Prayer:
Current events:
A living man can be enslaved and reduced to the historic condition of an object. But if he dies in refusing to be enslaved, he reaffirms the existence of another kind of human nature which refuses to be classified as an object. -Albert Camus
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
~ Henry David Thoreau
Today's lesson plan and HW is available on the blog: http://gmicksmithsocialstudies.blogspot.com/
Email: gmsmith@shanahan.org
The Shanawiki page (http://shanawiki.wikispaces.com/) has updated class information.
The online version of a portion of the Textbook is available.
LibraryThing has bibliographic resources.
I moved the "Blog Archive" to the top right on the blog page so it should be easier to find the daily lesson, HW, and other class material.
Sr. has advised students to check online teaching materials (as we have been doing since the first day of school).
Chapter 11 Section 1 The French Revolution Begins
Objectives
*Describe the social divisions of France’s old order.
*List reasons for France’s economic troubles in 1789.
*Explain why Louis XVI called the Estates-General and summarize what resulted.
*Understand why Parisians stormed the Bastille.
Witness History
The Loss of Blood Begins (Audio)
On July 14, 1789, after a daylong hunting expedition, King Louis XVI returned to his palace in Versailles. Hours earlier, armed Parisians had attacked the Bastille. They had cut the chains of the prison drawbridge, crushing a member of the crowd, and poured into the courtyard. Chaos ensued as shots rang out, blood was spattered, and heads were paraded down the streets on spikes. When Louis heard the news, he exclaimed, “Then it’s a revolt?” “No, sire,” replied the duke bearing the news, “it’s a revolution!” The French Revolution had begun. Witness History relates the fall of the Bastille.
Preview
Chapter Focus Question
What were the causes and effects of the French Revolution, and how did the revolution lead to the Napoleonic era?
Background to the Revolution
The Three Estates
French Society Divided (Audio)
In 1789, France, like the rest of Europe, still clung to an outdated social system that had emerged in the Middle Ages. Under this ancien régime, or old order, everyone in France was divided into one of three social classes, or estates. The First Estate was made up of the clergy; the Second Estate was made up of the nobility; and the Third Estate comprised the vast majority of the population.
The Clergy Enjoy Wealth
During the Middle Ages, the Church had exerted great influence throughout Christian Europe. In 1789, the French clergy still enjoyed enormous wealth and privilege. The Church owned about 10 percent of the land, collected tithes, and paid no direct taxes to the state. High Church leaders such as bishops and abbots were usually nobles who lived very well. Parish priests, however, often came from humble origins and might be as poor as their peasant congregations.
The First Estate did provide some social services. Nuns, monks, and priests ran schools, hospitals, and orphanages. But during the Enlightenment, philosophes targeted the Church for reform. They criticized the idleness of some clergy, the Church’s interference in politics, and its intolerance of dissent. In response, many clergy condemned the Enlightenment for undermining religion and moral order.
Nobles Hold Top Government Jobs
The Second Estate was the titled nobility of French society. In the Middle Ages, noble knights had defended the land. In the 1600s, Richelieu and Louis XIV had crushed the nobles’ military power but had given them other rights—under strict royal control. Those rights included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church.
At Versailles, ambitious nobles competed for royal appointments while idle courtiers enjoyed endless entertainments. Many nobles, however, lived far from the center of power. Though they owned land, they received little financial income. As a result, they felt the pinch of trying to maintain their status in a period of rising prices.
Many nobles hated absolutism and resented the royal bureaucracy that employed middle-class men in positions that once had been reserved for them. They feared losing their traditional privileges, especially their freedom from paying taxes.
Third Estate Is Vastly Diverse
The Third Estate was the most diverse social class. At the top sat the bourgeoisie (boor zhwah zee), or middle class. The bourgeoisie included prosperous bankers, merchants, and manufacturers, as well as lawyers, doctors, journalists, and professors. The bulk of the Third Estate, however, consisted of rural peasants. Some were prosperous landowners who hired laborers to work for them. Others were tenant farmers or day laborers.
The poorest members of the Third Estate were urban workers. They included apprentices, journeymen, and others who worked in industries such as printing or cloth making. Many women and men earned a meager living as servants, stable hands, construction workers, or street sellers of everything from food to pots and pans. A large number of the urban poor were unemployed. To survive, some turned to begging or crime.
