CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Enlightenment ideas began to spread.Military defeats in 1748 and 1763 undermined the prestige of the French monarchy.After 1760 the French population grew somewhat faster than did the economy.King Louis XVI was less talented than his predecessors, and Queen Marie Antoinette became very unpopular.The French nobility raised new barriers to hinder the rise of talented commoners.Support for the American Revolution bankrupted the French government. Bad weather caused a miserable wheat harvest in 1788, and the price of bread soared.

Popular engraving to celebrate the

recall of Necker, August

1788.He persuaded the King to call for the election

of the first Estates General

since 1614.

PAMPHLETEERS DEMANDED TWO REFORMS

OF THE OLD ELECTION PROCEDURE(see Western Heritage, pp. 532-34)

1. “The doubling of the Third,” i.e., authorization for the Third Estate to elect as many delegates as the First and Second combined.

2. “Vote by head and not by order,” i.e., abandonment of the old rule that the delegates of the three estates meet and vote as three separate bodies.

Louis XVI soon granted the first demand but NOT the second, without which the first meant nothing.

“Let’s hope it’s all over soon”

(print from 1788/89;compare Western

Heritage, p. 536)

Opening session of the Estates General, May 5, 1789

THE DELEGATES OF THE THREE ESTATES

The Priest:

“What am I?”

The Nobleman:

“I am a Citizen”

The Commoner:

“I am a Deputy of the Third

[Estate]”

Jacques-Louis David, “The Oath of the Tennis Court, June 20, 1789”

(the Estates General become a “National Assembly”)

Louis XVI(reigned 1774-1792)

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, “Marie Antoinette with her Children”

(1788)

“Camille Desmoulins at the Palais-Royal,” 12 July 1789.

He predicted a great “massacre of patriots” following the dismissal of Necker.

“The Charge of the Prince of Lambesc,”

July 12, 1789

“Paris Guarded by the People,” July 12/13, 1789 (the enrollment of a “National

Guard”)

Map of Paris in 1789

"View of the Bastille" (print from ca. 1788)

Jean-Francois Janinet, “The Storming of the Bastille” (1789):

The garrison “treacherously” opens fire on the crowd

Claude Cholat [?], “The Storming of the Bastille”from the first shots fired to the capture of the Marquis de

Launay

J.-F. Janinet, “The Governor of the Bastille Surrenders”

J.-F. Janinet, “The

Assassination of Flesselles, the

Provost of Merchants”

(1789)

“Louis XVI, King of a Free People”

The Marquis de Lafayette, commander of the Paris National

Guard

“The Hanging of Foulon at the Place de Grève,” 22 July 1789

Prieur, “The Intendant Bertier de Sauvigny, Led to the Hotel de Ville, Recognizes the Head of Foulon,” 22 July

1789

“The Liberation of the Count of Lorges by the Nation,”

July 14“The Skeleton in the Iron

Mask,” July 22, 1789

“The Declaration of the Rights of

Man”(1789/90)

Prieur, “The Women of the Market Go from Paris to Versailles,” October 5, 1789

“The Memorable

Day at Versailles on October 5, 1789: The

People March with the

Heads of the Murdered

Bodyguards on their Pikes”

(1789)

BLUNDERS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHISTS

• July 1790: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy imposes democratic election of priests on the Catholic Church.

• 1790/91: Mismanagement of the new system of paper money, the assignats, results in massive inflation.

• September 1791: The new constitution designates poor men and all women as “passive citizens,” ineligible to vote or hold government office (DOCUMENTS, p. 32).

• April 1792: The Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria, seeking to compel Louis XVI to choose sides.