Government before the French Revolution

The Ancien Régime

Goal of the revolutionaries

Constitutional government, rights, representation

Three Estates of France

→ First: Clergy
→ Second: Nobility
→ Third: Everyone else (bourgeoisie, peasants, workers)

Voltaire

→ Freedom of speech & religion; criticized the Church

Montesquieu

Separation of powers

Diderot

Spread knowledge and reason (Enlightenment)

Rousseau

Popular sovereignty; democracy

Quesnay

→ Laissez-faire economics; agriculture important

Monarchy’s response to debt

Raised taxes; called the Estates-General

Estates-General voting system

One vote per Estate (favored 1st & 2nd)

Turning point of the Revolution

Storming of the Bastille (1789)

Revolutionary groups

Jacobins, Girondins, Sans-culottes, Montagnards, Feuillants

Most radical group

Jacobins / Montagnards

Flight to Varennes

King Louis XVI tried to escape France and failed

Government in 1791

Constitutional monarchy (limited king)

September Massacres

Mob killings of prisoners (1792)

Sans-culottes

Radical working-class revolutionaries

Maximilien Robespierre

Leader of Jacobins; led the Reign of Terror

The Directory

Weak, corrupt government that failed

Napoleon before ruling France

French military general

Napoleon’s actions as ruler

Created Napoleonic Code, stabilized economy, expanded education

Coup d’état

Sudden overthrow of the government

Concordat of 1802

Restored religion; Church under state control

Enclosure Movement

Landowners fenced off common land

Effect of enclosure on farmers

Forced to move to cities

First industry of the Industrial Revolution

Textiles

Textile inventions

Spinning Jenny, Water Frame, Power Loom

Key invention of 1765

Steam engine

Prices during Industrial Revolution

Dropped due to mass production

Focus of literature

Working conditions & social problems

Why factories were near rivers

Needed water power

Treatment of workers

Long hours, low pay, dangerous conditions

Impact of railroads

Faster transport; cheaper goods

Chartist Movement

Working-class movement for political reform

Impact on Britain’s economy

More production, trade, and wealth

Municipal Corporations Act

Reformed local governments

Who benefited most from industrialization

Factory owners & middle class

Majority of factory workers

Women and children

Effect of surplus goods

Lower prices and higher demand

Transportation changes

Railroads, canals, improved roads

Population shift

Rural → urban (Cities)

Yeomanry

Volunteer middle-class militia

Middle-class changes

Higher wages, better living standards

Living conditions in factory towns

Overcrowded, polluted, unhealthy

Indirect voting

People vote for representatives, not leaders directly

Why Britain avoided revolution

Gradual reforms instead of violence

Why government passed reforms

Fear of revolution

Petition

Formal written request signed by many people (For Change)

Labour Party

Political party for workers & trade unions

Cooperative Movement

People share resources to buy/sell goods

Why trade unions were unpopular

Illegal; feared strikes & unrest

Reform protecting women & children

Factory Acts (limits on hours & safety rules)

Laissez-faire economics

Government does not interfere