Vocabulary Builder
urban—(ur bun) adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of a city
From rich to poor, members of the Third Estate resented the privileges enjoyed by their social “betters.” Wealthy bourgeois families in the Third Estate could buy political office and even titles, but the best jobs were still reserved for nobles. Urban workers earned miserable wages. Even the smallest rise in the price of bread, their main food, brought the threat of greater hunger or even starvation.
Because of traditional privileges, the First and Second Estates paid almost no taxes. Peasants were burdened by taxes on everything from land to soap to salt. Though they were technically free, many owed fees and services that dated back to medieval times, such as the corvée (kawr vay), which was unpaid labor to repair roads and bridges. Peasants were also incensed when nobles, hurt by rising prices, tried to reimpose old manor dues.
Infographic
What Is the Third Estate?
In towns and cities, Enlightenment ideas led people to question the inequalities of the old regime. Why, people demanded, should the first two estates have such great privileges at the expense of the majority? Throughout France, the Third Estate called for the privileged classes to pay their share.
Checkpoint
What was the social structure of the old regime in France?
Financial Crisis (Audio)
Economic woes in France added to the social unrest and heightened tensions. One of the causes of the economic troubles was a mushrooming financial crisis that was due in part to years of deficit spending. This occurs when a government spends more money than it takes in.
National Debt Soars
Louis XIV had left France deeply in debt. The Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution strained the treasury even further. Costs generally had risen in the 1700s, and the lavish court soaked up millions. To bridge the gap between income and expenses, the government borrowed more and more money. By 1789, half of the government’s income from taxes went to paying the interest on this enormous debt. Also, in the late 1780s, bad harvests sent food prices soaring and brought hunger to poorer peasants and city dwellers.
To solve the financial crisis, the government would have to increase taxes, reduce expenses, or both. However, the nobles and clergy fiercely resisted any attempt to end their exemption from taxes.
Economic Reform Fails
The heirs of Louis XIV were not the right men to solve the economic crisis that afflicted France. Louis XV, who ruled from 1715 to 1774, pursued pleasure before serious business and ran up more debts. Louis XVI was well-meaning but weak and indecisive. He did, however, wisely choose Jacques Necker, a financial expert, as an advisor. Necker urged the king to reduce extravagant court spending, reform government, and abolish burdensome tariffs on internal trade. When Necker proposed taxing the First and Second Estates, however, the nobles and high clergy forced the king to dismiss him.
As the crisis deepened, the pressure for reform mounted. The wealthy and powerful classes demanded, however, that the king summon the Estates-General, the legislative body consisting of representatives of the three estates, before making any changes. A French king had not called the Estates-General for 175 years, fearing that nobles would use it to recover the feudal powers they had lost under absolute rule. To reform-minded nobles, the Estates-General seemed to offer a chance of carrying out changes like those that had come with the Glorious Revolution in England. They hoped that they could bring the absolute monarch under the control of the nobles and guarantee their own privileges.
Primary Source
Poorer peasants and city dwellers in France were faced with great hunger as bad harvests sent food prices soaring. People began to riot to demand bread. In the countryside, peasants began to attack the manor houses of the nobles. Arthur Young, an English visitor to France, witnessed these riots and disturbances. Why did the poor attack the nobles’ homes?
Primary Source
“Everything conspires to render the present period in France critical: the [lack] of bread is terrible: accounts arrive every moment from the provinces of riots and disturbances, and calling in the military, to preserve the peace of the markets.”
—Arthur Young, Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789
Checkpoint
What economic troubles did France face in 1789, and how did they lead to further unrest?
Reading Check
Identifying
What groups were part of the Third Estate?
From Estates-General to National Assembly
As 1788 came to a close, France tottered on the verge of bankruptcy. Bread riots were spreading, and nobles, fearful of taxes, were denouncing royal tyranny. A baffled Louis XVI finally summoned the Estates-General to meet at Versailles the following year.
