French Revolution

Natural Law

Rule or law that governs human nature

Social Contract

Agreement by which people give up their freedom to a powerful government in order to avoid chaos

Natural Rights

Rights that belong to all humans from birth

Philosopher

Member of group of Enlightenment thinkers who tried to apply methods of science to improve society

Enlightenment

A European intellectual movement of the late 1600s and 1700s emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition

Enlightened Despot

Absolute ruler who uses power to bring about political and social change

Laissez-Faire

“Let them do” in French; policy allowing business to operate with little or no government interference

Bourgeoisie

The middle class; bankers, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, bureaucracy, journalists, professors, skilled artisans

Faction

Small group

émigré

Person who flees his or her country for political reasons

Republic

System of government in which officials are chosen by the people

Suffrage

Right to vote

Nationalism

A strong feeling of pride and devotion to one’s country

Jacobins

• Member of a club established in Paris in 1789

• The most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution

• In association with Robespierre they instituted the Terror of 1793-1794

What greatly influenced Thomas Hobbes’ thinking about society?

Events in England in the mid 1600s

What are some words Thomas Hobbes used to describe what people are really like in his book Leviathan?

People are driven by a restless desire of power; they’re cruel, greedy, and selfish

According to Hobbes, why were governments created?

To protect people from their own selfishness

What kind of government did Thomas Hobbes think was best?

One that has a ruler with absolute authority because they could maintain an orderly society

Why were Hobbes views so important during the Enlightenment?

He was one of the first thinkers to apply the tools of the Scientific Revolution to problems of politics

What type of government did John Locke favor?

Constitutional Monarchy

What did the Magna Carta in 1215 establish in England?

The idea of rights and liberties that the king had to respect

According to Locke, what was the purpose of government

To protect people’ natural rights

What rights did Locke think governments should protect?

The right to life, liberty, and property

In his book Two Treatises of Government, Locke offered…

A theory of government that justified Parliament’s actions

What did Locke say should happen if the government doesn’t do its job?

It should be overthrown

What three practices in the justice system upset Cesare Beccaria?

Torture, Capital Punishment, Nepotism

In Crime and Punishment, what were Beccaria’s ideas about punishment?

Punishment should be used to serve purpose, severely fair for crime

In Crime and Punishment, what rights of the accused war were Beccaria in favor of?

Receive a fair and speedy trial

What did Baron de Montesquieu’s book Persian Letters criticize?

French institutions, including the kings court and the Catholic church

What was Montesquieu most concerned about protecting?

Political Liberty

In Montesquieu’s book The Spirit of Laws, he described…

The separation of powers and argued to divide power among the three branches..

• Legislative-made laws

• Executive-enforces laws

• Judicial-interprets laws

According to Montesquieu, what did too much power in the hands of one person lead to?

Depotism (tyranny)

How did Montesquieu’s ideas influence the men who wrote the U.S. Constitution?

They made the separation of powers a key part of the American system of government

What was Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s fresh view of man?

Man was naturally good and was corrupted by society

According to Rousseau, what would property ownership result in?

Inequality, murder, and war

What did Rousseau believe about the rich?

They create corruption and social inequality

What was Rousseau’s version of the social contract?

People would give up all their rights, not to a king, but to the “whole community” all the people

Did Rousseau believe in representative or direct democracy?

Direct democracy

Why did Rousseau believe in direct democracy?

He argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives

What were Rousseau’s beliefs about religion?

He believed that religion divided and weakened the state

What role did women like Madam Geoffrin play in supporting and promoting the ideas of the Enlightenment?

Hosting intellectual salons

What important rights did women fight for?

Equal rights and oppurtunites

Absolute monarchy

System where the ruler has complete authority over the government and the lives of the people

Divine right

Idea that the monarchs authority to rule came directly from God

Huguenots

French protestant

Henry IV

• Huguenot prince

• Inherited the throne in 1589

• First ruler of the Bourbon dynasty

Edict of Nantes

• Henry IV passed to protect the Protestants

• Granted Huguenot religious toleration and other freedoms

Cardinal Richelieu

• Louis XIII appointed him as chief minister

• 1624-1642 he strengthened the central government

Louis XIV

5 year old inherited the throne in 1643

Intendants

Royal officials who collected taxes

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

• Finance minister under King Louis XIV

• Had new lands cleared for farming, encouraged mining and other basic industries, and built up luxury trades such as lacemaking

Versailles

Louis XIV turned a royal hunting lodge into an immense palace

Levee

• Stands for rising

• High ranking nobles competed for the honor of holding the royal washbasin or handing the king his diamond buckled shoes

• Wives of nobles vied to serve women in the royal family

Balance of power

Maintain an even distribution of military and economic power to prevent any one country from domination Europe

How did Henry IV improve France after a long civil war?

