French Revolution!

Who made up each of the three Estates? Which of these would have grievances? Why?

first estate-clergy, exempt from the taille(chief tax) also radically divided, since the higher clergy from aristocratic families shared the interest s of teh nobles while the parisher priests were likely to be poor commoners second estate-the nobility,common to all were tax exemptions, especially from the taille. the third estate- peasants, skilled artisans, shopekeepers, and other wage earners in the cities, the bourgeoisie(middle class) merchants, industrialistsand bkers who controlled the resources of trade manufactoring and finance and professional people lawyers doctors writers, and holders of public office. Both aristocratic and bourgeoise elites, long accustomed to a new socioeconomic reality based on wealth and economic achievement were increasingly frustrated by a monarchical system resting on priviledges and on a n old reigid social order based on the concept of three estates

Conservatives

held the main beliefs: they favored obedience to political authority, believed that organized religion was crucial to social order, hated revolutionary upheavals, and were unwilling to accept either the liberal demands for civil liberties and representative governments or the nationalistic aspirations generated by the French revolutionary era

before the revolution

in fact, in the fifty years before 1789, France had experienced a period of economic growth due to an expansion of foreign trade and an increase in industrial production

Define political and economic liberalism.

laissez-faire, the belief that the state should not interrupt the free play of natural economic forces( e.g. supply, demand). Governments should only carry out three functions: defense of the country, police protection of individuals, and the construction and maintenance of public works too expensive for individuals to undertake. Liberals came to agree upon a common set of beliefs. Chief among them was the protection of civil liberties or the basic rights of all people( ex equality of all before the law, freedom of assembly, speech, and press, and freedom from arbitrary arrest). They believed that all of these freedoms should be guaranteed with a written document.

The Civil Code, or Code Napoleon

preserved most of the revolutionary gaines by recognizing the principle of the equality of all citizens before the law, the right of individuals, the right of people to choose their professions, religious toleration, and the abolition of serfdom/feudalism. Property rights continued to be carefully protected, while the interests of employers was safeguarded by outlawing trade unions and strikes. During the radical phase of the French revolution, new laws made divorcee an easy process regardless of gender, allowed all children to inherit property equally and restricted the rights that their fathers had over them. Napoleon's civil code undid most of this legislation. The control of fathers over their families was restored. Divorce was made more difficult for women to get. Women were now "less equal than men" in other ways as well. When a woman got married, her property came under the control of her husband. In lawsuits women were treated as minors whose testimonies were less reliable than that of a man's.

Germaine de Stael

refused to accept Napoleon's growing despotism. She wrote novels and political works that denounced Napoleon's tyrannical rule, so he banned her books in France and exiled her to the German States. She was educated in Enlightenment ideas and set up a Salon in Paris that was a prominent intellectual center by 1800.

cahiers de doleances

statementts o local grievances that were drafted throughout France during the elections to the estates general advocated a regular constitutional government that would abolish the fiscal privileges of the church and nobility as the major way to regenerate the country.

Jacques Necker

the assistant to the controller general of finance, published an account of the French monarchy's finances,; his efforts to expose the inadequacies of the monarchy's monetary policies were the first real steps toward financial reform.

Vendee

the authority of the National Convention was repudiated in western France, particularly in the department of the Vende, by peasants who revolted against the new military draft; the Vendean rebellion soon escalated into a full-blown counterrevolutionary appeal.

The Continental System

was put into effort from 1806 to 1807, and it attempted to prevent British goods from reaching the European continent in order to weaken Britain economically and destroy its capacity to wage war.

Jeremy Bentham Utilitarianism

• Trained in British law and called himself a social philosopher • Founded utilitarianism • Believed that government could achieve positive ends through limited and "scientific" intervention • Also believed behavior could be improved and that prisoners could be rehabilitated and returned to honest citizens • Works included: Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation Utilitarianism • Jeremy Bentham's philosophical plan to ensure social harmony through measurement of pleasure and pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number; a liberal philosophy • Included in Bentham's novel: Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

important dates

1787- Assembly of Notables 1789-1791- National Assembly(Constituent Assembly) May 5, 1789- Meeting of Estates General June 17, 1789- Formation of National Assembly June 20, 1789- Tennis Court Oath July 14, 1789- Fall of the Bastille Summer 1789- Great Fear August 26, 1789- Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen October 5-6, 1789- Women's march to Versailles king's return to Paris July 12, 1790- Civil Constitution of the Clergy June 20-21, 1791- Flight of the king 1791-1792- Legislative Assembly April 20, 1792- France declares war on Austria August 10, 1792- attack on the royal palace 1792-1795- Nation Convention September 21, 1792- abolition of the monarchy January 21, 1793- execution of the king August 23, 1793- universal mobilization of the nation July 28, 1794- execution of Robespierre 1795-1799- Directory August 22, 1795- Constitution of 1795 is adopted

