AP World HistoryPOD #19 – Revolutions in Europe

The Old Regime

Class Discussion Questions

McKay – “The French Revolution, 1789-1791”, pp. 697-704

What were the underlying causes of the economic crisis in France?

Inadequate tax system caused heavy borrowing and debt from the American Revolution

Old Regime Estate System – unequal tax distribution

France was on the verge of financial ruin and bankruptcy

How was the Old Regime Estate system structured?

First Estate (Clergy) – paid a voluntary gift / collected the tithe

Second Estate (Nobility) – paid a light tax / collected local taxes

Third Estate (Commoners) – paid the king, paid the church, paid the nobles

What is the prevailing historical interpretation on the cause of the French Revolution?

The bourgeoisie rose up to lead the French Revolution seeking greater political rights to go with their economic influence to create a new order in which individualism and the market economy prevailed

What is the revisionist historical interpretation on the cause of the French Revolution?

Link the nobility and the bourgeoisie through common economic interests as driving the Revolution to create an elite society based on wealth

What procedural changes did the National Assembly insist upon?

1787 – Estates General called by Louis XVI for the first time since 1614Debate over how the group would be formedTraditionally each estate received one vote with the clergy and nobility voting in unisonThird Estate demanded each Estate have open voting with the third having an equal number of popular votes as the first and second combinedThe numbers in terms of representation were agreed to however, the vote per estate was held at oneThird Estate delegates refused to sit in order until all three estates were in the same room

What was the Tennis Court Oath?

Third Estate was locked out of the Estates General

Third Estate took over the king’s tennis court

Third Estate refused to disband until a new constitution was written

7. What three events took the revolution in a violent direction?

Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) – harvest failure and high prices crippled the peasants and urban poor / rumor spread that the king’s army was being mobilized / people rose in protest attacking the Bastille (a prison) in an effort to secure arms and ammunition / citizens appointed American Revolution war hero Marquis de Lafayette commander of Paris armed forces / this was the trigger event of the revolutionGreat Fear (Summer of 1789) – the peasants began to attack their lords destroying their property, records, and person in an attempt to eliminate any traces of the feudal system / enclosures were undone and common lands restored / peasants were doing their best to break free from the manorial system and its exploitationParis Bread Riots – caused by a lack of food and high prices / 7000 women marched from Paris to Versailles (12 miles) leaving a wake of death and destruction / symbolic of the frustration felt by the commoners

8. What reforms were instituted by the National Assembly?

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (August 27, 1789) – proclaimed the liberal ideas of the revolution / guaranteed equality before the law, representative governments, and individual freedomConstitutional Monarchy – king remained the head of state but the National Assembly retained the right to make lawsReorganized the French bureaucracy and organization of provincesUniform set of weight and measuresRemoved trade restrictions eliminating guilds and monopoliesNationalized the Catholic Church’s property – Religious reorganization of France brought the new government into conflict with the Catholic Church and many sincere Christians in the countryside – this was the most important failure of the National Assembly

9. Who is Mary Wollstonecraft?

A Vindication of the Rights of Man (1790) written by Edmund BurkeShe was offended by Burke’s ideals of conservatismA Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)She argued for the rights of women and equality for womenThis was the advent of the women’s rights movement