Final - Week 11 - French Revolution Flashcards
First, Second, Third Estates:
The best known system is the French Ancien Régime (Old Regime), a three-estate system used until the French Revolution (1789–1799).
First Estate: Monarchy was for the king and the queen and this system was made up of clergy
Second Estate: Nobles
Third Estate: peasants and bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie:
Merchants and artisans of these cities became known as burghers or bourgeoisie.
Sans-culotte:
Many of the members of the Paris Commune proudly called themselves the sans-culottes (“without breeches”). This meant that they were ordinary patriots without fine clothes. They attacked the royal palace and the Legislative Assembly. They took the king captive. They forced the Legislative Assembly to suspend the monarchy and call for a National Convention. This convention would be chosen on the basis of universal male suffrage. (Under universal male suffrage, all adult males had the right to vote.)
Estates General :
The number of poor reached crisis proportions. At the same time, the French government continued to spend enormous amounts of money on wars and luxuries. The queen, Marie Antoinette, was known for her extravagance. On the verge of a complete financial collapse, the government of Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates-General. This was the French parliament, and it had not met since 1614.
National Assembly:
The Estates-General was composed of deputies (representatives) from the three estates. The First and Second Estates had about three hundred delegates each. The Third Estate had almost six hundred delegates. In order to fix France’s financial problems, most members of the Third Estate wanted to set up a constitutional government that would abolish the tax exemptions of the clergy and nobility. The meeting of the Estates-General opened at Versailles on May 5, 1789. There was an immediate dispute about voting. Traditionally, each estate had one vote. That meant that the First and Second Estates together could outvote the Third Estate two to one. The Third Estate demanded that each deputy have one vote. With the help of a few nobles and clerics, that would give the Third Estate a majority. The king, however, declared that he was in favor of the current system, in which each estate had one vote. The Third Estate reacted quickly. On June 17, 1789, it called itself a National Assembly and decided to draft a constitution.
Tennis Court Oath:
When the deputies of the Third Estate arrived at their meeting place three days later, they found the doors locked. They moved to a nearby indoor tennis court and swore that they would continue to meet until they had produced a French constitution. The oath they swore is called the Tennis Court Oath.
Bastille:
Louis XVI began to make plans to use force against the Third Estate. But before he could do this, a mob of Parisians stormed the Bastille, an armory and prison in Paris. They tore the Bastille apart, brick by brick. This took place on July 14. Paris soon came under the control of the rebels. Louis XVI was no longer in control. Revolutions and peasant rebellions broke out throughout France. They became part of the Great Fear, a panic that spread quickly through France in the summer of 1789. Citizens began to form militias, because they were afraid that they would be invaded by foreign troops that supported the French monarchy.
King Louis XVI:
Su llegada al trono hizo pensar en grandes reformas del Estado, pero su falta de carácter, las intrigas de su corte y la oposición de los nobles le impidieron llevar a cabo las medidas oportunas. En cuanto a política exterior tuvo más éxito, debilitando a Gran Bretaña y manteniendo la paz en Europa. Intentó en seis ocasiones (1774-1776, 1781 y cuatro en 1787) realizar reformas, estableciendo un impuesto equitativo que sustituyera a la talla heredada del feudalismo. La nobleza de toga del Parlamento de París y la corte de Versalles se negaron a tales reformas, haciendo al rey tener que presentar sus propuestas ante una Asamblea de Notables y más tarde ante los Estados Generales para aprobarlas. En los Estados Generales de 1789, el Tercer Estado, al que no se le concedió el voto por persona que solicitaba, se autoproclamó Asamblea Nacional, jurando no disolverse hasta dar una Constitución a Francia. El rey cedió ante la Asamblea, viéndose obligado más tarde a trasladarse al parisino palacio de las Tullerías. Debido a su desacuerdo con las leyes y reformas (como la confiscación de bienes de la iglesia y la Constitución civil del clero), y viendo lo rebajada que había quedado su autoridad, adoptó una doble actitud, aparentando en público estar de acuerdo con la Asamblea y conspirando en privado en contra de ella, para eliminar a los revolucionarios del poder. El rey decidió fugarse para unirse a un ejército afín, pero fue detenido en Varennes-en-Argonne, llevado de vuelta a París y suspendido de sus funciones. A pesar de que hubo un movimiento republicano que exigió que el rey fuera castigado, el monarca firmó la Constitución de 1791 y fue repuesto en sus funciones. En un asalto a las Tullerías, el 20 de agosto fue arrestado (arresto motivado por su negativa a enviar soldados a luchar contra Austria y Prusia), puesto a disposición de la Convención Nacional (en sustitución de la Asamblea Legislativa constitucional) y procesado. Fue guillotinado el 21 de enero de 1793.
The Great Fear:
Louis XVI was no longer in control. Revolutions and peasant rebellions broke out throughout France. They became part of the Great Fear, a panic that spread quickly through France in the summer of 1789. Citizens began to form militias, because they were afraid that they would be invaded by foreign troops that supported the French monarchy.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen:
One of the first acts of the National Assembly was to destroy the relics of feudalism. On August 4, 1789, the National Assembly voted to abolish the rights of landlords and the financial privileges of the nobility and clergy. On August 26, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. This was a charter of basic liberties that was inspired by the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution and the English Bill of Rights. It proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men, access to public office based on talent, and an end to exemptions from taxation. All citizens were to have the right to take part in the making of laws. Freedom of speech and the press were guaranteed.
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen:
By the eighteenth century, female writers began to express their ideas about improving the condition of women. Mary Wollstonecraft is often viewed as the founder of the movement for women’s rights. In her book, AVindication of the Rights of Women, Wollstonecraft identified two problems with the views of many Enlightenment thinkers. She argued that if government based on the arbitrary power of monarchs was wrong, the power of men over women was equally wrong. She also argued that the Enlightenment was based on the idea of reason in all human beings. Because women have reason, they are entitled to the same rights as men.
Committee of Public Safety:
The Committee of Public Safety (French: Comité de salut public)—created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793—formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror (1793–94), a stage of the French Revolution. The Committee of Public Safety succeeded the previous Committee of General Defence (established in January 1793) and assumed its role of protecting the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion.
Reign of Terror:
The Reign of Terror or The Terror (French: la Terreur) is the label given by some historians to a period during the French Revolution after the First French Republic was established.
Maximilian Robespierre:
was a French lawyer and politician, one of the best known and most influential figures associated with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Robespierre’s personal responsibility for the excesses of the Terror remains the subject of intense debate among historians of the French Revolution
Directory:
The National Convention reduced the power of the Committee of Public Safety. Churches were allowed to reopen. A new constitution was created in August 1795. It established a national legislative assembly. It had two chambers: a lower house, known as the Council of 500, which initiated legislation, and an upper house, the Council of Elders, which accepted or rejected the proposed laws. The members of the two chambers were chosen by electors (individuals qualified to vote in an election). The electors had to be owners or renters of property worth a certain amount. This limited the number of electors to 30,000. The Council of Elders elected five directors to act as the executive committee, or Directory. The Directory and the legislature ruled the country. The period under the government of the Directory (1795–1799) was a time of corruption. The Directory had many enemies. Both royalists and radicals were unhappy. Royalists wanted to restore the monarchy.