Estates Prepare Grievance Notebooks
In preparation, Louis had all three estates prepare cahiers (kah yayz), or notebooks, listing their grievances. Many cahiers called for reforms such as fairer taxes, freedom of the press, or regular meetings of the Estates-General. In one town, shoemakers denounced regulations that made leather so expensive they could not afford to make shoes. Servant girls in the city of Toulouse demanded the right to leave service when they wanted and that “after a girl has served her master for many years, she receive some reward for her service.”
The cahiers testified to boiling class resentments. One called tax collectors “bloodsuckers of the nation who drink the tears of the unfortunate from goblets of gold.” Another one of the cahiers condemned the courts of nobles as “vampires pumping the last drop of blood” from the people. Another complained that “20 million must live on half the wealth of France while the clergy . . . devour the other half.”
The Oath Is Taken
Delegates of the Third Estate declare themselves to be the National Assembly, representing the people of France. They take the Tennis Court Oath, vowing to create a constitution. The National Assembly later issues the assignat as currency to help pay the government’s debts.
What was the significance of the Tennis Court Oath?
Delegates Take the Tennis Court Oath
Delegates to the Estates-General from the Third Estate were elected, though only propertied men could vote. Thus, the delegates were mostly lawyers, middle-class officials, and writers. They were familiar with the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and other philosophes. They went to Versailles not only to solve the financial crisis but also to insist on reform.
The Estates-General convened in May 1789. From the start, the delegates were deadlocked over the issue of voting. Traditionally, each estate had met and voted separately. Each group had one vote. Under this system, the First and Second Estates always outvoted the Third Estate two to one. This time, the Third Estate wanted all three estates to meet in a single body, with votes counted “by head.”
After weeks of stalemate, delegates of the Third Estate took a daring step. in June 1789, claiming to represent the people of France, they declared themselves to be the National Assembly. A few days later, the National Assembly found its meeting hall locked and guarded. Fearing that the king planned to dismiss them, the delegates moved to a nearby indoor tennis court. As curious spectators looked on, the delegates took their famous Tennis Court Oath. They swore “never to separate and to meet wherever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and just constitution.”
When reform-minded clergy and nobles joined the Assembly, Louis XVI grudgingly accepted it. But royal troops gathered around Paris, and rumors spread that the king planned to dissolve the Assembly.
Parisians storm the Bastille on July 14, 1789.Current events:
A living man can be enslaved and reduced to the historic condition of an object. But if he dies in refusing to be enslaved, he reaffirms the existence of another kind of human nature which refuses to be classified as an object. -Albert Camus
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
~ Henry David Thoreau
Today's lesson plan and HW is available on the blog: http://gmicksmithsocialstudies.blogspot.com/
Email: gmsmith@shanahan.org
The Shanawiki page (http://shanawiki.wikispaces.com/) has updated class information.
The online version of a portion of the Textbook is available.
LibraryThing has bibliographic resources.
I moved the "Blog Archive" to the top right on the blog page so it should be easier to find the daily lesson, HW, and other class material.
Sr. has advised students to check online teaching materials (as we have been doing since the first day of school).
Tentative Test #1 analysis:
Period 3
Number of Grades 25
Range of Grades (60% - 100%)
Mean 84%
Median 85%
Mode 85%
Period 4
Number of Grades 34
Range of Grades (45% - 100%)
Mean 87.2%
Median 90%
Mode 95%
Period 5
Number of Grades 35
Range of Grades (55% - 100%)
Mean 85.7%
Median 85%
Mode 85%
Period 7
Number of Grades 29
Range of Grades (65% - 100%)
Mean 90.7%
Median 90%
Mode 95%
Chapter 11 (newer edition Ch. 18): The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789–1815
After surveying the Chapter, we begin in Section 1 The French Revolution Begins
We can consider the "Causes of the French Revolution."
To cover the entire French Revolution is a lofty task but to deal with the subject as best we can there is a good reference in the "Detailed Guide to the Revolution."
One of the most interesting characters of the period is "Marie Antoinette," sometimes referred to as the Teen Queen, not to be confused with later teen queens.
Or, alternatively, we can listen to "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution" in song.
If someone is studying French, perhaps they can translate the anthem of the republican Revolution:
The Marseillaise (War Song for the Army of the Rhine)
Marseillaise
( Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin)
Allons enfants de la patrie!
