Chapter 5 - The Revolution, May - October 1789 Flashcards
What was the last great ceremony of the ancien regime?
The estates general
How many representatives arrived?
1200
When did the first session of the EG begin?
5 May
Who opened the EG?
Louis
(Addressed the circumstances leading to the meeting)
What concerns of the third estate did Louis fail to address?
No ‘reform package’
Didn’t know how the meeting would proceed + how voting would take place
What did the third estate not want to do?
Meeting separately to the first two estates
What did the third estate want before verification?
Voting by head agreement
Who was one of the most influential third estate leaders of these weeks?
Abbé Sieyès
What did Sieyès argue?
The third estate was ‘the nation’ and had every right to act alone if others refused to join it
Who joined the third estate deputies?
Clerics
(Not nobles)
What did the third estate vote to call itself?
The National Assembly
What was the NA intentions?
To represent the nation
To make its own decisions on the future of the French state
Who then also joined the third estate?
The Clergy
What had the kings intention been on?
His eldest son who died of tuberculosis of the spine
Who was persuading Louis to make a reform package?
Necker
Why were the doors to the assembly room locked and guarded the 20 June?
There needed to be alterations to the room
Why did they fear the worst?
They hadn’t been told
What did they think the king was doing?
Forcibly dissolving the assembly
Who was their elected president?
Jean-Sylvain Bailly
What did they do as a result?
Found the nearest available indoor space = the royal tennis court
What did they swear at the new meeting area?
The ‘Tennis Court Oath’
What was the declaration?
To never disband until a new constitution is formed
It was a direct challenge to the king
What did Louis accept in the royal session on 23 June?
Fairer land tax
New taxation
What did the deputies dislike Louis doing?
Continuing to use the term ‘Estates General’
Refusing to accept the name ‘National Assembly’
Demanded the estates still met separately
What did members do at the end of the session?
Refused to leave in an act of defiance
Where were constant meetings held the following days?
Palais-Royal
Who stirred up fury against the court?
Desmoulins
How many troops did the king bring in wars of these developments?
4,800
To Paris
What did Louis do 27 June?
Recognised the NA
Permitted voting by head
What were the rumours?
Plots to arrest deputies
Destroy the Assembly
Cut off grain supply
Starve Paris into submission
By 4 July how many troops were in Paris?
30,000
What were the troops made up of?
Foreign mercenaries
Couldn’t rely on the loyalty of French troops
Who did Louis dismiss 11 July?
Necker
What prices were high due to a bad harvest?
Bread
What were some general influences on the Parisians?
Versailles 20km away
Thriving printing industry
Skilled artisans lived near Bastille
Reliant on regular employment
High literacy rate
Wealthy moved out
Food supplies had entry taxes
Rumours spread easily
What are specific influences of the Parisians?
Bad harvests = bread prices
Migrants to Paris for work
Rumours of hoarding
Fears of wage reductions
Compilation of cahiers
Pamphlets + newspapers
Troops = fear
Palais-Royal heard rev thinking
Where did mobs raid 12-13 July?
Sword-smiths
Gun shops
Custom posts (barrières)
Prisons
Factories
Monastery of Saint-Lazare
What did the some of the royal troops do?
Joined the rioters
What did some Parisian electors set up to take control of the city?
The Commune
What did the Commune organise?
A National Guard of volunteers that would ‘police’ the city and protect the king
Where did a crowd of 8000 descend on 14 July?
Les Invalides
Where 32,000 muskets + artillery were found
What were the artillery useless without?
Gunpowder
Where did they go to find stores of gunpowder?
The Bastille
What happened at the Bastille?
People forced their way in
70 ‘attackers’ were killed
What did Louis do from this?
Addressed Parisians in Paris
Reinstated Necker
Accepted NA, NG, Paris Commune
What did people in towns across France do?
Angry mobs attacked houses of magistrates and royal officials = forcing them to flee
What did the peasants think from messages from the capital?
The end to their burdens and new wealth and status
What did they do from this?
Refused to pay taxes
Attacked landlords chateaux
Burnt fences + hedges + barns
Sought terriers + titres de ventes et devoirs
What are terriers?
The deeds listing the landowners feudal rights
What are the titres de ventes et devoirs?
Records of sales and obligations owed
What did peasants think would happen if they were destroyed?
Feudal rights would also be gone
What weather conditions meant there were economic issues?
1788 spring drought
Poor harvest
Bad winter
What is the ‘Great Fear’?
Rumours of Nobles stealing grain from farms or preparing to attack farming families
Emigres rumoured to return with foreign armies
What did people do when grain merchants and aristocrats were making vast profits from scarce grain?
Attacked grain convoys
What did the NA do to respond to the ‘great fear’?
Abolished feudal rights
What was also taken away in that Assembly session?
Privileges of the nobility and the church
What August decrees were worked out over the subsequent days?
- Feudal dues abolished + no compensation to landlords
- Exclusive rights to owning pigeons + dovecotes + hunting abolished
- Abolished = seigneurial courts + tithe + fees + payments to priests + privileges from provinces + venality
- All loans or harvest shares could be bought back
- All citizens eligible for all ecclesiastical, civilian, military positions
What was made to summarise the revolutionaries’ ideals and create a new framework for the new constitution?
A ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen’
When was the declaration passed?
26 August 1789
Where did the rights derive from?
The Enlightenment
Which Philosophes were particularly an influence?
Montesquieu = separation of powers
Rousseau = social contract
What were put forward for the king’s assent?
The August Decrees
Declaration of Rights
What did Louis regret in his rejected assent?
His former acceptance of the NA
What did Louis hope would happen?
Difficulty in maintaining order would split the revolutionaries + cause govt to collapse
What did the NA offer the king?
A dispensary veto
What was he seen doing in October?
Summoning troops back to Paris
What fears came from this?
That the assembly would close down again
What was held to celebrate the return of the king’s Flanders’s regiment?
A banquet
What created public outrage?
Toasts and oaths of loyalty to the king
Waving the Tricolore
Why did women March to Versailles?
Struggling to find bread for their families
How many marched?
6000-7000
When did they march?
5 October 1789
Who followed to make sure the safety of the king?
Lafayette + NG
What did the king do after the crowds forced admittance to the palace?
Provide more grain
Accept Aug Decrees + RMAC
His family would move to Paris
Where were the royal family escorted to on the 6 Oct?
The Tuileries Palace
Why did the Assembly then move to Paris?
Business was impossible without the king
