Current events:
Icons, symbols, and the selling of a presidential campaign have become staples of the American political landscape. For instance, Joe McGinniss changed the way we view political campaigns with his book “The Selling of the President 1968.” Branding is not always effective, one recent poss indicates that although both Democratic and Republican numbers have shifted; the crucial shift is in the rise of independent voters. In late January, a USA Today/Gallup poll recorded 25% as unaffiliated or independent. Now in mid-October, the average data compiled from dozens of surveys over more than a year shows Independent ID at 35% percent, the most significant shift noted of the three. Today, we can consider presidential messages to consider what has changed—and what hasn’t changed over time.
In the tumultuous summer of 1968, McGinniss learned something nobody wanted the American public to know: The two Presidential candidates, Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, had hired advertising agencies to package them like products and sell them to the American people.
In the age of television, wrote Nixon’s image adviser, Raymond Price, in an internal memo, “the response is to the image, not to the man…It’s not what’s there that counts, it’s what’s projected.” The selection of a President, he added, “has to be an act of faith…This faith isn’t achieved by reason; it’s achieved by charisma, by a feeling of trust that can’t be argued or reasoned.”
During the French Revolution, iconography and feelings of hatred were expressed against the French monarchy. The Bastille was the hated icon of the French monarchy therefore not surprisingly French Revolutionary painting depicted the attack on the Bastille (Cf. the illustration below: "The Destruction of the Old Regime"). Likewise, the tri-color French flag imitates the example of the exceptional Americans who had used the same red, white, and blue colors in their fight against the British.
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 (newer edition Ch. 18): The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789–1815
Ch. 11 Section 1 The French Revolution Begins
Parisians storm the Bastille on July 14, 1789.
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 auspices 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 imprescriptible 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.
The King Concedes (Cf. http://www.librarything.com/work/4250524/book/34672675).
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, 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. 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.
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.
1. What actions did delegates of the Third Estate take when the Estates-General met in 1789?
2. Why did the Third Estate object to each estate's having one vote in the Estates-General?
3. What was the significance of the Constitution of 1791?
