By Lindsay Mountanos

1
The French Revolution

• By Lindsay Mountanos

2
InTrOdUcTiOn

• During this time in France, people of the Third
  Estate were the ones who were forced to pay taxes
  to the church. Upper estates, who had the most
  money, didn't have to pay taxes so the Third
  Estate decided to rebel. First they became the
  National Assembly and tried somehow to come up
  with a document of legal rights, called the
  Constitution. Soon they began taking action by
  organizing marches. The National Assembly now
  became the Estates General during this time,
  they finally began getting some recognition for
  their actions.
• When Napoleon came into the picture, he equalized
  and stabilized everything and everyone started
  schools and wrote a Napoleonic Code of Laws. By
  the end of this time period, the citizens of
  France had many more different individual rights
  than ever before.

3
The Meeting of the Estates General

• The meeting of the Estates General took place May
  5th, 1789 at Versailles. It included an assembly
  of representatives from three estates. The First
  Estate, which is made up of clergy of Roman
  Catholics. The Second Estate is made up of rich
  nobles. And the Third Estate is made up of Urban
  lower class and peasant farmers and had the power
  to influence the government. When he gets
  approval for tax he reforms. It had its first
  meeting 175 years earlier.
• I think the Meeting of the Estates General
  contributed to the rise of the democracy because
  it has the peasants, power, and voting.

4
The Tennis Court Oath

• The National Assembly and pass laws and reforms
  in the name of the French people. June 17,1789
  they voted to establish the national assembly, in
  effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy
  and the beginning of representative government.
• I think the Tennis Court Oath contributed to the
  rise of the democracy because this got the
  National Assembly all together and gave them
  recognition. The Assembly pledged to finalize the
  constitution, and that is where the Constitution
  of 1791 came from.

5
The March on Versailles

• Summary of the March on Versailles
• In October of 1789, a large, organized group of
  women marched over to the palace, killing two
  guards. They demanded bread for their children,
  who were ill while the royalty lived in splendor.
  On their way back, the citizens took the king and
  queen with them.
• How this contributed to the democracy
• 1. Now the citizens are seriously forcing the
  king to do what they want. The power is all in
  the peoples hands the king seems helpless.
• 2. The contribution to the democracy is people
  pick the actions, as in this case. The citizens
  did what they thought is right, as people make
  their own choices now.

6
The Rise of Napoleon

• He started out as a lieutenant and ended up an
  emperor. Napoleon change France with his genius
  military success. He made many changes, reforms
  of the revolution, in France some of his ideas
  are still used today.
• The Rise of Napoleon contribution to the
  democracy because he made many changes for the
  people in the government, like set up schools and
  a code of laws. But one thing he did to decrease
  the democracy, is take away some citizen rights,
  in order to stabilize the community. In one way
  it was good thing, in the other it wasnt.

7
The Reign of Terror

• On January 21, 1793, the ex-king walked up the
  steps of scaffold to be beheaded by a machine
  called guillotine, and 1,000 people died by it.
  Maximilien Robespierre gathered control into his
  own hands, he set out to build a republic of
  virture. In 1793, Robespierre the leader of
  Committee of Public Safety, he decided who should
  be considered enemies of the republic. In July
  1793 through July 1794 he governed France as a
  dictator, his period became known as Reign of
  Terror. This enabled French citizens to remain
  true to the ideals of the revolution.
• This was a very democratical moment because
  Robespierre and his followers took total control
  and barely gave people any say. Also The French
  made a drastic change of mind joining together
  and in conclusion Robespierre was beheaded.

8
The Storming of Bastille

• On July 14, 1789, citizens tried to retrieve
  gunpowder from the Paris prison, Bastille. The
  prison guards were overwhelmed, and the prison
  was taken over by the citizens.
• How did it contribute to the rise of democracy
• 1. The power now became unbalanced because the
  citizens were in charge now.
• 2. A step toward democracy because now not only
  the clergy/nobles have power, the citizens are
  fighting for a say in the government.

9
Conclusion

• The outcome of the French Revolution, helped
  ensure the power of the people. It also helped
  strengthen the democracy. Citizens went through
  hard times, where the government was bounced
  around from constitutional to democratical in
  the end they came supporting each other.
• All of these events helped the democracy by
  giving the people a chance to speak out and be
  heard. Even though, some of the occurrences
  didnt help directly, in the long run it was a
  big step toward the government we have right now.
  

10
Bibliography

• Images were used from http//www.google.com/img
  hp?hlenieUTF-8oeUTF-8q The textbook
  World History Patters of Interaction also was
  used.