- citizens could elect bishops/priests
- selling of church lands
- Constitution: 1791
- France a limited monarchy
- separation of powers: executive, legislative, judiciary
- Montesquieu’s three branches
- country divided into 83 regions
- equal rights to all citizens
D. Responses: 1791
- many dissatisfied with constitution
- some thought it went too far or not far enough
- nobles fled France – émigrés
- Royal family tried to flee but failed
- kept under guard
- demands for end of monarchy and establishment of a Republic
- rise of radical parties and their representatives
- Maximilian Robespierre
A. Estates General to National Assembly: 1789 May-June
- each estate elected deputies
- 3rd estate wanted all estates to meet together with equal votes for deputies
- in the past, estates met separately; had one vote per estate
- meant 1st and 2nd estates could outvote 3rd
- 3rd estate hoped individual deputies from other estates would support them
- King ordered estates to meet separately
- 3rd estate declared themselves the National Assembly
- claimed the right to write a constitution
- Tennis Court Oath
- 3rd estate swore not to leave without a constitution
- King gave in and estates met together
- many division between and within the estates
B. Popular Uprisings: 1789 July
- peasants and workers in Paris wanted quick action from the Assembly
- still faced inflation, unemployment, food shortages
- King order troops to Paris; caused more unrest
- July 14: Paris crowd stormed the Bastille
- peasants in the countryside turned on landlords
- raided storehouses, destroyed tax records
- conducting own revolution
Slide 13
Section Review: page 30
1. Identify:
Tennis Court Oath:
delegates of the Third Estate and some nobles and clergy swore an oath not to disband until they had a constitution
National Assembly:
the Third Estate declared itself this in order to write a constitution
Declaration of the Rights of Man:
adopted by the National Assembly – stated the democratic principles that would define the French government
Civil Constitution of the Clergy:
1790, gave the government control of the church and allowed citizens to elect bishops and priests
3. Why did the Third Estate want the Estates General to meet as a single body?
To avoid being outvoted by the First and Second Estates. If each delegate had a vote then the 3rd Estate, with help from sympathizers from the 1st and 2nd, could win a majority.
Slide 14
What significance did the main events play during the course of the French Revolution?
Estates General Summoned
Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly