended the Constitution of 1791. Ordered new elections based on universal malem suffrage to summon a new national convention to give France a republican form of gov't.
September Massacres: (led by Paris Commune)
Rumors spread that imprisoned counter-
revolutionary aristocrats and priests were plotting
with foreign invaders. Mobs slaughtered over a thousand priests, bourgeoisie, and aristocrats who opposed their program; many were in prison. Most of the revolution's remaining foreign supporters were shocked by the violence.
The National Convention, 1792-1795
France was a republic on Sept. 21, 1792. Abolished the monarchy. Equality, Liberty, Fraternity. members of National Convention were Jacobins and republicans, largely well- educated middle class.
The Mountain:
Two factions emerged among the Jacobins. radical republicans; urban class. leaders, Danton and Robespierre, sat on the uppermost left-hand benches of the assembly hall.
Girondins:
more moderate than the Mountain and predominantly rural
sans-culottes
influential on the National Convention. Predominantly from the working-class; extremely radical. separate faction from those of the National Convention and had an economic agenda. Their violence and influence kept the revolution moving forward. Responsible for storming Bastille, marching to Versailles, driving the king from Tuleries, and the September Massacres. They feared the National Convention might be too moderate.
Revolutionary army victories
In February 1793, National Convention declared
war on Britain, Holland and Spain, in addition to its war with Austria and Prussia—First Coalition
Louis XVI 's death
Louis XVI convicted of treason and executed in January 1793. Those who voted for regicide now had to preserve the gov't for they would lose their lives if royalists returned to power. Republic's military fortunes were in a state of crisis by spring of 1793
May 1793
The "Mountain" ("Jacobins") supported by the sans-culottes ousted the Girondins. The Mountain believed the Girondins would ally with conservatives and royalists to retain power. Enragés—radical working class leaders of Paris— seized & arrested 31 Girondist members of National Convention and left the Mountain in control. Even more radical than the sans-culottes
Committee of Public Safety (1793-94)
summer of 1793, the Committee of Public
Safety became an emergency gov't to deal with
internal and external challenges to the revolution. Maximilien Robespierre. Influenced heavily by the ideas of Rousseau and fanatically supported revolutionary idealism. Louis Saint-Just also was a major leader alongside Robespierre Committee closely collaborated with sans-culottes.
Law of Maximum:
a planned economy to respond to food shortages and related economic problems. Would enable France to urge total war against its external enemies. Gov't decreed maximum allowable prices, fixed in paper assignats, for key products. Price of bread fixed at levels poor could afford. Rationing introduced to make sure bread was shared fairly. Gov't nationalized many small workshops and requisitioned raw materials and grain from peasants. Arms and munitions produced for war effort. In effect, it was an early version of socialism.
Lazare Carnot
reorganized the French army.
Lévee en masse
entire nation conscripted into service as war was defined as a national mission. The planned economy made mobilization effective. Nationalism became a strong force uniting French people.
Reign of Terror (1793-94)
Law of Suspects:
Alleged enemies of the revolution were brought before Revolutionary Tribunals that were created to hear cases of treason. Louis XVI convicted of treason and executed on January 21, 1793. Queen Marie Antoinette executed later in the year. guillotine.

Cult of the Supreme Being
Deistic natural religion, in which the Republic
was declared to recognize the existence of God
and the immortality of the soul. Notre Dame Cathedral was converted into the "Temple of Reason"
Thermidorian Reaction, 1794
Opposition to Robespierre mounted in July, 1794. ended reign of terror.
The Directory: 1795-1799
New constitution written in 1795 which set up a
republican form of gov't. A new assembly chose a five-member executive to govern France: the Directory. Executive was the Directory, made up of 5 directors. Almost all adult males were able to vote but they
only voted for "electors." Office holding reserved to property owners. Middle class controlled the government. the Directory's major weakness as
it's support came from a narrow band of French
society. All economic controls were removed which ended the influence of the sans-culottes.
Challenges to the Directory
October, 1795, the aristocracy attempted a
royalist uprising. Rebellion put down with the help of Napoleon Bonaparte who happened to be in Paris at the time.
Conspiracy of Equals
led by "Gracchus" Babeuf formed to overthrow the Directory and replace it with a dictatorial "democratic" gov't which would abolish private property and enforce equality. Regarded as a precursor to modern communism. Directory repressed the Conspiracy of Equals without difficulty and guillotined Babeuf. Growing inflation and mass public dissatisfaction mounted but ignored by the Directory. Gov't was bankrupt, corrupt and unwilling to control inflation that severely hurt the impoverished masses of French peasants. Elections in April 1797 resulted in victory for royalists right but the results were annulled by the
Directory.
End of the Directory
A conspiracy emerged to save the Revolution and
prevent a royalist return to power.
b. Abbé Sieyès, the leader of the conspiracy, invited
Napoleon to join conspirators and overthrow the Directory; he did so upon returning from Egypt with his forces.
c. Coup d'Ètat Brumaire, November, 1799
• Upon returning from Egypt with his forces, Napoleon drove legislators from the Legislative
Assembly.
• A new constitution established beginning the
Consulate Era.
• A plebiscite (general referendum)
overwhelmingly approved: 3,011,007 to 1,562.
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