Revolts

A. One revolt, the fall of the Bastille, occurred on July 14, 1789 when the Permanent Committee attacked the royal armory known as the Bastille. When the fall of the Bastille happened, Paris was abandoned to the insurgents, royal authority was ended, and Lafayette was made the commander of the National Guard, the new citizens' militia. B. Another revolt, the peasant rebellions, occurred in five major areas of France from July 19 to August 3; these rebellions varied with some peasants forcing their lay and ecclesiastical lords to get rid of their dues and tithes while others burned charters in which their obligations were written. These revolts led to the Great Fear, which was a fear of invasion of non-French soldiers, aided by an aristocratic plot, that promoted the creation of citizens' militias and permanent committees; both the Great Fear and the peasant rebellions lead to the National Assembly meeting in Versailles. C. The third revolt happened on October 5, 1789 when thousands of Parisian women set out to confront both the National Assembly and the king. This revolt ended with the king being made basically a prisoner in Paris and the General Assembly being affected by the influence of politics created by a revolt.

Explain why the concept of the Balance of Power kept Europe at peace (well mostly) for the next 100 years.

Considerations of the balance of power dictated the allied treatment of France. France had not been significantly weakened. Therefore, the conferees attempted to establish major defensive barriers against possible French expansion. To the north of France they created a new enlarged kingdom of the Netherlands containing the former Dutch Republic and the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) under King William of Orange. To the southeast, Piedmont(officially part of the kingdom of Sardinia) was enlarged. On France's eastern frontier, Prussia was strengthened by giving it control of the territory along the east bank of the Rhine. The British at least expected Prussia to be the major bulwark against French expansion in central Europe. The conference also created the Germanic confederation in order to replace the Napoleonic confederation of the Rhine. In order to punish the French for the enthusiastic response to the return of Napoleon, The peace arrangements of 1815 were the beginning of a converative reaction determined to contain the liberal and nationalist forces unleashed by the French Revolution

. According to Dickens and Smiles, what are some values or adjectives associated with the middle class? Why are these values so important? How did they work to drive a wedge between the social classes?

Hard work and frugality with the money they have earned are values associated with the middle class. The stereotypical poor person does not have these values.

In addition to the rise in property crime, why were police forces established in Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century

In Europe, the revolutionary upheavals of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries made the ruling elites nervous about social disorder and the potential dangers to their lives and property. At the same time, the influx of large numbers of people from the country side into the rapidly growing cities had led to horrible living conditions, poverty, unemploment, and great social dissatisfaction.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

In july 1790, the new civil constitution of the clergy was put into effect. Both bishops and priests of the Catholic church were elected by the people and payed by the state. The church was secularized...

constitution of 1795

In order to avoid the dangers of a single legislative assembly, the Constitution of 1795 established a national legislative assembly consisting of two chambers: a lower house, known as the council of 500, whose function was to initiate legislation, and an upper house of 250 members, the Council of Elders, composed of married or widowed members over 40, which accepted or rejected the proposed laws. The 750 members of the two legislative bodies were chosen by electors who had to be owners or renters of property worth between 100 and 200 days' labor. The electors were chosen by active citizens, now defined as all male taxpayers over the age of 21.The executive authority (the Directory) consisted of five directors elected by the council of Elders from a list presented by the Council of 500.

Why did the Revolution end up "eating its own?"

In order to maintain the revolutionary ideas in France, the Committee of Public Safety passed the Law of 14 Frimaire on December 4, 1793, in order to centralize the administration of France more effectively and to exercise control in order to check the excesses of the Reign of Terror. In 1794, the Committee of Public Safety turned against its radical Parisian supporters, executed the leaders of the revolutionary Paris Commune, and turned it into a docile tool. French foregein military success also meant that the Reign of Terror no longer served much purpose, but it continued with Robespierre. Robespierre was guillotined on July 28, 1794, beginning the reaction that brought an end to this radical stage of the French Revolution.

.What purpose did war serve the French revolution and new state? What was so important about the new French army? How was it different from armies in the past?

