Causes of the French Revolution

Long-term Causes of the French Revolution

Short-term Causes of the French Revolution

Meeting of Estates-General

Background Information

• Parliamentary body for France• Had not met since 1614• King Louis XVI only called them in session due

to France being on the verge of bankruptcy.• Met separately by Estate & voted as a Block &

not by head.

Reasons for Calling it into Session:

• King & his ministers had attempted a few reforms like ending forced labor & establishing judicial reforms.

• Jacques Necker, the economic minister, wanted to tax everyone & needed the approval of the Estates-General for it.

• King tried to get the regional Parlements to cooperate with reforms.

• They were in the hands of the nobility and opposed any threat to their privileges or tax-exempt status.

• Louis was frustrated by the lack of nationalism and disobedience on the nobles’ part to his reforms.

• Nobility insisted that only a national assembly, the Estates-General, could authorize new taxes.

Preparing for the Estates-General

• Winter of 1788-1789– Members of the estates elected representatives

• Cahiers– Traditional lists of grievances written by the

people– Nothing out of the ordinary

• Asked for only moderate changes

Electing Representatives

• During winter of 1788 & spring of 1789, elections were carried out.

• Qualifications were based on wealth & property.

• Tax-paying men 25 years or older were allowed to vote for their representatives, but each Estate handled the elections differently.

Electing Representatives

• All the clergy was eligible for election & were elected directly by other clergy in their district.

• The noble delegates were also elected directly.

• The Third Estate voters first chose village representatives who then elected the delegates to the Estates-General.

Demographics/Make-Up of Representatives

• Most of the Third Estate delegates were lawyers.

• 25% of the Third Estate delegates were businessmen & civil servants.

• Rest were soldiers, scholars, & land-owners.• Only 1 peasant attended as a delegate for the

Third Estate.

Voting Practices• Each estate had 300 delegates voting as a bloc.• Each estate had 1 vote.• Thus, the First & Second Estates could easily outvote

& block any reforms of the Third Estate.• The Third Estate was upset over this, so the King

allowed them to have 600 delegates. • But they still had only 1 vote.• The Third Estate wanted to vote by head, since they

could outnumber the First and Second Estate delegates with their size & the support of the poor parish priests & liberal nobles.

Meeting of the Estates-General:May 5, 1789

• Voting was conducted by estate– Each estate had one vote– First and Second Estates could operate as a bloc to

stop the Third Estate from having its way

◊ First Estate + ◊ Second Estate - vs. - ◊ Third Estate

• Representatives from the Third Estate demanded that voting be by population– This would give the Third Estate a great advantage

• Deadlock resulted

Key Events

• Several delays to the meeting, because the King’s supporters hoped to postpone the meeting indefinitely.

• Finally convened on May 5, 1789• Great ceremony: King in finery, First Estate in rich

scarlet robes, Second Estate in satin, silks, plumed hats, and swords, but Third Estate ordered to wear plain black suits.

• This was to make the social class distinction clear.

The Revolution: Similarities in the Grievance Petitions

Key Events• Weeks of endless, empty debate.• June 16, 19 poor parish priests joined the Third Estate

delegates. Renamed it the National Assembly.• Two days later, National Assembly realized meeting

separately from the First & Second Estate delegates made them powerless.

• Rumors began to circulate that the King, Queen, and other nobles were going to dissolve the Estates-General and fire Necker.

• Jean Sylvain Bailly was elected the National Assembly’s president.

The caption to this painting states, "That's right...separate checks," says one representative of the Three Estates

In the eighteenth century some publications depicted the shifting of economic and social responsibility within the Estates General through restaurant scenes. In the drawing above, a request for three separate checks shows the Upper Estates finally paying their share instead of letting the Third Estate carry the responsibility, as in the past. Popular belief rumored that a meal between the Three Estates would ease any disagreements  

Key Events• June 20-National Assembly arrived to find the doors

to their meeting hall locked on orders of the King.• 500 delegates then moved into the indoor tennis

courts of Versailles, soaking wet from the rain, and took the Tennis Court Oath.

