French Revolution Key Concepts: Estates, Political Groups, and Major Events

Ancien Regime / Old Regime

The social and political system in France before the Revolution.

First Estate

The clergy; the smallest estate with special privileges.

Second Estate

The nobility; held privileges and much of the wealth.

Third Estate

Everyone else, including peasants and the middle class.

Estates General

A meeting of representatives from all three estates.

National Assembly

Representatives of the Third Estate who claimed to represent France.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

A document stating rights such as liberty and equality.

Political Spectrum

A way of showing different political beliefs from left to right.

Liberty

Freedom to act and think without unfair control.

Equality

The idea that people should have equal rights.

Absolutism

A system where a monarch has almost complete power.

Jacobins

A radical political group during the French Revolution.

Girondists

A more moderate revolutionary political group.

Monarchists

People who support a monarchy.

Divine Right

The belief that a monarch's power comes from God.

Moderate

Someone who supports limited or gradual change.

Conservative

Someone who favors tradition and limited change.

Reactionary

Someone who wants to return to an earlier system.

Radical

Someone who wants major or rapid political change.

Nationalism

Strong loyalty to and pride in one's nation.

Sovereignty

The right of a state or people to govern itself.

Self-Determination

The right of people to choose their own government.

Constitution

A set of rules for how a government operates.

Republic

A government without a hereditary monarch.

Fraternity

The idea of brotherhood and unity among people.

Conformity

Following accepted rules, beliefs, or behaviors.

Patriotism

Love and loyalty toward one's country.

Yellow Shirt Protests

Protests in France over economic and political issues.

Tennis Court Oath

A promise by the National Assembly to keep meeting until France had a constitution.

Storming the Bastille

The 1789 attack on the Bastille prison, a symbol of royal power.

Women's March to Versailles

A 1789 protest by women demanding bread and action from the king.

September Massacres

The 1792 killing of prisoners feared to be enemies of the Revolution.

Reign of Terror

A period when revolutionary leaders used executions to fight suspected enemies.

Jean-Paul Marat

A radical journalist who supported the Revolution.

John Locke

An Enlightenment thinker who argued for natural rights and government by consent.

Maximilien Robespierre

A Jacobin leader who became a major figure during the Reign of Terror.

Sans-Culottes

Working-class revolutionaries who pushed for more radical change.

Louis XIV

French king who ruled as an absolute monarch and strengthened royal power.