In order to meet the crisis and save the republic from its foreign enemies, the Committee of Public safety decreed a universal mobilization of the nation on August 23, 1793. War allowed the French state to meet the crisis and save the Republic from its forgein enemies. The Republic's army, was the largest army that Europe had ever seen. Historians have found that the creation of the French revolutionary army to be important in the creation of modern nationalism. The French army was now the creation of a "people's government" and its wars were now "people's" wars.

industrial life

In the early decades of the Industrial Revolution, factories were horrible places to work. Work hours were from twelve to sixteen hours a day six days a week, with a half hour for lunch and for dinner. There was no security of employment or minimum wage. The worst conditions were in the cotton mills where temperatures were debilitating. Most historians assume that in the long run, the Industrial Revolution improved living standards dramatically in the form of higher per capita incomes and greater consumer choices. Some historians have argued that during the first half of the nineteenth century, industrialization improved the standard of living for the poor because it increased employment and lowered the prices of consumer goods, thereby improving the way people lived. They also maintain that household income rose because multiple members of the family could now hold wage-paying jobs. Other historians say that wage labor made life worse for most families during the first half of the 19th century as employment in the early factories was highly volatile as employers quickly dismissed workers whenever demand declined. Wages were also not uniform and inadequate housing in cities forced families to live in cramped and unsanitary conditions. Families continued to spend most of their incomes on food and clothing.

. How does de Gouges' reworking of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" transform its meaning? How do you think the male revolutionaries would have responded to de Gouges' declaration?

Marie Gouze used the pen name Olympe de Gouges. She was a butchers daughter who wrote plays and pamphlets. She argued that the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen did not apply to women and composed her own Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen in 1791.

Why and how did the French and British governments reform their prison systems? What was "solitary confinement" and do you think it fulfilled its purpose?

Motivated by the desire to not just to punish but to rehablitate and transform criminals into new persons, the British and the French sent missions to the United States in the early 1830s to examine how the two different systems then used in America accomplished this goal. After examning the American prisions, both the French and the British constructed prisions on the Walnut Street model with separate cells that isolated prisioners from on another. Solitaty confinent, according to the people who organized these systems, forced prisioners to examine their consciences, led to greater remorse, and increased the possibility that they would change their evil ways

2. What methods did Napoleon use to manipulate popular support? 3. How did Napoleon reorganize the administration of France? How were the new departments a reflection of the rationality of the Enlightenment? How were they part of the "new France" that the Revolution tried to create with a new calendar?

Napoleon kept the 83 French departments, but got rid of the locally elected assembly and instituted new officials, which included the prefects, who were the agents of the central government. Appointed by Napoleon himself, the prefects became responsible for supervising all aspects of local government. They were not local men and their careers depended on the central government. Under the reorganized government, tax collection became systematic and efficient. No tax exemptions due to dirth, status, or special arrangement were granted.

Concordat of 1801

Napoleon made peace with the Catholic Church with the Concordat of 1801. Although the pope gained the right to dispose of French bishops, the state still had the right to nominate them. The Catholic Church was also allowed to hold possessions again and reopen the seminaries. By signing the Concordat, the pope acknowledged the accomplishments of the Revolution and agreed not to raise the question of the church lands confiscated during the revolution. Contrary to the wishes of the pope, Catholicism was not established as a state religion; Napoleon was only willing to recognize Catholicism as the religion of the majority of the French people.

How did Octavia Hill embody Smiles' ideas? How did she soften them?

Octavia Hill gave each family an opportunity to improve their lives. She ejected the families that did not pay and those she deemed immoral. With her assistance in the form of work, the families that exerted the necessary self-control were able to meet their own needs.

. What policies identify this stage of the revolution as "radical"? Why did the revolution become more radical in 1792?

On September 22, 1792, the National Convention established a republic and abolished the French monarchy. But, that was about as far as members of the convention could agree, and the national convention soon split into factions concerning the fate of the king.The two most important factions were the Girondins and the Mountain, which were both members of the Jacobin club. Girondins represented the primarily the provinces of France while the Mountain represented the interests of Paris and owned much of its strength to the radical and popular elements in the city. In order to meet the domestic crisis, the national convention and the Committee of Public Safety instituted the Reign of Terror in which revolutionary courts were organized to protect the Republic from internal enemies. Victims of the Reign of Terror ranged from royalists such as Marie Antoinette to former revolutionary Girondins, including Olympe De Gouges, the chief advocate for political rights for women, and even thousands of peasants.

To what extent did Poland benefit from the Principle of Legitimacy? What does Poland's experience lead you to believe about the Principle of Legitimacy?

