The French Revolution

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The French Revolution
Background Causes

• Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité! Liberty, Equality,
  Fraternity!

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A crossroads in History

• Many historians view the French Revolution as the
  most important event in Western History.
• Why?
• France was a leader in Europe ideas, fashions,
  codes of behaviour
• Beginning of modern age
• New ideas on role/ systems of government and
  citizen rights
• Along with Industrial Revolution can be seen as
  turning point as largely agricultural society
  transformed into an urban , industrial one

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Document 1
On Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776
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American Revolution
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Concepts of Empire
British Americans
Single Empire Parliament as supreme authority Only Parliament could make laws for all people, including American colonists Had own representative assemblies Did not want King or Parliament to meddle with internal decisions Taxation needed representation did not want taxes issued without consent of the people
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On Common Sense

• Without the pen of the author of Common Sense,
  the sword of Washington would have been raised in
  vain. John Adams, Founding Father

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Causes
Political
Social
Economic
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A few key dates

• 1775 First battles
• 1776 Declaration of Independence
• 1780 Camden, South Carolina 1780
  https//www.youtube.com/watch?vIFpFHj4XfFg
• 1781 British army forced to surrender
• 1783 Treaty of Paris signed 13 United States

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What do you think?

• Were the colonists justified in declaring their
  independence from Britain?

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Connections to France?

• France wanted to support America in its struggle
  against Great Britain
• Sent supplies and soldiers, invested money
• Soldiers returned to France with first-hand
  experience on how a revolution could succeed
• American Revolution provided practical example to
  France
• Bill of Rights (1789) many rights came from
  ideas of 18th C philosophes European
  intellectuals saw American Revolution as
  embodiment of Enlightenments political ideals

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Document 2 (youve read before)
Social Contract Jean Jacques Rousseau 1762
Man was born free, and he is everywhere in
chains
The Sovereign The General Will
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The Enlightenment
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• Though parts of the Social Contract do not embody
  Enlightenment ideals, the idea of the Sovereign
  being the people and voicing the General Will
  makes us think of reason, moving away from strict
  monarchies, and questioning the status quo
  all ideas of the enlightenment

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What does this contemporary political cartoon say
about conditions in France under the Old Regime?
Taille, (direct land tax) Impôts, et Corvées
(unpaid peasant labour on public projects)
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Political cartoons during French Revolution. How
would these images help spur the revolution?
How would an illiterate French citizen interpret
these images?
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Document 3?
What is the Third Estate? Abbe Sieyes 1789

1. What is the third estate? Everything.
2. What has it been in the political order up to the
   present? Nothing.
3. What does it demand? To become something

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The Three Estates

• First Estate
• Clergy
• 130,000
• Church owned 10 of land
• Exempt from taille (Frances chief tax), but
  agreed to pay voluntary contributions
• Divided higher clergy from aristocratic families
  (shared interests with nobility), parish priests
  poor commoners

• Second Estate
• Nobility
• 350,000
• Owned 25-30 land
• Exempt from tailler
• Held leading roles in government, law courts,
  military
• Divided Nobility of the robe (status from office
  holding commoners could attain noble rank), and
  Nobility of the sword (descendants of original
  medieval monarchy)

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The Third Estate

• Vast majority 98 of entire population!
• Main burdens of taxation on third estate
• Differences in occupation, education, wealth
• Peasants 75-80 of total population
• Owned 35-40 of land
• Taxes were crushing to King, the taille, poll,
  tithes (produce of land)
• Urban working class
• Artisans, shopkeepers, other wage earners living
  in cities/urban areas
• Bourgeoisie (middle class) 8 of population (2.3
  million people)
• Merchants, industrialists, bankers controlled
  resources
• Professionals lawyers, doctors, writers, held
  public offices
• Owned 20-25 of land
• Wealthy bourgeoisie could enter nobility
• Resented not having freedom to criticize unfair
  system of government

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Document 4?
The King Must Die!Maximilien Robespierre 1792
The King must die because the nation must live.
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Poor Leadership (Marie Antoinette)
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Louis XVI Marie Antoinette

• Louis XVI
• 16th Louis
• King of France after death of grandfather (Louis
  XV)
• Largely viewed as indecisive and inconsistent,
  incapable of proper leadership

• Marie Antoinette
• Austrian (daughter of Maria Theresa)
• Married Louis to form alliance between Austria
  and France
• Queen of France 1774
• Charming and beautiful, but very out of touch
  with needs of own people
• Madame Deficit

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Document 5 ?
Travels in France Arthur Young 1787, 1788, 1789
First-hand view of peasant life in
prerevolutionary France.
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Finances and poverty
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Problems
Tax Crisis Monarch did not tax
effectively Problem 1 Individuals collecting
taxes from peasants only gave small amount to
government (rest kept for selves) Problem 2 Tax
exemptions for First and Second Estates
France in debt (aiding American Revolutionary
War), monarchy living in luxury
Drought (1787-88) and severe winter (1789)
resulted in crop failures, causing inflation of
food (wheat, bread) prices. Led to riots,
government was bankrupt and powerless to act.
Population increase (due to better medicine,
agriculture) more people to feed
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In Conclusion

• Clip --
• Enlightenment and American Revolution -- History
  Channel documentary
• 329-1440

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(No Transcript)