02 – Causes of French Revolution Essay – HONORS – Flashcards
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ASSIGNMENT
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- write a 5 paragraph essay on the French Revolution - you may have 10 words of notes (choose wisely)
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5 paragraph essay
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- essay that consists of an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion
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introduction
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- contains hook - contains transitions - contains thesis
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hook
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- the first sentence or question in an essay that is designed to grab the reader's attention
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ideas for hook
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- describe a scene of the revolution (people starving, someone getting guillotined, etc.) - use a quote from an Enlightenment author - use a quote from the French Revolution - describe revolution in general - focus in a specific person of the French Revolution (Robespierre, Marat, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, etc.) - point out an injustice that led to the French Revolution - make a comparison to the American Revolution - something from your own inspiration
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thesis
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- focus statement of an essay - premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based - the more specific and narrow--the better
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body paragraph
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- a middle paragraph in an essay - develops a point you want to make that supports your thesis C - claim (topic sentence) L - lead in (transition) E - evidence W - why? (explanation to why your evidence supports/proves your claim)
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topic sentence
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- a sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph's idea and often unites it with the work's thesis
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transitions
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- any word or phrase (group of words) used to move from one idea to the next, one sentence to the next, or one paragraph to the next
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citing
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- quote as evidence - identifying a part of piece of information as being derived from a source - IMPORTANT: do something with this information
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conclusion paragraph
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1. Emphasize your argument / restate thesis. 2. Provide closing analysis and text connections. 3. Clincher statement.
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quality academic writing
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- content dense (the more you say in fewer words, the better the writing)
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"to be"
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- a weak verb that should be used as little as possible in academic writing - demonstrates an = (no action) - or makes it passive voice (has been, was trying, etc.) WORDS TO AVOID: am, are, is, was, were, been, being, be
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France before Revolution (the Setting)
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- loses Seven Years War to Britain (drained coffers--cost too much money AND cost prestige) - lots of population growth (puts strain on country) - Enlightenment ideas entered culture and education in salons (encouraged questioning authority, supported equality, etc.)
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French Revolution
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- 1789-1799. Period of political and social upheaval in France, during which the French government underwent structural changes, and adopted ideals based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights - changes were accompanied by violent turmoil and executions. - most important event of modern Western Europe
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causes of the French Revolution (1789)
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- 1) the economic and financial crisis that led to the calling of the Estates General (bad harvests and a slowdown in manufacturing) - 2) the political incompetence of Louis XV and XVI (taxes on poor, wishy-washy behavior, lacking leadership qualities, firing unpopular finance minister, etc.) - 3) the unfair taxation between the three estates - 4) popularity of Enlightenment ideas (many aristocrats and bourgeoisie were attracted to these philosophies), some of which criticized absolutism - 5) famine, starvation, cost of bread - many left with the inability to purchase essential goods, such as food
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financial crisis
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- spending much more money than they were making - too much royal spending - caused bread riots and inflation
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Old Regime (Ancien Regime)
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- the political and social system that existed in France before the French Revolution - society had the 3 estates: 1 - clergy 2 - nobles 3 - commoners/peasants, and the rest of the people - allowed the "divine right" and was mainly found in absolute monarchy - liked hierarchy in society - people knew things because they were told by their "betters" - created by the monarchy in the Middle Ages, and then taken out by the French Revolution
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estate system
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- part of the Old Regime in France - the society had the 3 estates 1 - clergy 2 - nobles 3 - commoners/peasants, and the rest of the people.
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first estate
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- a social class where only members of the Roman Catholic Clergy belonged - 1% of population - would vote with the second estate to overrule the third estate (which meant that 3% outvoted 97% of the population)
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second estate
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- 2% of population, rich nobles, owned 20-25% of land, no taxes-hated enlightenment - the nobility still treated peasants in a manner similar to serfdom, which created social unrest - believe that they were born better than the third estate - would vote with the first estate to overrule the third estate (which meant that 3% outvoted 97% of the population)
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third estate
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- 97% of the population (the rest of France) - They consisted of the bourgeoisie, the san-culottes and the peasants; they paid high taxes and had no special privileges. - taille = a land tax that hurt the Third Estate the most - peasant: their fear of foreign invasion helped bring down the French movement because they were afraid that foreign troops would support the monarchy, whose policies were causing their food shortages
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taxation
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- the process of a government levying a charge on people or things (e.g. property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, salt tax, etc.) - HYPOTHETICALLY: money raised to provide services for the common good of the community/country (in France, the common good of the first and second estate)
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consumer
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- a person who purchases goods and services for personal use - French people consumed a lot of bread
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taille
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- a land tax that hurt the Third Estate the most - a kind of land tax, paid generally only by peasants. - -Nobles were exempt from it on principle, and officeholders and bourgeois, for one reason or another, were generally exempt also. Yet is was one the most important sources of revenue. - exemptions created a lot of anger
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bourgeoisie
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- A social class that derives social and economic power from employment, education, and wealth, as opposed to the inherited power of aristocratic family of titled land owners or feudal privileges. - It's a term for the middle class common in the 19th century. It's characterized by their ownership of property and their related culture. - a part of the top 10 percent of the population - only 7-8% of the population - many attracted to Enlightenment philosophies, some of which criticized France's absolutist system
