2. France Consequences Flashcards
Creating a New Society
The August Decrees
Seen as a dramatic shift in the socio-political and economic standings. They aimed to:
- Abolish seigneurialism/feudalism
- Unify France
- Set a road to constitutional reform
Key accomplishments:
- The stripping away of the domination and privilege of the nobility
- The creation of a society based on individualism, equality and merit
- The abolishment of the tax (This halved the yearly income of the Church)
5th - 11th of August, 1789
Creating a New Society
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Aimed for:
- An equal France
- Freedom of Speech (Stemmed from the political pamphlets)
- Financial stability
- Fairer political system
Women’s rights were not mentioned in DOCMAR or in the August Decrees
26th August, 1789
Those who benefitted from DOCMAR
- The bourgeoisie
- The nobility (They wrote the Declaration so they could include what they wanted)
- Peasants (Less tax burden as equality is emphasised)
Those who lost benefits from DOCMAR
- the clergy (Catholicism is no longer the only supported religion)
- The wealthy (They had to endure new taxations)
Creating a New Society
Changes and Reforms
- popular sovereignity (the idea that governments derive their authority from the people and not from God)
Reform programs fasciliated by DOCMAR: - the Le Chapelier Law
- Nationalisation and sale of church property
- The new currency
Creating a New Society
The Le Chapelier Law
- In response to the strikes from artisans and the dissolution of guilds, the Constituent Assembly passed a law to control labour.
- the Le Chapelier Law forbade associations or meetings of workmen.
- gave the advantage to employers rather than employees as it banned the right to organise or strike
- as industries grew, workers could only organise as mutual benefit societies, as they lacked the power to strike or withdraw labour on an organised basis.
14th June, 1791
Creating a New Society
Nationalisation and Sale of Church Property
In response to the renewed threat of bankruptcy in 1789, the Constituent Assembly nationalised the Church’s property, which was approximately ten percent of the nation’s held land.
2nd November 1789
The New Currency
The new assignat currency was introduced as a method of redeeming the profit of the sale of Church property for the government rather than for the clergy. As a result, the amount of money held by the clergy was vastly reduced, especially after the August Decrees had already halved their yearly income through the abolition of the tithe.
December 1789
Creating a New Society
Women’s March to Versailles
(October Days)
Reasons for the march:
- Hunger
- Vioelt tendencies
- fear of corrupttion
Events of the march:
- Began at the Hotel de Ville, then moved to Versailles with Lafayette and the National Guard following
- LXVI met with the crowd and gave them a written declaration, but later, a crowd of women stormed the palace in search of Marie Antoinette
5th-6th October, 1789
Creating a New Society
Pivotal turning point of the revolution
- Louis was not longer a figure of authority, but a prisoner. This change in status would alter how the common people viewed both the king and the monarchy.
- many new members of the Constituent Assembly held extreme misgivings and had been alienated by their close brush with the violence of the crowds during the October days and many deputies applied for leave. The legislators of France were now at the mercy of the people and no National Assembly could rule without the support of the people of Paris.
- the Paris-centric control o the revolution would create resentment in the provinces, which elected their own representatives to the National Assembly, paid their taxes and served in the nation’s armies.
August - October 1789
Political Challenges to the New Regime
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy key aspects
- Number of bishops reduced from 130 to 83.
- Each diocese would have a bishop and parish clergy.
- Number of parishes within each diocese would be reduced, so that the organisation of the Catholic religion in France would echo that of the state.
- All titles other than bishop and ‘cure’ (priest) would be abolished.
- These reforms were generally acceptable, but it would mean some clergy would lose their parish church.
12th July 1790
Political Challenges to the New Regime
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy major problems
- The pope’s role as head of the Church was replaced by state control. The pope’s right to appoint clergy was replaced by a system of popular election.
- All appointments of bishops and parish priests were to be made by election – with non-Catholics having the ability to vote.
- This excluded women and the poor from the community of the faithful.
- Clerical appointments became a civil matter rather than a religious matter.
