THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

1. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION • French Revolution was not one revolution but several rolled up into one • Three distinct phases • Constitutional phase (1789-1791) • Radical phase (1792-1794) • “Thermidorian” phase (1795-1799) • Some historians argue that first years of Napoleon’s reign represented a fourth phase • Others argue that he rise to power in 1799 represented the end the Revolution

2. LOUIS XV • Came to throne when he was five years old • Nobility used this as an opportunity to increase their political power vis-à-vis the monarchy • Never reasserted himself when he became an adult • Too lazy and self-indulgent • Left business of governing to others • Result? • Nobility became more and more powerful and achieved monopoly over all high government positions and military commissions

3. FINANCIAL CRISIS • Wars of Louis XIV had left France virtually bankrupt and it never recovered • Louis XV made several feeble attempts to tax nobles but their resistance forced him to drop the idea • Dangerous situation developed • French upper classes becoming wealthier and more powerful but the state was becoming poorer because it had to rely on the poorest sectors of the population for financial support • French state was supported by an exhausted and narrow tax base

4. PARLEMENTS • Located in various large cities • Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris, etc. • Law courts • Made up of noblity of the robe • Had traditional power to register royal edicts • Edict not considered legal without registration Parlement of Paris

5. REVIVAL OF POWER OF PARLEMENTS • Louis XIV had broken spirit of independence of Parlements and they always registered his edicts without dissent • Parlements reasserted their power under Louis XV and claimed right to veto any edict they did not like • Parlement of Toulouse arrested royal officer in 1763 when he attempted to enforce a royal edict the Parlement had refused to register

6. ADVENT OF LOUIS XVI • Louis XV appoints René Charles de Maupeau as chancellor • Dissolves all old Parlements, exiles former members, and creates new courts made up of royal flunkies • Louis XV holds firm before noble protests • Louis XV dies in 1774 • Replaced by Louis XVI • Brings old Parlements back and restores their former powers

7. LOUIS XVI • Wanted to rule but didn’t have the ability to do so • Had some talented ministers • Turgot, Jacques Necker, Charles de Calonne, Etienne de Lemenie de Brienne • All dealt with the same problem • Perennial bankruptcy of Crown • All proposed the same solution • Tax reform • All failed and were fired due to a combination of noble resistance, court intrigue, and royal weakness

8. EXAMPLE OF TURGOT • Appointed chancellor in 1774 • Tried to invigorate French economy and increase tax revenue • By abolishing regulations on grain, abolishing guilds, and imposing a general property tax • Bad harvest and skyrocketing prices undermined free trade in grain policy • Nobility united in opposition to property tax • Forced Louis XVI to fire him in 1776 • Episode taught that it was political suicide to challenge privileges of the nobility • Louis XVI would not support it

9. AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE • French government had nothing in common with rebellious American colonists • France had colonies of its own • Americans were fighting for an end of monarchy and the right to rule themselves • Americans supported such concepts as equality and freedom George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette

10. WHY DID THE FRENCH SUPPORT THE AMERICANS? • For purely diplomatic reasons • French and British had fought “French and Indian War” in 1750s • France lost and gave up control of huge chunk of North American territory • French aching for a chance to get even for this defeat and the American Revolution presented them with a chance to do so • By helping the Americans the French could damage British power and simultaneously earn gratitude of the Americans • Thereby reinstating French influence in North America French and Indian War

11. DISASTER • Beginning in 1778, the French gave the Americans increasing amounts of money and supplies • By the Battle of Yorktown (1781), the French also supplied troops and naval support • Most historians agree that, without this French aid, the Americans would have lost • Downside • Aid was more than the French could afford and, by 1783, the French national debt was out of control • France was bankrupt by summer of 1786 Benjamin Franklin in Paris seeking French aid

12. CHARLES DE CALONNE AND THE ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES • Calonne prevails on Louis XVI to call an “Assembly of Notables” • Handpicked meeting of liberal and responsible nobles • Appeal to their intelligence and sense of patriotism to win their approval of tax on nobility • Bypass opposition of Parlements and achieve appearance of widespread noble acceptance of tax reform Charles de Calonne

13. ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES • Meets in Versailles in February 1787 • Rejects tax proposal • Saw Parlements as guardians of noble interests and resented Calonne’s attempt to bypass them • Might set dangerous precedent which would result in all-powerful king and helpless noblity • Calonne failed and Louis XVI dissolved Assembly and fired him Caricature of Assembly of Notables

14. CALL FOR THE ESTATES GENERAL • New chancellor, Lomenie de Brienne, tries to implement new tax solely on king’s authority • Parlements refuse to register it • Borrowed Enlightenment concepts to support their opposition • Argued that new taxes could only be approved by a representative body of the entire nation because only such a body expressed the “general will” of the whole country • Called for convocation of the “Estates General” • Feudal advisory council • Had not been convened since 1614 Lomenie de Brienne

15. BIG QUESTION • Why would the privileged and arrogant nobility, who had no intention of sharing its power and privileges with anyone, demand a meeting of a representative assembly where all elements of French society would have a voice?

16. BIG ANSWER • When it last met, the Estates General had been organized into three houses which met separately • Representation had been roughly based on each estate’s proportion within the general population • Number of delegates for the first two estates was relatively small compared to number of delegates from Third Estate • Voting system nullified numerical advantage of Third Estate • One vote per estate • Therefore, when the First Estate cooperated with the Second Estate (which it often did), these two estates could dominate the assembly and overrule the Third Estate • In short, the voting system of the Estates General rigged it in favor of the nobility and its interests • Call for Estates General was therefore a smokescreen for a power play by the nobility • Planned to use to increase their power vis-à-vis the king and maybe wrest control of the kingdom from him • Had no intention of letting the Third Estate into the game at all

17. LOUIS XVI AGREES TO CALL NEW ESTATES GENERAL • Urged by Necker, Louis XVI ordered that popular elections be held for Estates General • Third Estate elected by all commoner males over age of 25 whose name appeared on tax rolls • Delegates from Third Estate would be double the number of those of the First and Second Estates combined • But Louis refused to change traditional voting system of the Estates • Meant that Third Estate would be powerless against the combined will of the first two estates Jacques Necker

18. REASONS • Parlement of Paris and nobility in general strongly protested any change in voting regulations • Family of Louis XVI pressed him not to make any further concessions • Louis also realized that the monarchy and nobility would rise or fall together • Granting power to the Third Estate would ultimately destroy the power of the nobility and, in the end, destroy his own power

19. THE THIRD ESTATE BEGINS TO WAKE UP • Kingdom divided into 40,000 electoral precincts • Each elected delegates to Estates General from each estate • Each allowed to submit cahiers des doléances to the government • List of grievances • Third Estate demanded popular representation, legislative control of taxation, and rights • Attacked Church tithes, feudal dues, and aristocratic hunting rights • Demanded full civil equality

20. DANGEROUS ECONOMIC BACKDROP • Very serious harvest failure in 1788 • Starving peasants swarmed the roads looking for food and employment • Unemployment in Paris hit 50% • Bread prices skyrocketed and food riots erupted everywhere • The greatest political crisis in French history coincided with the worst economic situation in over 100 years

21. ESTATES GENERAL MEETS • Convened in Versailles on May 4, 1789 • 1250 delegates • 300 from First Estate • 300 from Second Estate • 650 from Third Estate • 50% were lawyers • 25% were merchants, businessmen, and landowners • No workers or peasants • Estates General only represented by a narrow elite

22. LOUIS DROPS THE BALL • Louis XVI and Necker could have exerted leadership at this point and took control of situation • But they didn’t • Leaderless, the assembly argued about voting • Third Estate wanted three estates merged together with one vote per delegate • Other two estates resisted plan

23. BREAKING THE DEADLOCK • Third Estate declares itself to be “National Assembly” • With sole power to legislate for the best interests of the entire nation • King, with support of nobles, lock Third Estate out of meeting chamber and orders them to go home • They instead move to nearby indoor tennis court and announce they will not disband until they had written constitution for France • Tennis Court Oath • June 20, 1789

24. LOUIS DROPS THE BALL. . .AGAIN • Louis tells Estates General that he will grant broad powers over administration and budget • He simultaneously declares “National Assembly” to be null and void • Nobles elated but Third Estate remains defiant • Louis caves in again and allows National Assembly to become an established fact • Remaining nobles and clergy join it • Louis blows his final chance to control events Moron XVI