Robespierre Before and During the Revolution
- Early on Robespierre was against execution, but as time passed he called for more and more bloodshed of those who did not wholeheartedly support the revolution.
- He was a deputy of the Estates General and was a skilled orator who could easily excite the people. He is considered to be one of the architects for the revolution and a leader of the Reign of Terror.
The French Revolution and Modern Revolutions
Storming of the Bastille
- Elected first for Paris to the National Assembly and the Convention quickly abolished monarchy. When the people of Paris started to rise up against the king, Robespierre put the king on trial for treason, and the king was executed.
- The Bastille was a prison that was previously used as a medieval fortress
- Executed in 1794 when the Moderates in the Convention took charge
- The Bastille's fall represented that no one could get rid of the National Assembly
Estates General
- Designed to resolve France's bankruptcy caused by continual warfare, including support for the American Revolution
- An armed mob of people stormed the Bastille and overtook it, which symbolized the fall of despotism and the poor leadership by French officials alongside the monarchy. The fall of the Bastille kicked off the French Revolution.
- The King called a meeting of the Estate-General in May, 1789, which was a representative assembly consisting of the three French "estates" or classes. It had not met in over 100 years.
- During the meeting, the educated, working-class took over and demanded political, economic, and social rights denied to them by the nobles and the clergy
Thoughts of the People
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- As time progressed during the French Revolution, the French people grew more and more frustrated with the French monarchy the roles of each class in society.
The Revolution Begins
Declaration of the Rights of Man
- The French people wanted change, and they also wanted more fair representation in the government, which for many, meant that the Third Estate would be more fairly represented politically.
- The people were also upset of course with the food shortages and the taxes placed on them that the nobility and clergy were exempt from.
- Chartered on August 26, 1789 by the National Assembly
The Three Estates
- Marquis de Lafayette wrote the document and it outlined a basic human rights platform
- The three estates were the Clergy (the church), the Nobility, and the commoners (everyone else).
- The document demanded equal rights for all men, a constitution, and a just legal system
- The Clergy - the members were those who worked for the church. Together, the Clergy and the Nobility made up 3 percent of the population. The Clergy made up 33 percent of the representatives in the Estates General
National Assembly
- This was name the former Third Estate members gave their group when they initiated the meetings at the tennis (handball) courts.
- The Nobility- The nobility were those who fought (knights). The Nobility made up 33 percent of the representatives in the estates general.
- The Assembly demanded popular representation and a more fair political representation for the Third Estate.
Tennis Court Oaths
- After that fateful first day, the Assembly continued to meet at the tennis courts.
- The commoners- Everyone else. those who supported the Clergy and the Nobility. Those who made food/ farmed. They made up 97 percent of the population and 33 percent of the representatives in the Estate General.
- Louis had members of the first and second estates lock out some of the Third Estate members to prevent them from attending the meeting. Outraged, the members went to tennis courts to meet
- The National assembly wanted to make France a constitutional monarchy and give more votes to the common people
- The members adopted a new name for themselves; the National Assembly
By: liz and Miranda
- Within the Tennis Court Oaths, the Third Estate/National Assembly members declared their wishes to reorganize the French government.