ATTACK ON THE BASTILLE

1. ATTACK ON THE BASTILLE • Workers and tradesmen of Paris begin to break into arsenals and arm themselves • Feared invasion of starving peasants and military repression • Stormed ancient fortress of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 • All defenders and 98 defenders killed • Gave Revolution its baptism in blood • Gave French a national holiday

2. IMAGES OF THE FALL OF THE BASTILLE

3. THE GREAT FEAR • Mass panic in countryside • Triggered by rumors of approaching beggar and bandit armies • Rumors were exaggerated and reflected general feeling of unease and disorder caused by events in Paris and Versailles • Rumors served as pretext for looting and settling old scores • Resulted in full-scale rural insurrection by late July

4. THE END OF THE OLD REGIME • National Assembly had no choice but to ratify what the peasants were already doing on their own • Had to abolish the Old Regime officially since it had already been destroyed unofficially • August 4, 1789 • All privileges and exemptions of aristocrats, clergy, cities, guilds and provinces given up during all night session • “Feudalism is abolished!”

5. DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND CITIZEN I • August 26, 1789 • Brief 17 paragraph blueprint for the new society that would replace the Old Regime • Declared that all men are “born free and equal in rights” • Life, liberty, security, and resistance to oppression • Freedoms of speech and religion guaranteed • Freedom could only be taken from a person through due process of law • Taxes could only be levied by popular consent and would be based on a person’s ability to pay • All men equal before the law and equally eligible for public office

6. DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND CITIZEN II • Good, brief summary of Enlightenment political principles • Abolished absolute monarchy, the nobility, the basic institutions of the Old Regime, and inequality in a few paragraphs • Modeled on the American Declaration of Independence and English Bill of Rights • Easy to write because of the utter bankruptcy of the Old Regime Freedom and Reason Triumph

7. PROBLEMS • National Assembly now had to write constitution to create new government • Big problem was Louis XVI • Had not openly rejected work of National Assembly but had not openly approved it either • Following strategy of passive resistance • Underlined by flight of his brother, the comte d’Artois, and other nobles into exile • Big question was whether to give king power of veto in new constitution Comte d’Artois

8. MARCH TO VERSAILLES • October 5, 1789 • Parisian women march to Versailles to protest high food prices and shortages • Joined by Parisian National Guard • Began to demand that Louis return to Paris where he could be watched to make sure he didn’t run away • Forced Louis and family to return with them to Paris • Took up residence in Tuileries Palace

9. RESULT? • An intimidated Louis XVI gives his official approval to the decrees of August 4 and the Declaration of the Rights of Man • Spontaneous mass action had delivered National Assembly from an impasse

10. SITUATION IN LATE 1789/1790 • Slogan of French Revolution was “liberty, equality, and fraternity” • But French were not united on the future direction of their country • On one extreme were about 20,000 people who had fled the country and completely rejected the revolution • Mainly nobles • Peasants were generally satisfied • Destruction of feudalism and their feudal obligations had been all they ever wanted—and they had got them • Chiefly concerned from this point on with consolidating their gains and would be a conservative force

11. SANS-CULOTTES • Urban workers who had not gained in a material sense from the Revolution • Included artisans, laborers, and apprentices • Made up 50% of population of Paris • Controlled Paris through neighborhood committees and assemblies • Also formed political clubs which exercised influence over representatives in National Assembly • They were a demanding and radical group who were becoming increasingly well-organized and who believed that the Revolution still had a long way to go before they would concretely benefit from it

12. CONSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS I • Constitution was determined by two factors • Distrust of king • Fear of radical people of Paris • Did think it was wise to dump the king • Only visible link between old and new France • Still represented the only valid symbol of authority for many • On the other hand, his opposition to the new order was clear • He could not be trusted to rule but neither could he simply be cast aside • Solution? • Retain him as a figurehead • Create unicameral legislature which would have all real power • Only give king a weak veto power

13. COMPLEX VOTING SYSTEM • To protect new legislature from being manipulated by radical common people, a new and complex electoral system was devised • Electorate divided into passive and active citizens • Passive citizens • Full civil rights but could not vote • Active citizens • Owned specified amount of property and could vote • Active citizens were only qualified to vote for a group of 50,000 electors • Defined by an even higher property qualification • Electors voted for 500 representatives to Legislative Assembly • System granted vote to more people than could vote in England at the time • But it was rigged to limit the 50,000 electors to men of relative wealth and leisure • ie., the upper levels of the bourgeoisie

14. CONSTITUTION OF 1791 • All former courts and jurisdictions were abolished • A uniform code of administration was established • 26 former provinces divided into 83 departments • Newly named and equal in population • Independent judicial system established • Elected judges and juries for criminal trials • All local officials to be elected, not appointed from Paris • Only problem was new administrative system was not given any orders about what it was supposed to do

15. CONFISCATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY • Members of Constituent Assembly refused to repudiate national debt • Held government bonds themselves • Instead, they confiscated land of Roman Catholic Church in France • Sold it to public in order to liquidate debt • Government bondholders were issued paper currency in an amount equal to their bonds • Called assignats • They were to be used to buy confiscated Church property

16. BIG CHANGES IN THE CHURCH • Made Church ward of the state • Clergy became salaried employees of the state • Chosen by election • Number of bishops reduced to 83 and position of archbishop abolished • Monastaries were dissolved and all religious orders abolished • Authority of pope in France reduced to zero

17. CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY • Embodied all changes in the Church • All clergy required to take oath to obey and protect the document • 50% of clergy refused to take oath • Known as “refractory priests” • Became natural focus of resistance to the Revolution • Church turned into bitter enemy of the Revolution

18. SUMMARY • Work of Constituent Assembly had mixed results • It laid the foundation of the modern French state • But it failed to solve many immediate problems • Central government, divided between a weak chief executive and unwieldy legislature, was not viable • Local administration was left to fend for itself without direction and guidance • Tax revenue fell and assignats provoked serious inflation • Constitutent Assembly left behind an unworkable and incomplete governmental system • Would not last more than ten months

19. FLIGHT TO VARENNES • June 20, 1791 • Royal family attempts to flee country • Captured at border town of Varennes by peasants and hauled back to Paris • Convinced some that new constitution would never work • Constitutional monarch clearly didn’t support the constitution • Wanted to dump the concept of monarchy and set up a “Republic”

20. JACOBINS • Best known of political clubs in France • Named after their meeting place • Jacobin Monastary • Originally led by Jacques Brissot • Emerged as dominant faction in new Legislative Assembly

21. WAR • Leopold II of Austria and Frederick William II of Prussia issue “Declaration of Pillnitz” on August 17, 1791 • Threatened military intervention against France unless Louis XVI restored to old powers • Brissotins call for “war of peoples against kings” • Argued that Revolution could not be confined to France • France would not be safe as long as the rest of Europe remained under kings • Pushed for war of liberations against rest of Europe • Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria on April 20, 1792

22. BAD TIMING • French army in deplorable condition • 2/3s of officer corps had deserted or quit • Horrible inflation • Serious food shortages • Food riots erupting in Paris • General breakdown in law and order everywhere • French army suffered defeat after defeat at hands of Austrians and Prussians • Many began to feel that war effort was being sabotaged by traitors • Chief among these was the king

23. END OF CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY • As mood in Paris turned ugly, Brissot backtracked and supported Louis • Another faction of Jacobins demanded removal of king • Led by Maximilian Robespierre • Supported by sans-culottes • Armed mob attacks king’s palace on August 10, 1792 • Louis and family flee for their lives • Constitution suspended and Legislative Assembly calls for a National Convention to write a new, republican constitution • With no king