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1789-1795

1789-1795. The French Revolution. The three Estates. The First Estate: - Royal family & Clergy - ~1% of population - Paid no taxes - owned 10% of the land The Second Estate: - Nobility ~2% of pop. - owned 25-30% of the land

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1789-1795

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  1. 1789-1795 The French Revolution

  2. The three Estates • The First Estate: • - Royal family & Clergy • - ~1% of population • - Paid no taxes • - owned 10% of the land • The Second Estate: • - Nobility ~2% of pop. • - owned 25-30% of the land • - Held leading positions in gov’t, army, church & law courts • - Paid no taxes • The Third Estate: • - All others ~97% of pop. • 3 subgroups • - urban middle class –educated w/ $, resented nobility • City laborers – poor • Peasant farmers – pd. Rent, tithe & taxes

  3. Causes of the French Revolution

  4. The Spark: The Meeting of the Estates General • Last met in 1614 • May 1, 1789 – convened by the King to solve the problem of taxation in France

  5. Problem: How Do They Vote? Old Regime New Order 1st Estate 2nd Estate 3rd Estate 1 vote 1 vote 1 vote 1st Estate 2nd Estate 3rd Estate ~300 ~300 648 Voting is based on representation. The King decreed that they must vote based on the ancient order – results?

  6. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes 1stWhat is the Third Estate?Everything! 2nd What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing! 3rd What does it demand? To become something therein! Abbé Sieyès1748-1836

  7. The National Assembly is formed • June 17, 1789 • The Members of the Third Estate are determined to gain decision making power. • Proclaim to end absolute monarchy and form a representative government. • 1st Act of Revolution!

  8. The Tennis Court Oath June 20, 1789 Members of the 3rd Estate/National Assembly find themselves locked out of the meeting. Convene at the Tennis Court and vow “Not to stop meeting until a new constitution has been established!”

  9. The Storming of the Bastille • A rumor that the king was planning a military coup against the National Assembly. • Parisians were already rioting over the price of bread. • The mob organized and mobilized against the symbol of French tyranny and Feudalism. • Attacked for gunpowder. • De Launay – the governor (warden) is beaten and beheaded & paraded through the streets. Results – Saved the National Assembly from being dissolved!

  10. The “Great Fear” Spread Through France Rumors that the feudal aristocracy were sending hired brigands to attack peasants and pillage their land. In reaction peasants broke into nobles’ manors and looted & burned. They tore up legal papers binding them to pay feudal dues. July 20, 1789

  11. August 4, 1789 Fearing for their lives, property and family, Nobles got up one by one and gave impassioned speeches declaring their love of liberty and equality! In one meeting of the National Assembly: Ended Feudalism in France Forever! Abolished Serfdom! Canceled All Payments of Church Tithes Nobles and Clergy relinquished all special privileges … In Theory Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!

  12. In Reality… Feudal dues were not renounced outright [this had been too strong a threat to the principle of private property!] Peasants would compensate their landlords through a series of direct payments for obligations from which they had supposedly been freed. Therefore, the National Assembly made revolutionary gestures, but remained essentially moderate. Safeguard the right of private property!! Their Goal

  13. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen Main Ideals: Liberty! Property! Security! Resistance to oppression! August 26, 1789 Thomas Jefferson was in Paris at this time.

  14. New Dilemmas Created Did women have equal rights with men? What about free blacks in the colonies? How could slavery be justified if all men were born free? Did religious toleration of Protestants and Jews include equal political rights?

  15. March of the Women October 5-6, 1789 A spontaneous demonstration of Parisian women for bread. The rumor went out that the King and Queen were holding stockpiles of flour The women marched to Versailles They broke into the palace, ransacked the queen’s apartment & killed 3 guards The king was thought to be surrounded by evil advisors at Versailles so he was forced to move to Paris and reside at the Tuileries Palace.

  16. Financing the New Government The Church is viewed as an important pillar of the old order Church lands are confiscated and assignats (a form of paper money – which causes wild inflation) were issued backed by the nationalized church lands. Church is secularized – creating strong opposition from church leaders & members. One of the most controversial decisions of the entire revolutionary period.

  17. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy July 12, 1790 • Required bishops and priests to swear allegiance to the Civil Constitution • Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches. • The church was reorganized: • Parish priests  elected by the district assemblies. • Bishops  named by the department assemblies. • The pope had NO voice in the appointment of the French clergy. • It transformed France’sRoman Catholic Churchinto a branch of the state!! Pope Pius VI[1775-1799]

  18. The New Constitution 1791 Limited Constitutional Monarchy Legislative Assembly elected for 2 yr terms Aristocratic Electors = Aristocratic National Government Divided France in to 83 new districts Local Bourgeoisie Governments

  19. The Opposition Clergy vowing not to take the Oath of Allegiance Lower class hurt by cost of living increase Peasants opposed to dues that were not abolished Political clubs called for more radical change

  20. The Royal Family Attempts to Flee • June, 1791 • Helped by the Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fusen, supposed lover of Marie Antoinette. • Headed toward the Luxembourgborder. • The King wasrecognized atVarennes, nearthe border

  21. How does the Royal Family’s Attempt to leave France, and their subsequent arrest, politically and psychologically affect the revolution?

