Chapter three

Question 1

What was the first estate and how much did it compose of the population?

Answer 1

The first estate was the clergy and it made up about 2% of the population but 98% of the wealth and power

Question 2

What was the second estate and how much did it compose of the population?

Answer 2

The second estate was the nobility and it made up about 2% of the population but 98% of the wealth and power

Question 3

What was the third estate and how much did it compose of the population?

Answer 3

The third estate was the commoners and it made up about 98% of the population

Question 4

What was the responsibilities of the first estate?

Answer 4

The responsibilities were the registration of the births, marriages, and death, the collected the tithe, censored books, served as morel police, operated schools and hospitals, and distributed relief to the poor

Question 5

What was the responsibilities of the second estate?

Answer 5

The responsibilities were collecting rent, collecting labour dues. They were the highest positions in the Church, army and government, they were also exempt from taxes

Question 6

What was the responsibilities of the third estate?

Answer 6

They paid all the taxes which were heavy, owed labour dues to the first and second estate, and had no rights

Question 7

How was the taxes for the third estate?

Answer 7

They were heavy. They paid taxes to the king, the church, dues of the manor, as well as numerous indirect taxes on wine, salt, and bread

Question 8

What was the estate general?

Answer 8

The estates general was the original French parliament. However, parliament had not been called since 1614 when Louis the 14th disbanded it, when it did exist it was divided into 3 parts representing each state

Question 9

What was the divine right of kings?

Answer 9

The divine right of kings was a doctrine which asserted that kings derived their authority from god and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament

Question 10

What is absolutism

Answer 10

When the kind has absolute power that cannot be questioned

Question 11

Why was Louis the 14th known as the sun king?

Answer 11

Everything revolved around him, that’s how much power he had

Question 12

Why did Louis name change from “Louis the beloved” to “Louis the hated”?

Answer 12

He spent all the money on parties, women, and bankrupt France in the 7 years war

Question 13

Describe Louis the 16th demeanour.

Answer 13

Not a strong king, had trouble making up his mind, always wanted to please everyone but ending up pleasing no one

Question 14

What was the palace of Versailles?

Answer 14

Was the extravagant palace that was built and maintained on the backs of the people and a symbol of the waste of the French monarchy and the power it had over the people

Question 15

Describe Louis the 14th.

Answer 15

He lived a life of extravagance and waste, he had all the power

Question 16

Describe the plight of the French peasants by 1777.

Answer 16

Desperation, entire population was reduced to beggary, in 1777 1.1 million people were officially beggars. In the villages famine had become chronic, bread riots followed by murder were common

Question 17

Describe French involvement in the American revolution.

Answer 17

France shipped a lot of soldiers, weapons, war ships, as well as food and 1.3 billion livres in cash. French forces suffered heavy casualties

Question 18

What were the consequences of the French contribution to the American revolution?

Answer 18

France was even more bankrupt and the French people were going to pay that debt

Question 19

What was the consequence of the American revolution for the French?

Answer 19

thousands of French soldiers returning from America after fighting to establishing a democracy there and the French are asking “Why not us” and bringing back that idea that if it can work for America it was work for France

Question 20

Who was Lafayette?

Answer 20

French military leader who brings back liberal ideas to France

Question 21

Why did Louis the 16th call the assembly of notables?

Answer 21

He appoints Jacques Necker as his finance person and Necker says he has to tax the nobles, he calls the assembly of notables to ask for permission to tax them

Question 22

What was the nobles reaction of Louis the 16th request?

Answer 22

They didn’t want to pay the tax and he fires Necker

Question 23

Describe the conditions in France during the years 1787 and 1788.

Answer 23

A cycle of drought, then fierce hailstorms, and flooding destroyed most of the nation’s crops and it led to soaring prices, high unemployment and near-famine. People went on rampages, breaking into storehouses and stealing everything edible

Question 24

Why would Louis the 14th most likely disagreed with Louis the 16th response to the nobles defiance?

Answer 24

Louis the 14th was decisive and Louis the 16th was not

Question 25

Why did the third estate and parish priests leave the estates general and what did they form?

Answer 25

Louis the 16th knew he had to do something or there was going to be a revolt, he asked the people for their suggestion and they say that he should call the estates-general which would give them a say in the laws being passed. The voting system was rigged so that the third estate would always lose and they left and formed the National assembly

Question 26

What was the response to the National assembly to king Louis the 16th attempt to prevent them from meeting?