• The oath stated that they would “never leave until a constitution for the kingdom” had been drawn up.

• After this, they still shouted Long Live the King. This showed they had not given up on him yet.

Tennis Court Oath• The Tennis Court Oath was a result of the growing discontent of the Third Estate in

France in the face of King Louis XVI's desire to hold onto the country's history of absolute government.

• The deputies of the Third Estate were coming together for a meeting to discuss the reforms proposed by Necker, the Prime Minister.

• These reforms called for the meeting of all the Estates together, and to hold a vote by head instead of by estate.

• This would have given the Third Estate, at least nominally, a stronger voice in the Estates General.

• The men of the Third Estate were ardent supporters of the reforms, and they were anxious to discuss these measures.

• When the members of the Third Estate arrived at their assigned meeting hall, Menus Plaisirs, they found it locked against them.

• The deputies believed that this was a blatant attempt by Louis XVI to end their demands for reform and they were further incensed at the King's duplicity.

• Refusing to be held down by their King any longer, the deputies did not break up. Instead they moved their meeting to a nearby indoor tennis court.

Tennis Court Oath• A debate quickly ensued as to how the Third Estate could protect themselves from

those in positions of authority; those who wanted to destroy them. • Some deputies believed that they should retreat to Paris where the people would

be more likely to protect them from the King's army. • Mounier warned that such a step would be blatantly revolutionary and politically

dangerous. • Therefore, Mounier proposed that the Third Estate adopt an oath of allegiance. • The proposed oath was to read that they would remain assembled until a

constitution had been written, meeting wherever it was required and resisting pressures form the outside to disband.

• The proposal was a success. • It was promptly written and signed by 577 members of the Third Estate. Later, the

document was named the Tennis Court Oath.

"Let us swear to God and our country that we will not disperse

until we have established a sound and just constitutions, as

instructed by those who nominated us." M. Mounier

Quote by a 3rd Estate Leader, demanding change for more equal power within the Estates General.

Tennis Court Oath

Tennis Court Oath

Impact of Tennis Court Oath

• The Tennis Court Oath was an assertion that the sovereignty of the people did not reside with King, but in the people themselves, and their representatives.

• It was the first assertion of revolutionary authority by the Third Estate and it united virtually all its members to common action.

• Its success can be seen by the fact that a scant one week later, Louis XVI called for a meeting of the Estates General for the purpose of writing a constitution

Key Events• The National Assembly began demanding a

constitution that had freedom of press & end to unfair taxation.

• The King was pissed over the actions of the Third Estate & reamed them out.

• The King agreed to ask their consent for new taxes & to take some limited steps towards freedom of speech.

• But the King denied the commoner’s claim to separate status, refused to change any of the privileges of the First & Second Estates, & would not let the public attend the sessions.

• Louis ordered the National Assembly to disband immediately. A Declaration sent to the Third Estate from Louis on June 23 expressed the following demand:

• The King wishes that the ancient distinction of the three Orders of the State be preserved in its entirety, as essentially linked to the constitution of his Kingdom; that the deputies, freely elected by each of the three Orders, forming three chambers, deliberating by Order . . . can alone be considered as forming the body of the representatives of the Nation. As a result, the King has declared null the resolutions passed by the deputies of the Order of the Third Estate, the 17th of this month, as well as those which have followed them, as illegal and unconstitutional . . . .

•

Key Events• This turned the National Assembly against the King. They

refused to leave & said “We are here by the will of the people and will be removed only by the force of bayonets.”

• When the King heard about their refusal to leave, he shrugged his shoulders & said “They want to stay? Well, dammit, let them.

• The King then called for his royal troops to arrive in Versailles & Paris get ready to put down any rebellions.

• He then fired the popular finance minister, Jacques Necker, who wanted reform.

• This outraged the people of Paris. The stage for revolution was set.