Prussia and Austria were both allowed to keep some polish territory. A new, nominally independent Polish kingdom, about three-quarters of the size of the duchy of Warsaw was established with the Romanov dynasty as its hereditary monarchs. Although Poland was guaranteed its independence the kingdom's foreign policy (and the kingdom itself) remained under russian control.

According to middle-class reformers, what were the causes of poverty? Given their point of view, what were the solutions? (I see 3 groups)

Sheer laziness was thought to cause poverty. Poverty was also thought to be caused by the moral degeneracy of the lower classes, increasingly labeled as the "dangerous classes" because of the perceived threat they posed to midde-class society. This belief led one group of secular reformers to form institutes to instruct the working classes in the applied sciences in order to make them more productive members of society. Examples of these institutes are The London Mechanics Institute(Britain) and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in the Field of Natural Sciences, Technical Science, and Political Economy. British Evangelicals set up Sunday Schools to improve the morals f working children, and in Germany, evangelical Protestants established nurseries for orphans and homeless children, women's societies to care for the sick and poor, and prision societies that prepared women to work in prisions. The catholic church attempted the same kind of work through a revival of its religious orders. Priests and nuns used spiritual instruction and recreation to turn young male workers away from the moral vices of gambling and drinking and female workers from prostitution.

trade unions striking

Some trade unions were even willing to strike to meet their goals. Strikes were carried out by miners in Northumberland and Durham in 1810, hand-loom weavers in Glasgow in 1813, and cotton spinners in Manchester in 1818. Such blatant illegal activity caused Parliament to repeal the Combination Acts in 1824, which outlawed associations of workers but failed to prevent the formation of trade unions.

How did Napoleon contrive his rise to power between 1795 and 1799?

The Directory had to contend with political enemies from both ends of the political spectrum. On the right, royalists who dreamed of restoring the monarchy continued their agitiation. On the left, Jacobin hopes of power were revived by continuing ecomonomic problems, such as the total collapse in the value of the assignats. New elections in 1797 created even more uncertainty and instability while the Directionary inceasingly relied on the military to maintain its power. This led to a coup d'etat in 1799 in which the successful and popular general Bonaparte was able to seize power. Napoleon was promoted to the rank of major general in October 1795 after he saved the National Convention from the Parisan mob. Soon after his marriage, Napoleon became the commander of the French army in Italy, where he turned a group of will disaplied soldiers into an effective fighting force and in a series of of stunning victories defeated the Austrians and dictated peace to them in 1797. Believing that the French were not ready to invade England yet, Napoleon proposed instead that they strike indirectly at Britain by taking Egypt and threatening India. But the British controlled the seas and by 1799 had cut off supplies from Napoleons army in Egypt. Seeing no future in certain defeat, Napoleon did not hesitate to abandon his army and return to Paris in order to participate in the coup d'etat. With the coup of 1799, a new form of the Republic was proclaimed with a constitution that established a bicameral legislative assembly that was elected indriectly in order to reduce the number of elections . Executive power in the new governement was vested in the hands of three councils, although article 42 of the constitution stated, "the decision of the first Consul shall suffice." As first consul, Napoleon directly controlled the entire executive authority of the governemt. He had overwhelming influence over the legislature, appointed members of the bureaucracy, controlled the army, and conducted foreign affairs

1. During the Reaction, how did the government work to curb the revolutionary fervor?

The national convention: curtailed the power of the Committee of Public Safety, shut down the Jacobin club, and attempted to provide better protection for its deputies against the Parisian mobs. Churches could reopen for public worship, and a decree of February 21, 1795 gave freedom of worship to all cults. Economic regulation was dropped in favor of laissez-faire policies. These are all indications that moderate forces were gaining control of the Revolution.

the Directory

The period of the directory was an era of materialistic reaction to the suffering and sacrifices that had been demanded in the Reign of Terror and the Republic of Virtue. Speculators made fortunes in property by taking advantage of the government's severe monetary problems.

What were the goals of the Congress of Vienna?

The quadruple alliance of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia meet at the Congress of Vienna in September of 1814 in order to arrange a final peace settlement. Metternich claimed that he was guided by the principle of legitimacy. It order to reestablish peace and stability in Europe, he considered it necessary to restore the legitimate monarchs who would preserve traditional institutions.

Why did the Revolution create a new calendar and pursue a policy of de-Christianization?