Political Challenges Facing the New Regime
The Clerical Oath
Declared that:
- Clergy shall swear to be faithful to the law, the nation, and to the King, and to maintain with all their power the Civil Constitution
- Any cleric who did not swear the Oath would be deprived of his salary, his French citizenship and his office as a priest.
- Any citizen who publicly opposed the decree ‘will be pursued and punished for having disrupted the public peace’.
The Oath widened the divide between Catholicism and the state as it forced Catholics to choose between supporting government and supporting the church. It alienated loyal Catholics in all levels of the political hierarchy.
27th of November 1790
Political Challenges Facing the New Regime
Refractory and Non-refractory clergy
‘Refractory’ and ‘non-juring’ clerics refer to those who would not take the Clerical Oath. Within the Constituent Assembly, only a third of the clerical deputies took the Oath and of the bishops, only seven chose the state over the church.
Political Challenges Facing the New Regime
Political Reasons for the King’s Flight to Varennes
- If the king were able to escape France and reach Austria, then he would be able to ask the other monarchs of Europe to help restore France to monarchical rule.
- Austrian Emperor Leopold II and the King of Span Charles IV were the two figureheads that Louis XVI would use to negotiate his status with the Constituent Assembly.
20th June 1791
Political Challenges Facing the New Regime
Religious Reasons for the King’s Flight to Varennes
- Louis was crowned a monarch by divine right and, as such, had a duty to rule France.
- Louis was a religious man, and although he did sign off on the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, he privately opposed it.
20th June 1791
Political Challenges Facing the New Regime
The Constitution of 1791
Having demanded a constitutional monarchy, the revolutionaries wrote the constitution to define such a political system. Key details:
- Reduced power of the king
- Authority that was given to the legislature (law-making body)
There was no question that the king would remain, but his power was now counter-balanced by a parliament.
Political Challenges Facing the New Regime
The Rise of the Sans Culottes
The sans-culottes were drawn from the workers of Paris who found a common identity in the French Revolution that was partly economic and partly sociopolitical. Because they were poor, they were bound together by fluctuations in the price of food.
By 1792, they were demanding benefits from the revolution, in particular:
- A direct voice in the elected Assembly
- an end to the distinction between active and passive citizens
Their actions in the journées of 1792 and 1793 prompted the National Convention to accept a program of direct democracy, and to control the economy through fixed maximum prices and minimum wages.
Military and Economic Challenges to the New Regime
Looming War With Austria and Prussia
- Nobles that emigrated during the revolution pleaded with other monarchies to intervene
- Leopold II (Austria) intervened and issued the Declaration of Pillnitz (1791) which threatened the French revolutionaries with violence. The Constituent Assembly was not scared
Military and Economic Challenges to the New Regime
The Legislative Assembly
- was given law making power
- members of the new Legislative Assembly could not be comprised of anyone from the National Constituent Assembly (members of the Estates-General could not be a deputy)
- had no experience, would prove to be fateful
- Left = Jacobins (Brissot, Robespierre, Danton), split into Montgnards and Girondins who clashed over their ideas of action vs inaction respectively
- Center = Moderates, later supported the terror
- Right = Feuillants (Lafayette), did not trust the king, but supported him in seek of stability
1st October 1791- 20th September 1792
Military and Economic Challenges to the New Regime
The Brissotins
Jacques-Pierre Brissot was a leading advocate for war and became the leader of the Brissotin faction in the Legislative Assembly, which would later become known as the Girondins.
These men were moderate-left bourgeois republicans who represented the interest of the provinces. In early 1792, they split from the Jacobin Club.
Military and Economic Challenges to the New Regime
Brissot Advocates for War
As fears of war increased, Brissot’s point of view became increasingly popular: he wanted France to strike first against its enemies to achieve victory.
According to him, a successful war would:
- Require all citizens to make obvious their loyalty to the revolution
- Flush out internal traitors
- Boost enthusiasm for the revolution
- Demonstrate the permanency of the new regime
Most Jacobians supported a war, but it was opposed by Robespierre and his colleagues (Girondins) who feared that victory in the war might give power to the generals, especially Lafayette (the Right). If they were defeated, they would find all of the gains of 1789 overthrown and the monarchy restored.