National Assembly (1789-1791)

• Louis XVI did not actually want a written constitution

• When news of his plan to use military force against the National Assembly reached Paris on July 14, 1789, people stormed the Bastille

Uprising in Paris

Storming of the Bastille

Storming of the BastilleThe Violence Starts

Official Start of the Revolution

Bastille Significance• It was originally built in the 14th century to guard one of main

entrances to Paris, but by the 18th century the Bastille served only as a prison - mainly for political, aristocratic prisoners who could not be thrust into the crowded gaols (jails) with common criminals - and occasionally as a store for arms.

• The fortress also accommodated printers, booksellers and authors who produced works that the authorities considered seditious.

• Voltaire was imprisoned there twice: first in 1717 when he was suspected of writing verses accusing the Régent of incest, and then again in 1726.

• Throughout the 18th century there were never more than 40 inmates, most of them serving short sentences.

• On July 14, 1789, when the Bastille was stormed, there were only half a dozen prisoners, two of whom were insane.

Causes of the Storming• During the summer of 1789, food riots broke out in Paris due to a bread

shortage.• The working class was hungry and angry over their decreasing wages and

increasing prices.• In early July, King Louis XVI stationed 17 regiments of Swiss Guards and German

mercenaries in Paris and around Versailles supposedly to restore order.• People whispered that the King was going to use the soldiers against the people

and to force the National Assembly to disperse.• Louis then fired the liberal finance minister, Jacques Necker, who had wanted to

tax everyone and was a hero to the Third Estate.• Louis turned to new advisors who were totally against change.• Angry crowds attacked the custom posts where the high taxes on flour were

collected. • They looted and burned shops. • They rushed to arm themselves.• Order was restored on July 13, but then broke out again on July 14.• The people in Paris were convinced the troops would attack them.• And the Bastille was a symbol of the unfair arrest and jailing of innocents.• At the Bastille, there were hundred barrels of gunpowder.

Events Prior to the Storming• The time was half past three, on the famous date of July 14, 1789.• A huge, bloodthirsty mob marched to the Bastille, searching for gun powder and

prisoners that had been taken by the unpopular and detested King Louis XVI.• Even elements of the newly formed National Guard were present at the assault.• The flying rumors of attacks from the government and the biting truth of

starvation were just too much for the angry crowds. • The Bastille had been prepared for over a week, anticipating about a hundred

angry subjects and along the thick rock walls of the gargantuan fortress and between the towers were twelve more guns that were capable of launching 24-ounce case shots at any who dared to attack.

• However, the enraged Paris Commune was too defiant and too livid to submit to the starvation and seeming injustice of their government.

• But nothing could have prepared the defenders for what they met that now famous day.

• The Bastille was governed by a man named Marquis de Launay. On July 7th, thirty-two Swiss soldiers led by Lieutenant Deflue, came to aid de Launay, helping him to prepare for a small mob.

• Rumors were flying everywhere. The Marquis was expecting a mob attack, but certainly not a siege!

• The entire workforce of the Bastille had stealthily and furiously been repairing the Bastille and reinforcing it, all to prepare for a minor attack from a hundred or so angry citizens.

• At three o'clock that afternoon, however, a huge group of French guards and angry citizens tried to break into the fortress.

• There were over three hundred people ready to give their lives to put an end to their overtaxing and overbearing government.

• However the Bastille was threatened by more than the numerous crowds: three hundred guards had left their posts earlier that day, out of fear and from the rumors.

• The besiegers easily broke into the arsenal and into the first courtyard, cut the drawbridge down, and then quickly got through the wooden door behind it.

• They boldly demanded that the bridges be lowered, but they were refused. The Marquis de Launay said he would surrender if his troops were allowed to leave peacefully, but he was simply rebuked.

• They wanted de Launay on a noose or with his head in a basket.

The Actual Attack on the Bastille• A hastily formed militia and a mob of about 900 people

went to the Invalides, a military hospital, to get weapons.

