French Revolution Vocab

Old Regime

The social and political system that divided the people of France into three classes.

Estate

French social class.

Louis XVI

The weak French king of the late 1700s, the problems he created let to the French Revolution.

Marie Antoinette

The wife of Louis XVI who spent money extravagantly.

Estates-General

An assembly of representatives from all three estates.

National Assembly

The name of the Third-Estate delegates who advocated and passed laws for the common people of France.

Tennis Court Oath

The pledge of Third-Estate delegates to stay on an indoor tennis court until they had drawn up a new constitution.

Great Fear

A wave of panic caused by a rumor that nobles were terrorizing peasants. The peasants began to revolt because of this rumor.

Legislative Assembly

A new legislative body created after the new French constitution was completed in 1791. Had the power to create laws and approve/deny declarations of war. Helped limit the king’s power.

Emigres

French citizens, particularly nobles, that left the country in hopes of the revolution reversing to restore the Old Regime.

Sans-culottes

Middle-class workers who wanted the revolution to bring change.

Jacobin

A member of a political organization that went against the government, promoting the revolution, change, and the rights of the poor.

Guillotine

A device used to behead someone.

Maximilien Robespierre

A Jacobin leader who gained power and aimed to change the way France was run by erasing its past.

Reign of Terror

The period where Robespierre acted as the dictator of France. He used terror to aid his plans, frequently beheading those who disagreed with him.