The French Revolution

Question 1

What are the 4 phases of the French Revolution?

Answer 1

(1) The Liberal Phase
(2) The Radical Phase
(3) The Thermidorian Reaction
(4) Napoleonic Consulate and Empire

Question 2

The Liberal Phase (1789-1792)

Answer 2

A.K.A Lockean Phase
Characterized by attempts of the King to improve the situation. Included the summoning of the Estates General and the creation of the National Assembly.

Question 3

The Radical Phase (1792-1794)

Answer 3

A.K.A Rousseauian Phase
Characterized by the Terror used to maintain the revolutionary state and the execution of the King.

Question 4

The Thermidorian Reaction (1794-1799)

Answer 4

A loosening of revolutionary ideology followed by a shift towards an emphasis on stability.

Question 5

Causes of the French Revolution

Answer 5

Enlightenment
American Revolution
Weakness of King Louis XVI
“Irrational” Politics
Financial Crisis

Question 6

Society Before the Revolution

Answer 6

Estate System: 3 levels
(1) The Clergy
(2) Nobility
(3) Everyone else (merchants, peasants, etc.)
Your estate determined your rights, responsibilities and taxation.

Question 7

The Estates General

Answer 7

Elected representatives from each Estate met separately to cast their vote. Big disagreement between the 3rd estate and the higher two. Clergy and Nobles team up and vote (2-1), always winning against the 3rd estate.

Question 8

Abbe Sieyes

Answer 8

Argued against the special rights of the privileged. Theory of representative democracy: People elected to the Estates General should represent the entire nation, not personal beliefs or your own estate.

Question 9

The Oath of the Tennis Court (1789)

Answer 9

Third Estate walks out of the Estates General after a disagreement over the past voting system (2vs1). Took an oath in an unlocked tennis court declaring themselves the true representatives of the nation.

Question 10

The National Assembly

Answer 10

Created with the Oath of the Tennis Court. Third Estate establishes themselves as the true representatives of the nation and claimed authority to govern in the name of the people. Asserted the National Assembly as the highest power in France, above the King.

Question 11

Influence of Locke on the First Phase

Answer 11

Sovereignty lies with the people. Government as a contract with the people. Instituted by people, for the preservation of property.
Full citizens = property owners
Formal politics heavily skewed towards wealthy French men.
Property ownership built into political power.

Question 12

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

Answer 12

Declared all men had the natural right to life, liberty, property, and due process before the law. Established basic freedoms and sovereignty that lies with the people. France = Constitutional monarchy now

Question 13

Pyramid of Citizenship

Answer 13

All had basic rights; however,
Passive Citizens = no right to vote
Active Citizens = Right to vote. Around 50% of French men qualified. Could not hold office
Electors = Held public office. Had right to sit in the National Assembly. Qualification decided by ownership.

Question 14

National Assembly - Phase 1

Answer 14

Abolished serfdom, peasants no longer paid dues to nobility
Banned slavery within France, not in colonies

Question 15

Why the Revolution Became More Radical

Answer 15

Common people become politicized
Lack of effective national leadership
Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Question 16

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Answer 16

National Assembly confiscated the lands of the Church and abolished the tithe. Officials of the church become state employees. Counter-revolutionaries (countryside peasants mainly) fought against this

Question 17

Rousseau’s Influence on Second Phase

Answer 17

Power and property are corrupting, but those who could rise above this corruption lived in state of virtue.
Favored equality and common interest represented by the General Will.
Loyalty to the country first and foremost

Question 18

The National Convention (1792)

Answer 18

Delegates are elected by universal manhood suffrage. Replace the National Assembly.
Rewrites constitution in 1793, based on universal manhood suffrage.

Question 19

The Mountain (Jacobins)

Answer 19

Jacobins = dominant political group
Formed alliances with other parties and become known as the Mountain (sat higher up in the Convention)
Began to push out moderates

Question 20

Maximilian Robespierre

Answer 20

Leader of the Jacobins, and President of the National Convention. Declared themselves the “republic of virtue”, claiming humanity was returning to a state of natural virtue. Big emphasis on what “lays in the heart”. Painted counterrevolutionaries as corrupt.

Question 21

The Terror

Answer 21

Used as a tool to maintain the revolution. Unsure how many people were executed (around 30,000). No one was immune from arrest and execution. Initiated by the execution of King Louis XVI

Question 22

The Guillotine

Answer 22

Efficient means of execution. Compared to medieval methods, this was a human method to execution.

Question 23

Public Aspect of Execution

Answer 23

Executions were public. Done in large squares where thousands gathered to witness beheading after beheading. Reason was not to instill fear, rather show transparency.

Question 24

The Committee of Public Safety

Answer 24

Because France was at war in Europe, and the state of the revolution, a state of emergency was declared. While, on-paper, the revolution appeared to be democratic, this committee built up ‘emergency powers’ to a near dictatorship.

Question 25

End of the Terror

Answer 25

The Terror only lasted from Sept. 1793-1794
When Robespierre gave an inconsiderate speech implying several deputies of the National Convention were traitors, he was arrested after he left and executed the following day.

Question 26

Thermidorian Reaction - Led by?

Answer 26

A loosening of revolutionary ideology. Abbe Sieyes after surviving the terror, redesigns the revolution and creates the Directory

Question 27

The Directory (1795-1799)

Answer 27

Committee of 5 directors who led the country (Executive Branch). Continued the revolution and brought about several more reforms, including the metric system. Successful in that is stabilized the revolution, unpopular is that 40+ year old men were calling all the shots

Question 28

French Society in Phase 3

Answer 28

Emphasis on stability, responsibility, and age. Men +21-years-old, who paid taxes and could read and write, were ‘Active Citizens’ and could choose electors. Electors then chose deputies for the National Assembly, who are at least 40 years old.

Question 29

Edmund Burke - Reflections on the Revolution in France

Answer 29

Attacked French Revolution for being a massive mistake, even before the radical phase. Claims French were wrong to remake their country without reverence of the past, and no regard for the future.

Question 30

Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Citizen (1791)

Answer 30

Rewriting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, but replaced “man” with “woman” in every single clause. Addressed male sexual responsibility, opposed terror, accused Jacobins of corruption

Question 31

What came of it?

Answer 31

Certainly progress; however, not everyone was granted the same rights and liberties.