• Then they turned their attention to the Bastille. There was gun powder stored at the Bastille.

• In the streets, they chanted “A la Bastille.”• They demanded that the Governor Marquis de Launay

surrender the prison and the 250 barrels of gunpowder stored in the cellar.

• DeLaunay refused to surrender. Tension grew.• Then a gunshot was fired, but no one knew by who.• A man fell dead into the prison moat.• The mob stormed the courtyard.

Taking The Bastille

Events of the Storming•  The vicious crowds shouted for him to lower the bridges. De Launay sent a note

to a mob leader named Hulin, claiming that he had 20,000 pounds of gunpowder and if the besiegers did not accept his offer, he would annihilate the entire fortress, the garrison, and everyone in it!

• Yet, they still refused. • The bridges were finally lowered on de Launay's command, and he and his soldiers

were captured by the crowds and dragged through the filthy streets of Paris.•    The mob paraded through the streets, showing off their captives, and crudely

cutting off many heads. • The National Guard tried to stop the crowds from looting, but it was useless. They

continued marching on, maKing their way to the Hotel de Ville. • Upon learning that the Bastille had been taken, King Louis XVI, who was residing at

Versailles, was reported to have asked an informer: "Is this a revolt?" and La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt said, "No, Sire, it is a revolution." Little did Louis know that the mob's next plan was to march to Versailles, and take him away with them as well.

Attack Continued• Then the mob was reinforced by a group of French

soldiers who had abandoned the King’s regiments. • They brought with them cannons.• The cannons were aimed at the drawbridge and

were about to be fired, when a few of the soldiers guarding the Bastille dropped the drawbridge.

• The mob surged into the Bastille and attacked anyone in their path.

• They seized the gunpowder. • Later that evening, they remembered the prisoners

locked in the Bastille and freed them.

Outcomes of the Storming• The seven prisoners were freed. They were

two madmen, four forgers, and one aristocrat jailed for debauchery.

• 98 men were killed.• 100 were wounded.• Three officers from the Bastille were marched

to City Hall and hung from lampposts.• DeLaunay had his throat cut and his head

paraded on a pitchfork.

Upon learning that the Bastille had been taken, King Louis XVI, who was residing at Versailles, was

reported to have asked an informer: "Is this a revolt?" and La

Rochefoucauld-Liancourt said, "No, Sire, it is a revolution."

Effects of the Storming• The King recalled Necker.• The King accepted the National Assembly and the

red, white, and blue colors of the revolution.• Lafayette was named the commander of the militia,

the National Guard.• Bailly became the first president of the National

Assembly and mayor of the new city government.• The Bastille had fallen to an unarmed crowd of

civilians.• It became the symbol for rebelling against tyranny.• This is considered to be the official start of the

French Revolution.• July 14, 1789 is now considered the French

Independence Day.

The Crushed Aristocracy

"General Federation of the French"This image provides a visual overview of the Festival of Federation of 14 July 1790. Commemorating the fall of the Bastille one year earlier, this massive military parade of troops from all regions of the kingdom converged on a

triple–tiered triumphal arch where all the soldiers swore an oath to serve the king and the National Assembly.

The pageant drew nearly a million spectators and represented the apex of the social, geographical and political unity that reformers and early

revolutionaries hoped would solve France’s problems. This festival was a powerful counterpoint to those who believed that the

social question ultimately would undermine the Revolution.Source: mfr 83.289

4. Nouvelle Place de la Bastille. [New Square of the Bastille]Caption: Ami le temps passé n’est plus, rendons à César ce qui appartient à César, et à la Nation ce qui est à la Nation. (Louis XVI, Restaurateur de la Liberté Française) [View English translation]Source: Library of Congress PP PC5 1789.12Medium: Etching, hand coloredDimensions: 21 x 18.5 cm

The remains! The successful attack on the

Bastille became a very important event for French people, since it showed that they were able to challenge the king's authority. Today, this is all that remains of the Bastille!