THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
POWER NOTES
A Growing Middle Class
In the past, peasants and workers lacked the means to carry out full-scale measures that
would bring a change in society.
The middle class, who earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade were
educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth.
A society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all were put forward by
philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffee-houses
among people through books and newspapers
The Outbreak of the Revolution
Louis XVI called an assembly of the Estates General to pass proposals for new taxes.
The first and second estates sent 300 representatives each while the 600 members
came from of the third estate.
Earlier voting pattern was one estate one vote but this time third estate demanded one
person one vote.
King rejected the demand, third estate boycotted the the assembly and walked off.
On 20 June they assembled in Versailles.
Declared themselves a National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted
a constitution for France to limit the powers of the monarch.
Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the
constitution.
Tithes were abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated.
The government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion lives.
France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy
This diagram is very important for
this topic
Draw this in your fair notebook.
Only men above 25 years of age who
paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a
laborer’s wage were given the status of
active citizens
They were entitled to vote.
VOTE
France Abolishes Monarchy and Becomes a Republic
King Louis XVI entered into secret negotiations with the King of Prussia and made plans
to send troops to put down the events.
The National Assembly declared war against Prussia and Austria. Thousands of
volunteers came from the provinces to join the army.
A war of the people against kings and aristocracies.
The Marseillaise anthem sung by the volunteers later on became the national anthem of
France.
The Rise of Maximilian Robespierre
Large sections of the population were convinced that the Constitution of 1791 gave
political rights only to the richer sections of society.
Political clubs became an important rallying point to discuss government policies and
plan their own forms of action.
The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins, the members of the
Jacobin club belonged mainly to the less prosperous sections of society.
Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
Execution of the king and queen
In the summer of 1792 the Jacobins planned an insurrection of a large number of
Parisians who were angered by the short supplies and high prices of food.
They stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king's guards and held the king
himself as hostage for several hours.
Elections were held. From now on all men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth,
got the right to vote.
The newly elected assembly was called the Convention.
Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a court on the charge of treason. The queen Marie
Antoinette met with the same fate shortly after.
The Reign of Terror
The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror.
Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment.
Ex-nobles and clergy, members of other political parties, even members of his own party
who did not agree with his methods were arrested, imprisoned and then they were
guillotined.
Changes brought by Maximilian Robespierre
He issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices.
Meat and bread were rationed.
Peasants were forced to sell the grains at prices fixed by the government.
Expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the (equality
bread), a loaf made of whole wheat.
Instead of Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) all French men and women were called
as Citoyen and Citoyenne (Citizen).
Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices.
A Directory Rules France
The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power.
A new constitution was introduced, denied the vote to non-propertied sections.
It provided for two elected legislative councils.
These then appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members.
However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative councils, who then then sought
to dismiss them.
The political instability of the Directory paved the way for the rise of a military dictator,
Napoleon Bonaparte.
The ideals of freedom, of equality before the law and of fraternity remained inspiring
ideals.
Did Women have a Revolution?
Women did not have access to ation or job training.
Only daughters of nobles or wealthier members of the third estate could study at a
convent, after which their families arranged a marriage for them.
Women started their own political clubs and newspapers, the Society of Revolutionary
and Republican Women was the most famous of them.
They demanded the right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly and to hold political
office.
The revolutionary government did introduce laws
Schooling was made compulsory for all girls.
Fathers could no longer force them into marriage against their will.
Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely and registered under civil law.
Divorce was made legal.
Women could now train for jobs, could become artists or run small businesses.
It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
The Abolition of Slavery
The colonies in the Caribbean - Martinique, Guadeloupe and San Domingo - were
important suppliers of commodities such as tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee.
French merchants sailed from the ports of Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast,
where they bought slaves from local chieftains.
The slaves were packed tightly into ships for the three-month long voyage across the
Atlantic to the Caribbean.
Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes owed their economic prosperity to the flourishing
slave trade.
The Convention in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions.
Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.
The Revolution and Everyday Life
France saw many such changes in the lives of men, women and children.
Books, newspapers, plays could be published or performed only after they had been
approved by the censors of the king.
Now the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and
expression to be a natural right.
Freedom of the press also meant that opposing views of events could be expressed.
Rise of The Napolean
In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France.
Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser of Europe.
He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property and a uniform
system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system.
But soon the Napoleonic armies came to be viewed everywhere as an invading force. He
was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French
Revolution.
Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the
ideas coming from revolutionary France.