Le jour de gloire est arrivé;
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé.
L'étendard sanglant est levé.
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Egorger vos fils, vos compagnes!
Refrain:
Aux armes, citoyens, formez vos bataillons,
Marchez, marchez, qu'un sang impur
abreuve nos sillons.
Que veut cet horde d'esclaves,
De traîtres, de rois conjurés?
Pour qui ces ignobles entraves,
Ces fers dès longtemps préparés?
Ces fers dès longtemps préparés?
Francais! Pour nous, ah quel outrage!
Quels transports il doit exciter!
C'est nous qu'on ose méditer
De rendre à l'antique esclavage?
Refrain
Amour sacré de la patrie,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs
Liberté, Liberté chérie!
Combats avec tes défenseurs
Combats avec tes défenseurs
Sous nos drapeaux que la Victoire
Accourt à tes mâles accents:
Que tes ennemis expirants
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire
Refrain
Refrain
One of the most arresting images of the Revolution, no pun intended, is the guillotine.
Objectives
*Describe the social divisions of France’s old order.
*List reasons for France’s economic troubles in 1789.
*Explain why Louis XVI called the Estates-General and summarize what resulted.
*Understand why Parisians stormed the Bastille.
Witness History
The Loss of Blood Begins (Audio)
On July 14, 1789, after a daylong hunting expedition, King Louis XVI returned to his palace in Versailles. Hours earlier, armed Parisians had attacked the Bastille. They had cut the chains of the prison drawbridge, crushing a member of the crowd, and poured into the courtyard. Chaos ensued as shots rang out, blood was spattered, and heads were paraded down the streets on spikes. When Louis heard the news, he exclaimed, “Then it’s a revolt?” “No, sire,” replied the duke bearing the news, “it’s a revolution!” The French Revolution had begun. Witness History relates the fall of the Bastille.
The Conquerors of the Bastille before the Hotel de Ville, painted by Paul Delaroche
Chapter Focus Question
What were the causes and effects of the French Revolution, and how did the revolution lead to the Napoleonic era?
Background to the Revolution
The Three Estates
French Society Divided (Audio)
In 1789, France, like the rest of Europe, still clung to an outdated social system that had emerged in the Middle Ages. Under this ancien régime, or old order, everyone in France was divided into one of three social classes, or estates. The First Estate was made up of the clergy; the Second Estate was made up of the nobility; and the Third Estate comprised the vast majority of the population.
The Clergy Enjoy Wealth
During the Middle Ages, the Church had exerted great influence throughout Christian Europe. In 1789, the French clergy still enjoyed enormous wealth and privilege. The Church owned about 10 percent of the land, collected tithes, and paid no direct taxes to the state. High Church leaders such as bishops and abbots were usually nobles who lived very well. Parish priests, however, often came from humble origins and might be as poor as their peasant congregations.
The First Estate did provide some social services. Nuns, monks, and priests ran schools, hospitals, and orphanages. But during the Enlightenment, philosophes targeted the Church for reform. They criticized the idleness of some clergy, the Church’s interference in politics, and its intolerance of dissent. In response, many clergy condemned the Enlightenment for undermining religion and moral order.
Nobles Hold Top Government Jobs
The Second Estate was the titled nobility of French society. In the Middle Ages, noble knights had defended the land. In the 1600s, Richelieu and Louis XIV had crushed the nobles’ military power but had given them other rights—under strict royal control. Those rights included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church.
At Versailles, ambitious nobles competed for royal appointments while idle courtiers enjoyed endless entertainments. Many nobles, however, lived far from the center of power. Though they owned land, they received little financial income. As a result, they felt the pinch of trying to maintain their status in a period of rising prices.
Many nobles hated absolutism and resented the royal bureaucracy that employed middle-class men in positions that once had been reserved for them. They feared losing their traditional privileges, especially their freedom from paying taxes.
Third Estate Is Vastly Diverse
The Third Estate was the most diverse social class. At the top sat the bourgeoisie (boor zhwah zee), or middle class. The bourgeoisie included prosperous bankers, merchants, and manufacturers, as well as lawyers, doctors, journalists, and professors. The bulk of the Third Estate, however, consisted of rural peasants. Some were prosperous landowners who hired laborers to work for them. Others were tenant farmers or day laborers.