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Enlightenment
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- a popular philosophical movement of the 1700s that focused on human reasoning, natural science, political and ethical philosophy - important FRENCH philosophies: Voltaire, Rousseau
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Louis XVI
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- King of France (1774-1792) - fat, ill-bred boy--lacked all leadership qualities - not "interested" in wife --> no children for 7 years - suffered from phimosis (disorder made sex painful) - (1789) summoned the Estates-General (did not grant the reforms that were demanded and revolution followed) - executed in 1793 (so was wife, Marie Antoinette) - the Mountain = the political club that was most influential in passing the decree to condemn Louis XVI
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American Revolution
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- King Louis XVI supports the revolutionaries - puts France in debt -- cannot afford to pay
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bread
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- essence of life in France - average person eats 2 pounds per day - price increases lead to rioting and lynching
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inflation
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- a continuous rise in the price of goods and services - purchasing power of money declines
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famine
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- a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death
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Jacques Necker
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- financial expert of Louis XVI, he advised Louis to reduce court spending, reform his government, abolish tarriffs on internal trade - urges calling of the Estates-General - the First and Second Estates got him fired
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Estates-General (1789)
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- the French parliament - France's traditional national assembly with representatives of the three estates, or classes, in French society: the clergy, nobility, and commoners. - each estate had an equal number of votes - Clergy (first estate) and nobility (second estate) voted against the third estate. - The calling of the Estates General in 1789 led to the French Revolution - Robespierre = deputy for 3rd estate
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Versailles
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- a palace built by Louis XIV outside of Paris; it was home to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette - lifestyle at palace is expensive (esp. based on how Marie Antoinette liked to live)
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National Assembly
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- Narrative: The Estates General met in May of 1789. The three estates were made to vote separately and the first and second would obviously outvote the third. The 3rd estate declared itself to be a National Assembly on June 17, 1789 and when Louis had the meeting hall closed to them, they moved to the Tennis Court [sic]. - French Revolutionary assembly (1789-1791) - demanded radical change - passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789. - promised to draft a new constitution - forced King Louis XVI to accept the National Assembly's decrees (thousands of armed Parisians descended on the palace)
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Tennis Court Oath
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- A pledge made by the members of France's National Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution.
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Parisians
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- people from Paris - stormed the Bastille (symbol of oppression) and started to dismantle it
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Bastille
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- prison attacked at the outset of the French Revolution - symbolic victory - King Louis XVI planned to use force against the peasants, and it backfired because Parisian stormed the Bastille in response - inspires the National Assembly (leads to the Declaration of the Rights of Man)
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Declaration of the Rights of Man
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- no mention of king (seizing power for Assembly) - a document drafted by the National Assembly promising all men their natural rights and the freedom of expression - no mechanism to enforce these rights - all MEN born equal (women excluded) - proclaimed an ed to aristocratic privileges
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Women's March
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- Famous assault on Versailles in early October 1789 led by the Parisian fish-ladies (poissonards) who demanded bread for their children - forced royal family to move to Paris (prisoners of Paris)
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concede
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- to acknowledge, often reluctantly, as being true
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limited monarchy
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- a monarchy that is limited by laws and a constitution - a.k.a. a limited constitutional monarchy
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sans-culottes
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- In the French Revolution, a radical group made up of Parisian wage-earners, and small shopkeepers who wanted a greater voice in government, lower prices, and an end of food shortages - means "without breeches" - members of the Paris Commune who wore long pants to identify with the common people
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Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
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- slogan of radicals & peasants during French Revolution
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universal manhood suffrage
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- giving all adult men the right to vote, whether they owned property or not
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L'Ami du peuple
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- newspaper by Jean-Paul Marat - means "Friend of the People" - called for blood (put out hit-lists)
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Jean-Paul Marat
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- a journalist and scientist, as well as an associate Jacobin; Marat (1743-93) helped launch the Reign of Terror and complied death lists, being an advocate of violent measures - stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday - immortalized (a revolutionary martyr) in the David painting The Death of Marat - disgusting skin disorder -- forced him to spend a lot of time in a bathtub #gross
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Marie Antoinette
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- Queen of France (as wife of Louis XVI) who was unpopular her extravagance and opposition to reform contributed to the overthrow of the monarchy - did not do her job: produce a male heir (not her fault) - nicknamed Madame Deficit - falsely attributed with saying "Let them eat cake." - almost massacred during the Women's March - accused of many crimes, including incest - guillotined along with her husband (1755-1793) - daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria
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liberalism
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- a political ideology that emphasizes the civil rights of citizens, representative government, and the protection of private property - derived from the Enlightenment, was especially popular among the property-owning middle classes - belief that people should be free from government restraint
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conservatism
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- belief in tradition and social stability
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constitution / constitutionalism
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- a document which spells out the principles by which a government runs and the fundamental laws that govern a society - a government of laws, not people, operating on the principle that governmental power must be limited and government officials should be restrained in their exercise of power over individuals.