Answer 26

The first and second estate locked the doors as they can’t form parliament so they went to a different place and they moved to a indoor tennis court “Oath of the tennis court” he ordered the first and second estate to the national assembly

Question 27

What was the great fear?

Answer 27

While the king recognizes the national assembly as being a true parliament by the summer of 1789 the people were still starving and suspected the king was doing this on purpose. This rumour escalated and the people believe there is a aristocratic conspiracy by the king to overthrow the third estate

Question 28

What was the Bastille?

Answer 28

An ancient fortress prison located in the heart of Paris that had become a symbol of the kings power and oppression over the people. The people believed that the king was using it as a base for a army to attack the national assembly, they also thought they held political prisoners there

Question 29

What did the Bastille symbolize for the French populace?

Answer 29

By the 18th century the Bastille had become a oppression imposed upon the third estate by the clergy and aristocracy

Question 30

What was the rumours that spread through Paris in July of 1789?

Answer 30

Rumours spread that the king was getting forces and weapons at the Bastille in order to attack and destroy the newly formed national assembly

Question 31

What happened at the Bastille on July 14, 1789?

Answer 31

A crowd of about 30,000 gathered at the Bastille and demanded that the prisoners be let go and the army disbanded to prove there was no army or prisoners a guard opened the gates and the fortress was stormed, the guards were killed and heads were put on spikes there was no army, weapons, or prisoners

Question 32

What does the fall of the Bastille symbolize?

Answer 32

The first violent act of the revolution and that the kings power is slipping away

Question 33

How did the national assembly end the great fear?

Answer 33

They are going to destroy feudalism which means a end to serfs and giving rights to the people

Question 34

Describe the declaration of rights of man and citizen and why does it resemble the American bill of rights?

Answer 34

It is a commission that outlines the rights and freedoms of all French people that cannot be taken away. It outlines the power of the government and lowers the kings. It resembles the American bill of rights cause the Americans helped them write it

Question 35

Did the declaration of rights of man and citizen ensure complete equality in France?

Answer 35

No it was only all men are equal, it helped make wealth, not birth, blood or legal privileges the foundation of modern France

Question 36

What was the bread march?

Answer 36

Oct 5 1789 women in Paris arrived to the food markets that once again had no food starving and upset 10,000 people mostly women proceeded to walk to Versailles hoping to convince the king to provide food

Question 37

Why did the bread march change the course of the French revolution?

Answer 37

After arriving to Versailles and stormed the place and almost killing the queen only Louis the 16th could calm them down by promising to go back to Paris with the people to live in the Tuileries under house arrest

Question 38

What was the reaction of the nobles to the apprehension of the king?

Answer 38

They flee France, the king’s brother went into exile and 20,000 other emigrants mostly nobles other people of means and clergymen

Question 39

How did the national assembly rectify the financial crisis of 1789?

Answer 39

They pass a law called the civil constitution of the clergy in 1790. They took the church’s property and sold it, they also removed the privileges of the clergy

Question 40

By 1791 the national assembly has solidified their control of France what did Louis the 16th attempt?

Answer 40

He and his family attempt to flee France, the flight to Varennes and gets captured and is now seen as a traitor

Question 41

What effect did the king’s actions have on the French revolution?

Answer 41

It made the revolution more radial, more and more were convinced to join the Jacobins to kill the king. The revolution is about to become bloody

Question 42

Why were the monarchs of Europe concerned about the French revolution?

Answer 42

If the revolution succeeds in France and the king and queen are killed the people in the kingdoms will get the same idea

Question 43

Why did France declare war on the European kingdom?

Answer 43

The people of France knew that Austria was going to declare war at some point and felt that their only chance was to do what Austria least expected and declare war on them first

Question 44

Why were the French armed forces disorganized?

Answer 44

It’s a army of peasants with no military experience, the army had been devastated by the desertion of 2/3 of its officers had been nobles before the revolution

Question 45

Why did massacres occur in September of 1792?

Answer 45

The French are not doing well in the war against Austria and Prussia, rumours started that the French army was losing because some of the population was plotting to overthrow the revolution against the army. They called these counter revolutions. a Prussian army captured Verdun and people lost their minds. Mods dragged prisoners from cells and killed them including 225 priests