The poorest members of the Third Estate were urban workers. They included apprentices, journeymen, and others who worked in industries such as printing or cloth making. Many women and men earned a meager living as servants, stable hands, construction workers, or street sellers of everything from food to pots and pans. A large number of the urban poor were unemployed. To survive, some turned to begging or crime.
Vocabulary Builder
urban—(ur bun) adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of a city
From rich to poor, members of the Third Estate resented the privileges enjoyed by their social “betters.” Wealthy bourgeois families in the Third Estate could buy political office and even titles, but the best jobs were still reserved for nobles. Urban workers earned miserable wages. Even the smallest rise in the price of bread, their main food, brought the threat of greater hunger or even starvation.
Because of traditional privileges, the First and Second Estates paid almost no taxes. Peasants were burdened by taxes on everything from land to soap to salt. Though they were technically free, many owed fees and services that dated back to medieval times, such as the corvée (kawr vay), which was unpaid labor to repair roads and bridges. Peasants were also incensed when nobles, hurt by rising prices, tried to reimpose old manor dues.
Infographic
What Is the Third Estate?
In towns and cities, Enlightenment ideas led people to question the inequalities of the old regime. Why, people demanded, should the first two estates have such great privileges at the expense of the majority? Throughout France, the Third Estate called for the privileged classes to pay their share.
Checkpoint
What was the social structure of the old regime in France?
Financial Crisis (Audio)
Economic woes in France added to the social unrest and heightened tensions. One of the causes of the economic troubles was a mushrooming financial crisis that was due in part to years of deficit spending. This occurs when a government spends more money than it takes in.
National Debt Soars
Louis XIV had left France deeply in debt. The Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution strained the treasury even further. Costs generally had risen in the 1700s, and the lavish court soaked up millions. To bridge the gap between income and expenses, the government borrowed more and more money. By 1789, half of the government’s income from taxes went to paying the interest on this enormous debt. Also, in the late 1780s, bad harvests sent food prices soaring and brought hunger to poorer peasants and city dwellers.
To solve the financial crisis, the government would have to increase taxes, reduce expenses, or both. However, the nobles and clergy fiercely resisted any attempt to end their exemption from taxes.
Economic Reform Fails
The heirs of Louis XIV were not the right men to solve the economic crisis that afflicted France. Louis XV, who ruled from 1715 to 1774, pursued pleasure before serious business and ran up more debts. Louis XVI was well-meaning but weak and indecisive. He did, however, wisely choose Jacques Necker, a financial expert, as an advisor. Necker urged the king to reduce extravagant court spending, reform government, and abolish burdensome tariffs on internal trade. When Necker proposed taxing the First and Second Estates, however, the nobles and high clergy forced the king to dismiss him.
As the crisis deepened, the pressure for reform mounted. The wealthy and powerful classes demanded, however, that the king summon the Estates-General, the legislative body consisting of representatives of the three estates, before making any changes. A French king had not called the Estates-General for 175 years, fearing that nobles would use it to recover the feudal powers they had lost under absolute rule. To reform-minded nobles, the Estates-General seemed to offer a chance of carrying out changes like those that had come with the Glorious Revolution in England. They hoped that they could bring the absolute monarch under the control of the nobles and guarantee their own privileges.
Primary Source
Poorer peasants and city dwellers in France were faced with great hunger as bad harvests sent food prices soaring. People began to riot to demand bread. In the countryside, peasants began to attack the manor houses of the nobles. Arthur Young, an English visitor to France, witnessed these riots and disturbances. Why did the poor attack the nobles’ homes?
Primary Source
“Everything conspires to render the present period in France critical: the [lack] of bread is terrible: accounts arrive every moment from the provinces of riots and disturbances, and calling in the military, to preserve the peace of the markets.”
—Arthur Young, Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789
Checkpoint
What economic troubles did France face in 1789, and how did they lead to further unrest?
Reading Check
Identifying
What groups were part of the Third Estate?