The revolutionary dream of a new order presupposed the creation of a new human being freed from the old order and its symbols, a new citizen surrounded by a framework of new habits. Restructuring time itself offered the opportunity to forge new habits and create a lasting new order, thus the revolutionary calendar was created. In this republican calendar, years were no longer numbered from the birth of Jesus but from September 22, 1792 (the day that the French Republic was proclaimed).

.What is the connection between the American Revolution and the French Revolution?

There is no doubt that the American Revolution had important impact on Europeans. Books, newspapers, and magazines provided teh newly developing reading public with numerous accounts of American events. It seemed to portend an ear of significant changes, including new arrangements in international politics. The American revolution proved that the liberal political ideas of the Enlightment were not the rapid utterances of intellectuals

How do Malthus and Ricardo establish the foundational tenets of economic liberalism that will govern the 19th century? What is the "iron law of wages?

Thomas Malthus argued the case against government interference in economic matters in his Essay on the Principles of Population. In it, he stated that population, when left unchecked, increases at a geometric rate while food supply increases at a slower rate. The result would be severe population and starvation for the human race if this growth is not held in check. Misery and poverty are the inevitable result of the law of nature, no government or individual should interfere with its operation. Mathus's ideas were developed by David Ricardo. In Principle of Political Economy, he developed his "iron wages." Following Malthus, Ricardo argued that an increase in population creates more workers, which causes wages to decrease below the subsistence level. The result is misery and starvation, which then reduce the population. The number of workers declines, and wages rise above subsistence level once more, encouraging workers to have larger families and the repetition of this cycle.

more information

When Napoleon became consul in 1799, France was at war with a second European coalition of Russia, Great Britain, and Austria. Peace was achieved at Amiens in March 1802. In 1803, War with Britain was renewed which was soon joined by Austria and Russia in the Third Coalition. The Grand Empire was composed of three major parts: the French empire, a series of dependent states, and allied states. The French empire consisted of an enlarged France extending from the Rhine in the east and including the western half of Italy north of Rome. Dependent States included Spain, the Netherlands, and the kingdom of Italy, the Swiss Republic, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the Confederation of the Rhine. Allied States were those defeated by Napoleon and forced to join his struggle against Britain(Prussia Austria Russia)

What role did women play in the French Revolution?

Women were spectators at sessions of revolutionary clubs and the National Convention and therefore made members and deputies aware of their demands. Women layed a variety of roles in the French revlution. There were middle-class women's patriotic clubs that discussed the decrees of the national convention. They also gave coins to create a fund for impoverished families.

Assignants

a form of paper money based on the collateral of the newly nationalized church property

The Republic of Virtue

along with the Reign of Terror, the Committee of Public Safety took other steps both to control France and to create a new republican order and citizens

Law of Maximum General

established price controls on goods declared of necessity, ranging from food/drink to fuel and clothing; the control failed to work very well because the government lacked the machinery to enforce them.

Poor Law Act (1834)

established workhouses were jobless poor people were forced to live. The intent of this policy, based on the assumption that the poor were responsible for their own pitiful conditions, was "to make the workhouses as like prisons as possible... to establish there in a discipline so severe and repulsive as to make them a terror to the poor." Within a few years, despite sporadic opposition, more than 200000 poor people were locked up in workhouses, where family members were separated, forced to live in dormitories, given work assignments, and fed dreadful food. Children were often recruited from parish workhouses as cheap labor in factories.

What were the long range and immediate causes of the French Revolution?

financial crsis-the immediate cause of the French revolution was the near collapse of government finances. French governmental expeditures continued to grow due to costly wars and royal extravagance. The government responded by borrowing. Poor taxation policy contributed to to the high debt with most f the monarchy's funds coming from th peasantry. in 1786, Charles de Calonne, the controller general of finance, finding himself unable to borrow any more, proposed a complete revamping of the fiscal and administrative system of the state. To gain support, Calone convened an Assembly of notables, early in 1787. This gathering of notables, prelates, and magistrates refuse to cooperate, and the governments attempt to do it alone brought further disaster. On the verge of a complete financial collapse, the government was finally forced to call a meeting of the estates general, therefore admitting that the consent of teh nation was required to raise taxes. failure to make reformsThe French parlements often fustrated efforts at reform. These thriteen law courts, which were responsibl fore registering royal decrees could block edicts by not registering them. the judes, as noble defenders of liberty aganist the monarchy, they often pushed their own interests as well, especially be blocking new taxes ideas of the philosophes-existing privledges as well as social and political institutions were also coming undering creased critiscism. Although the philosophes did not advocate revolution, their ideas circulated widley amoung the literate bourgeois and teh elites of France