Chapter 3: The French Revolution and Napoleon 1789-1815
Section 2: The French Revolution Unfolds
1. What is the effect of the “Great Fear” on the First and Second Estates?
Peasants unleashed their fury on nobles who were trying to reimpose medieval dues. They set fire to old manor records and stole grain from storehouses.
2. How did Paris Commune achieve power through their revolutionary activities?
It mobilized whole neighborhoods for protests or violent action to further the revolution. Newspapers and political clubs—many even more radical than the Commune—blossomed everywhere. Some demanded an end to the monarchy and spread scandalous stories about the royal family and members of the court.
3. What special privileges did the National Assembly end in 1789?
The nobles agreed to give up their old manorial dues, exclusive hunting rights, special legal status, and exemption from taxes.
4. What is the Declaration of the Rights of Man? How did some women feel about it?
It is the first step toward writing a constitution.
All men were “born and remain free and equal in rights.”
They enjoyed natural rights to “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”
It also proclaimed that all male citizens were equal before the law.
Every Frenchman had an equal right to hold public office
Freedom of religion and called for taxes to be levied according to ability to pay was also included.
The slogan of the French Revolution, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
Women such as Olympe de Gouges demanded equal rights in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. “Woman is born free,” she proclaimed, “and her rights are the same as those of man.” She was later executed for her views.
5. What was the purpose of the French women’s march to Versailles?
On October 5, about six thousand women marched 13 miles from Paris to Versailles. “Bread!” they shouted. They demanded to see the king.
Much of the crowd’s anger was directed at Marie Antoinette who lived a life of great pleasure and extravagance, and this led to further public unrest. The women refused to leave Versailles until the king met their most important demand—to return to Paris. Not too happily, the king agreed.
6. How did the clergy react when it was placed under the control of the state?
Many bishops and priests refused to accept the Civil Constitution. The pope condemned it. Large numbers of French peasants, who were conservative concerning religion, also rejected the changes. When the government punished clergy who refused to support the Civil Constitution, a huge gulf opened between revolutionaries in Paris and the peasantry in the provinces.
7. Describe the government created by the Constitution of 1791.
It set up a limited monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries. A new Legislative Assembly had the power to make laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues of war and peace. Lawmakers would be elected by tax-paying male citizens over age 25.
8. What happened to Louis XVI in June of 1791?
A coach rolled north from Paris toward the border. Inside sat the king disguised as a servant, the queen dressed as a governess, and the royal children. He was trying to escape but got caught. The attempt demonstrated to people he was a traitor to the revolution.
9. Why were the European Monarchs worried about the spread of revolution?
European rulers increased border patrols to stop the spread of the “French plague.” They were afraid that their own people would be encouraged to start a revolution of their own.
10. How did the revolutionaries in France respond to the threats that came from Prussia and Austria?
The revolutionaries in France took the threat seriously and prepared for war.
11. What did the Jacobins use to advance their republican cause?
They used pamphleteers and sympathetic newspaper editors to advance the republican cause.
12. What resulted from the conflict that arose between the French revolutionaries and European monarchs?
The Legislative Assembly declared war first on Austria and then on Prussia, Britain, and other states. The fighting that began in 1792 lasted on and off until 1815