From Estates-General to National Assembly
As 1788 came to a close, France tottered on the verge of bankruptcy. Bread riots were spreading, and nobles, fearful of taxes, were denouncing royal tyranny. A baffled Louis XVI finally summoned the Estates-General to meet at Versailles the following year.
Estates Prepare Grievance Notebooks
In preparation, Louis had all three estates prepare cahiers (kah yayz), or notebooks, listing their grievances. Many cahiers called for reforms such as fairer taxes, freedom of the press, or regular meetings of the Estates-General. In one town, shoemakers denounced regulations that made leather so expensive they could not afford to make shoes. Servant girls in the city of Toulouse demanded the right to leave service when they wanted and that “after a girl has served her master for many years, she receive some reward for her service.”
The cahiers testified to boiling class resentments. One called tax collectors “bloodsuckers of the nation who drink the tears of the unfortunate from goblets of gold.” Another one of the cahiers condemned the courts of nobles as “vampires pumping the last drop of blood” from the people. Another complained that “20 million must live on half the wealth of France while the clergy . . . devour the other half.”
The Oath Is Taken
Delegates of the Third Estate declare themselves to be the National Assembly, representing the people of France. They take the Tennis Court Oath, vowing to create a constitution. The National Assembly later issues the assignat as currency to help pay the government’s debts.
What was the significance of the Tennis Court Oath?
Delegates Take the Tennis Court Oath
Delegates to the Estates-General from the Third Estate were elected, though only propertied men could vote. Thus, the delegates were mostly lawyers, middle-class officials, and writers. They were familiar with the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and other philosophes. They went to Versailles not only to solve the financial crisis but also to insist on reform.
The Estates-General convened in May 1789. From the start, the delegates were deadlocked over the issue of voting. Traditionally, each estate had met and voted separately. Each group had one vote. Under this system, the First and Second Estates always outvoted the Third Estate two to one. This time, the Third Estate wanted all three estates to meet in a single body, with votes counted “by head.”
After weeks of stalemate, delegates of the Third Estate took a daring step. in June 1789, claiming to represent the people of France, they declared themselves to be the National Assembly. A few days later, the National Assembly found its meeting hall locked and guarded. Fearing that the king planned to dismiss them, the delegates moved to a nearby indoor tennis court. As curious spectators looked on, the delegates took their famous Tennis Court Oath. They swore “never to separate and to meet wherever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and just constitution.”
When reform-minded clergy and nobles joined the Assembly, Louis XVI grudgingly accepted it. But royal troops gathered around Paris, and rumors spread that the king planned to dissolve the Assembly.
What actions did delegates of the Third Estate take when the Estates-General met in 1789?
Reading Check
Examining
Why did the Third Estate object to each estate's having one vote in the Estates-General?
The Destruction of the Old Regime
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Assembly issued this document in 1789 after having overthrown the established government in the early stages of the French Revolution. The document was modeled in part on the English Bill of Rights and on the American Declaration of Independence. The basic principles of the French declaration were those that inspired the revolution, such as the freedom and equality of all male citizens before the law. The Articles below identify additional principles.
Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices1 of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible2 rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. . . .
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else. . . .
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. . . .
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. . . .
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom. . . .
13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public [military] forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.
Thinking Critically
1. Summarize
Summarize article 6. Why is this article especially significant?
2. Identify Central Issues
What central idea does this declaration share with the American Declaration of Independence?
The King Concedes
On October 5, about six thousand women marched 13 miles in the pouring rain from Paris to Versailles. “Bread!” they shouted. They demanded to see the king.
Much of the crowd’s anger was directed at the Austrian-born queen, Marie Antoinette (daughter of Maria Theresa and brother of Joseph II). The queen lived a life of great pleasure and extravagance, and this led to further public unrest. Although compassionate to the poor, her small acts went largely unnoticed because her lifestyle overshadowed them. She was against reforms and bored with the French court. She often retreated to the Petit Trianon, a small chateau on the palace grounds at Versailles where she lived her own life of amusement.
The women refused to leave Versailles until the king met their most important demand—to return to Paris. Not too happily, the king agreed. The next morning, the crowd, with the king and his family in tow, set out for the city. At the head of the procession rode women perched on the barrels of seized cannons. They told bewildered spectators that they were bringing Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their son back to Paris. “Now we won’t have to go so far when we want to see our king,” they sang. Crowds along the way cheered the king, who now wore the tricolor. In Paris, the royal family moved into the Tuileries (twee luh reez) palace. For the next three years, Louis was a virtual prisoner.