  22. Psychologically: • Mistrust of the people • Feelings of Anger & Abandonment • Inspiration to the radical revolutionaries Results Politically: • perception of instability of the government • Give the Nat. Assem. more power • Proof of the power of the citizen • Proof of the weakness of the king • Loss of support from the 1st & 2nd Estates The National Assembly’s story: King was kidnapped - perception of stability to other European nations They needed the monarch to establish a legitimate government (commerce & allied for power)

  23. Louis XVI “Accepts” the Constitution & the National Assembly. 1791

  24. Declaration of Pillnitz: • created by Emperor Leopold II of Austria and King Frederick William II of Prussia • Encouraged other European countries to help return the royal monarchy to France • Angered the Legislative assembly who favored a war hoping to expand their influence • Some worried the war might reinstate Louis XVI • April 1792 – the assembly voted to declare war on Austria • Other European nations would soon join the cause against France The War against Austria and Prussia

  25. Led by George Danton and the san culottes sought revenge on those who had aided the king The September Massacre 1792 • Rumors that the anti-revolutionary political prisoners were plotting to break out & attack from the rear the armies defending France, while the Prussians attacked from the front. • It discredited the Revolution among its remaining sympathizers abroad.

  26. Fractions in the Nat. Convention (new gov’t) were divided over what to do with the monarch September 21, 1792 abolished the monarch & establish a republic. Decided to try Louis XVI for treason, after the verdict was read the Nat. Convention voted to put him to death. The Execution of the King Jan.21, 1793 • The National Convention put Marie Antoinette on trial and executed her on October 16, 1793

  27. Its first act was the formal abolition of the monarchy on September 21, 1792. • The Year I of the French Republic. • The Decree of Fraternity • it offered French assistance to any subject peoples who wished to overthrow their governments. The National Convention (September, 1792) When France sneezes, all of Europe catches cold!

  28. The Politics of the National Convention (1792-1795) Montagnards vs Girondists • Power base in Paris. • Main support from the sans-culottes. • Would adopt extreme measures to achieve their goals. • Saw Paris as the center of the Revolution. • More centralized [in Paris] approach to government. • Power base in the provinces. • Feared the influence of the sans-culottes. • Feared the dominance of Paris in national politics. • Supported more national government centralization [federalism].

  29. Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris trysuspected counter-revolutionaries. Attempts to Controlthe Growing Crisis • Representatives-on-Mission • sent to the provinces & to the army. • had wide powers to overseeconscription. B. Watch Committees [comité de surveillance] • keep an eye on foreigners & suspects. C. Sanctioned the trial & execution of rebels and émigrés, should they ever return to France.

  30. The printing of more assignats to pay for the war. • Committee of Public Safety [CPS] • Set up by NC 1793 to direct the army and try enemies of the Revolution. • Conscription – able bodied men 18-25 subject to military service (Army of Merit) • Committee of General Security [CGS] • responsible for the pursuit of counter-revolutionaries, thetreatment of suspects, & other internal security matters. Attempts to Controlthe Growing Crisis

  31. Committee for Public Safety • Revolutionary Tribunals. • 300,000 arrested. • 16,000 – 50,000 executed. • 1793 French forces defeated Prussian and Austrian forces and prevented an invasion • France invaded the Austria Netherlands and in reaction G.B., the Netherlands, Spain and Sardinia joined Austria and invaded France again.

  32. INFLUENTIAL LEADERS Maximilien Robespierre (1758 – 1794) Georges Jacques Danton (1759 – 1794)

  33. Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible. -- Robespierre The Reign of Terror Sept. 1793-July 1794 Let terror be the order of the day! • The Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris alone executed 2,639 victims in 15 months. • The total number of victims nationwide was over 20,000!

  34. Law of General Maximum • September 5, 1793. • Limited prices of grain & other essentials to 1/3above the 1790 prices & wages to ½ of 1790figures. • Prices would be strictly enforced. • Hoarders rooted out and punished. • Food supplies would be secured by the army! Legislation Passed by the National Convention • Law of Suspects • September 17, 1793. • This law was so widely drawn that almost anyonenot expressing enthusiastic support for the republic could be placed under arrest!

  35. Oh, thou charming guillotine, You shorten kings and queens;By your influence divine,We have re-conquered our rights.Come to aid of the CountryAnd let your superb instrumentBecome forever permanentTo destroy the impious sect.Sharpen your razor for Pitt and his agentsFill your divine sack with heads of tyrants. The Guillotine:An “Enlightenment Tool”?

  36. Different Social Classes Executed 7% 8% 28% 25% 31% %’s are out of total number killed

  37. The “Monster” Guillotine The last guillotine execution in France was in 1939!

  38. Tried to create a democratic republic in which people would act in accordance with good citizenship (active citizens) • Universal elementary education & expanded universities • Abolished slavery in French colonies • Metric system • New calendar 09/22/92 • 1795 French army expanded its territory to Rhine River • Coalition forces began to break up & The French army was used to break up a rebellion in Paris – new gov’t would accept no opposition “Republic of Virtue”

  39. In the spring of 1794 Danton declared that the Reign of Terror was over – French army was winning and he believed the Terror had met its goals • Robespierre accused his of disloyalty to the Revolution – the Dantonists were put to death ( Colleagues feared for their lives) • Robespierre was arrested after giving a speech 1794 accusing other of disloyalty to the Revolution • In an attempted suicide he shot himself in the head and shattered his jaw • He was put to death July 28, 1794 The end of Terror

  40. 1795 yet another New Constitution establishing a new government called the Directory • 2 House Legislature – lower proposed new laws and upper accepted or rejected them • Upper selected executive branch – 5 directors (weak and indecisive) • Eliminated male suffrage – property owners could vote • Used the army to crush rebellions • Did not address financial issues • Ultimately failed The Directory 1795-1799

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