Henry chose to give up Protestantism and become a Catholic

How did Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu increase power of the monarchy?

They centralized French power by stripping Protestant Huguenots of their military defenses and destroying the fortified castles of nobility.

How did Louis XIV weaken the nobles?

He excluded them from his council

How did Louis XIV try to improve France?

Through mercantilist policies aimed at self sufficiency, but ultimately damaged it by revoking the Edict of Nantes, which caused thousands of skilled Huguenot workers to flee the country

How did Louis XIV control the nobility?

He increased power of government intendants and reducing the nobles’ influence through highly competitive daily rituals at court

Louis XIV used the arts to promote himself by…

Transforming Versailles into an artistic center, using opera, ballet, and literature to glorify his personal image and promote values supporting his absolute rule

How did the wars of Louis XIV hurt France?

They provoked a massive European-wide alliance to stop his expansion, leaving the country vulnerable and struggling under a simultaneous series of poor harvests

In a Revolution, the population with the most to win is the…

Middle Class

In a Revolution, the population with the most to lose is the…

Upper Class

In a Revolution, the population least likely to advance to a higher state is the…

Poor

Radical

Seeks major change immediately, violence

Liberal

Incremental change, long period of time, more rights

Moderate

Accept some change, refuse other, balanced

Conservative

Status quo, old fashioned ideas, fewer rights

Reactionary

Change back to the way things may have been, violent

A moderate stands where on the political spectrum?

The middle

Communism is linked with…

Radicals

Fascism is linked with…

Reactionaries

What is the L’ancien regime in France?

One of three social classes:

• 1st is clergy, (Roman Catholic church)

• 2nd is nobility

• 3rd is everyone else

What was the largest estate of France?

Third estate; 97% of population

The third estate was made up of…

Bourgeoisie (an educated highly taxed upper-middle class), city workers (the poorest wage laborers), and peasants, who consisted of 80% of the population and paid heavy taxes

What is the Estates General?

Advisory council for King; made up of three Estates in pre-revolutionary France

Why did Louis XVI call a meeting in 1789?

Has money troubles, calls the first meeting of Estates General in 175 years in which each estate gets one vote

How does the third estate respond to only getting one vote alongside the first and second?

First and second outvote the third, they began to demand change and start the National Assembly in a tennis court

What are the values of the French Revolution?

Liberty, equality, and fraternity

What were the forces of change that helped to cause the French Revolution?

Enlightenment ideas inspired by the American Revolution, severe economic troubles driven by heavy taxes, debt, and food shortages, and the weak leadership of Louis XVI

Ancien Regime

Old order system of government in pre-revolutionary France

Estates

Social classes

Deficit spending

Situation in which the government spends more money than it takes in

Louis XVI

King of pre-revolutionary France who failed to support financial reforms, resisted the National Assembly’s demands, and was ultimately executed as a traitor in 1793

Jacques Necker

Director of French Treasury who attempted to reform the country’s finances but instead relied heavily on borrowing and concealed France’s massive deficit

Cahiers

Notebooks used in pre-revolutionary France to record grievances

Tennis Court Oath

Famous oath made on a tennis court by the third estate in pre-revolutionary France

Bastille

Fortress in Paris used as a prison; French Revolution began when Partisans stormed it in 1789

Marquis de Lafayette

• French noble who fought alongside Americans in the Revolutionary War

• Advocated for reform upon returning to France

• Presented a draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 before fleeing the National Assembly

Olympe de Gouges

Author of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman who campaigned against the treatment of women in France and addressed her concerns directly to Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

Discredited the French monarchy through her scandalous behavior and was ultimately executed for treason after urging King Louis XVI to resist reforms of the National Assembly

First Estate

• Composed of the French clergy who held massive wealth, owned 10% of land, paid no direct taxes

• High ranking church leaders lived in luxury while poorer priests provided schools and hospitals

The second estate

Consisted of the French nobility who lost their military power to the absolute monarchy but maintained wealth, land ownership, and high government positions while fearing the loss of their social privileges

How did the government try to solve the economic crisis of the French Revolution?

By increasing taxes, reducing expenses or both while the nobles/clergy resisted tax exemption ending events

What other factors hurt France’s economy?

General economic decline, and bad harvest which lead to rising prices

Why did Louis XVI finally call the Estates-General to meet in 1788?

The verge of bankruptcy, bread riots spreading, fearful of taxes, and denouncing royal tyranny

Why is one vote per estate unfair and who is overrepresented?

The first/second Estates outvote the third, two to one

How does the Third Estate respond to the unfair voting system?

They claim to represent the French and declare to be the National Assembly

Why did the crowd assemble outside of the Bastille?

Rumors that royal troops were going to occupy the capital

Why is July 14, 1789 so significant to the French people today?

Marks the symbol of the storming of the Bastille, a national holiday