Church Reforms
The National Assembly soon followed the king to Paris. Its largely bourgeois members worked to draft a constitution and to solve the continuing financial crisis. To pay off the huge government debt—much of it owed to the bourgeoisie—the Assembly voted to take over and sell Church lands.
In an even more radical move, the National Assembly put the French Catholic Church under state control. Under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, issued in 1790, bishops and priests became elected, salaried officials. The Civil Constitution ended papal authority over the French Church and dissolved convents and monasteries.
Reaction was swift and angry. Many bishops and priests refused to accept the Civil Constitution. The pope condemned it. Large numbers of French peasants, who were conservative concerning religion, also rejected the changes. When the government punished clergy who refused to support the Civil Constitution, a huge gulf opened between revolutionaries in Paris and the peasantry in the provinces.
A New Constitution and New Fears
The National Assembly completed its main task by producing a constitution. The Constitution of 1791 set up a limited monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries. A new Legislative Assembly had the power to make laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues of war and peace. Lawmakers would be elected by tax-paying male citizens over age 25.
To make government more efficient, the constitution replaced the old provinces with 83 departments of roughly equal size. It abolished the old provincial courts, and it reformed laws.
To moderate reformers, the Constitution of 1791 seemed to complete the revolution. Reflecting Enlightenment goals, it ensured equality before the law for all male citizens and ended Church interference in government. At the same time, it put power in the hands of men with the means and leisure to serve in government.
Reading Check
Evaluating
What was the significance of the Constitution of 1791?
War with Austria
The radicals soon held the upper hand in the Legislative Assembly. In April 1792, the war of words between French revolutionaries and European monarchs moved onto the battlefield. Eager to spread the revolution and destroy tyranny abroad, the Legislative Assembly declared war first on Austria and then on Prussia, Britain, and other states. The great powers expected to win an easy victory against France, a land divided by revolution. In fact, however, the fighting that began in 1792 lasted on and off until 1815.
Rise of the Paris Commune
Paris, too, was in turmoil. As the capital and chief city of France, it was the revolutionary center. A variety of factions, or dissenting groups of people, competed to gain power. Moderates looked to the Marquis de Lafayette, the aristocratic “hero of two worlds” who fought alongside George Washington in the American Revolution. Lafayette headed the National Guard, a largely middle-class militia organized in response to the arrival of royal troops in Paris. The Guard was the first group to don the tricolor—a red, white, and blue badge that was eventually adopted as the national flag of France.
A more radical group, the Paris Commune, replaced the royalist government of the city. It could mobilize whole neighborhoods for protests or violent action to further the revolution. Newspapers and political clubs—many even more radical than the Commune—blossomed everywhere. Some demanded an end to the monarchy and spread scandalous stories about the royal family and members of the court.
Preview
Section 2 Radical Revolution and Reaction
The Sans-Culottes
by Albert Soboul
HW: email me at gmsmith@shanahan.org.
As announced over the intercom (available for a week):
In the main lobby of the school, there is a relic of Saint John Vianney on display. In this Year of the Priest, this relic is "on tour" throughout the Archdiocese. We will have the relic for one week.For our "Catholic Identity" page on Shanawiki, who can be the first person to explain what relics are and what the relic of St. John Vianney is about?
I have attached an explanation of the relic (and relics in general). Please feel free to read it at your liesure [sic].
Fraternally,
Father Matt
If you needed to explain to someone about the Catholic faith:
what is a relic?
what significance does it have for Catholics?
who was St. John Vianney? What can you tell us about him? Why is he important?
Bibliographic resources
Cf. Interpreting the French Revolution by Francois Furet
The Peasants of Languedoc by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime…
by William H. Sewell Jr.
The Vendee: A Sociological Analysis of the Counter-Revolution of 1793
by Charles Tilly
Napoleon as Military Commander
by James Marshall-Cornwall
Society and Culture in Early Modern France: Eight Essays by Natalie Zemon…
by Natalie Davis
