French Revolution

The French Revolution
Aims
• Identify the causes of the French Revolution

• Organize the main events that led France to a
Revolution.
Political Causes of the French Revolution
I. Political Causes:
A. Monarchy ruled according to "Divine Right."
1. Belief that the king was God's representative on earth, thus they could
do no wrong.
2. King selected ministers on basis of birth and favoritism.
3. Royal government was corrupt and inefficient.
4. Censorship of speech and the press.
5. People imprisoned without charge, bail, or trial.
6. People denied a voice in government.
First and Second Estates
I. The First and Second Estates were considered the privileged classes.
A. The First Estate [Clergy]
B. The Second Estate [Nobility]
C. Made up only 3% of total population
1. Owned most of the land.
2. Collected special feudal taxes from the peasants.
3. Both Estates were exempt from most taxes themselves.
4. Held the best positions in government and in the military.
5. Received special treatment in the eyes of the law.
The Third Estate
I. The Third Estate
A. Made 97% of the population.
1. Peasants were forced to do military service.
2. Peasants could not hunt or fish on nobles’ estates.
3. Peasants had to pay taxes to their lord, the king and the Church.
4. Peasants had to use the lord’s mill, oven and winepress, and pay for them.
5. Peasants made up 90% of the population.
Economic & Other Causes of the French Revolution
I. Economic Causes:
A. The Third Estate was overburdened with taxes.
1. Land tax
2. Forced to pay for roads and bridge construction.
3. Tithes
a. Payments to the Church.
II. Other Causes:
A. Inspired by the English Civil War and the American Revolution.
King Louis XVI (1774-
1792)
I. King Louis XVI (1774-1792)
A. Characteristics of the monarchy of Louis XVI
1. Incompetent and unpopular leadership.
a. Cared little for the common people.
B. Louis XVI brought the French finance to bankruptcy.
1. Maintained a lavish palace in Versailles.
2. Refused to tax the privileged classes.
3. Ignored the advice of his finance ministers.
Marie Antoinette
I. Marie Antoinette
A. Wife of Louis XVI Marie Antoinette only 14 years old
B. She was not French, but a Hapsburg from Austria. when she married the 15-year-old
C. She was snobbish and loved to live extravagantly. future king of France Louis XVI.
It took seven years for the future king and queen to consummate their marriage. Just hours after they first met, the young
teenagers were escorted to the bridal chamber on their wedding night by the groom’s grandfather, King Louis XV. After
the king blessed their bed, gave both a kiss and left the room to allow them to start work on producing a royal heir,
nothing happened between the two relative strangers that night. Apparently, nothing happened for the next seven years
either. The dauphin suffered from a painful medical condition that rendered him impotent, and the palace gossip soon
circulated around Europe. Finally in 1777, King Louis XVI underwent surgery to correct the problem and within a year,
Marie Antoinette bore the first of the couple’s four children.
A fairy-tale village was built for her at Versailles.

While peasants starved in villages throughout France, Marie
Antoinette commissioned the construction of the Petit
Hameau, a utopian hamlet with lakes, gardens, cottages,
watermills and a farmhouse on the palace grounds. The
queen and her ladies-in-waiting dressed up as peasants and
pretended to be milkmaids and shepherdesses in their
picturesque rural retreat. Marie Antoinette’s elaborate
spending on frivolities such as the Petit Hameau infuriated
revolutionaries and earned her the moniker “Madame
Deficit.”
The Royal Family
Representation in the Estates-General in 1789
I. Representation in the Estates-General in 1789.
Classes Representatives in Votes in the Percent of
the Estates General Estates General Population
Privileged Classes:
First Estate 300 1 3%
Second Estate 300 1
Unprivileged Class:
Third Estate 300 1 97%
The French Revolution Begins
I. French Revolution Begins
A. Third Estate demanded equality in the Estates-General.
1. Demanded that each member, not each estate, to have one vote.
2. King Louis XVI denied the request.
B. Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789)
1. Bastille- Hated prison in Paris where people were held without charge.
2. Peasants attack nobles' castles.
3. Disorder erupted.
Storming of the Bastille (July 14,

1789)
The French Revolution Begins: Map
The National Assembly
I. National Assembly (1789-1791)
A. Abolished special privileges of the privileged classes.
1. No more feudal payments by peasants.
2. No more tithe payments to the Church.
3. No more tax exemptions for the privileged classes.
4. No more class distinctions.
B. National Assembly's financial measures.
1. Lands of the nobility and Church were confiscated and sold at low prices
to the peasants.
Declaration of the Rights of Man & French Constitution
I. Declaration of the Rights of Man.
A. All men are born free and equal.
B. All citizens are entitled to a voice in making the nation's laws.
C. Freedom from unlawful arrest.
D. Freedom of the speech, press, and religion.
II. French Constitution of 1791.

A. Established a limitation of the monarchy's power.
B. Legislative Assembly assembled
1. Assembly members elected by taxpaying citizens.
Demise of Louis XVI and the Old Regime
I. Demise of Louis XVI and the Old Regime.
A. Louis XVI resented the lost of his power.
B. Conspired with foreign monarchs against the Revolution.
C. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to flee France, but captured.
1. Tried for treason and sentenced to death by guillotine.
a. Guillotine- method of execution by beheading.
The Guillotine
The Guillotine was

designed as a humane
method of execution.
Reign of Terror
I. Foreign Monarchs shocked by Louis XVI execution.
A. Prussia and Austria feared the revolutionary spirit would spread to their
countries.
B. Arrested all persons suspected of treason, no more how far-fetched the
suspicion.
1. Very bloody
2. Thousands killed by guillotine.
C. Eventually, the Reign of Terror got out of hand and people turned on
the Jacobins.
1. Jacobin leadership arrested and executed by guillotine.
Robespierre: He was the leader of the Jacobins

who were responsible for the “Reign of
Terror.” In the end he met the same fate as the
thousands he had sent to the Guillotine.
Reign of Terror: Diagram
Revolutionary France: Map (1789-1794)
Foreign Monarchs were

shocked by Louis XVI
execution. Prussia and
Austria feared the
revolutionary spirit would
spread to their countries and
attempted to invade France.
Reforms in France Following the “Reign of Terror.”
I. Reforms in France following the “Reign of Terror.”
A. Abolished imprisonment for debt.
B. Abolished slavery in the French colonies.
C. Adopted the metric system.
D. Created a national system for education.
E. Prohibited primogeniture.
1. Practice of eldest son's right to inherit all property regardless of siblings.

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The French Revolution

• Identify the causes of the French Revolution

A fairy-tale village was built for her at Versailles.

Storming of the Bastille (July 14,

II. French Constitution of 1791.

The Guillotine was

Robespierre: He was the leader of the Jacobins

Foreign Monarchs were

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