The french revolution

Causes and Effects

The French Revolution

So what really caused the French Revolution?

An unfair social order A weak and extravagant king

Financial Problems

New Ideas about society

The Social Order… In 1789, France’s population was divided

into three groups: the clergy, the aristocrats, and the commoners.

The Aristocracy: The aristocrats were the supporters of the

King and controlled all the land.

The Clergy: France has one state religion, Roman

Catholicism. The clergy was made up of second-born sons of aristocrats. They ran the churches and collected high fees called tithes.

The commoners (everyone else)

The unfair social order…The aristocrats and clergy

controlled most of the landThe commoners paid all the taxes The King was an absolute monarch

so made all the lawsThe army did what the King and

the aristocrats told them to do

The clergy and aristocrats lived on the backs of the commoners.

3% of the population

controlled the other 97% !!!

All the land was owned by the King. He gave large pieces of land to the aristocrats to manage in return for their loyalty. These pieces of land were called estates.

Each estate had a chateau, a church, and a village. In the village lived commoners (tradesmen and peasants) who belonged to the land. If land was given to another aristocrat, the commoners went with it.

The laws were different for aristocrats and commoners.

Commoners were little more than slaves…

Primogeniture…When the King or an aristocrat died, his

nearest male relative inherited his land rights and title.

Droit du Seigneur…Meaning “rights of the lord,” this gave the

aristocrats the right to take the virginity of any of his tenants’ daughters or wives.

Lettre du Cachet…If an aristocrat felt like it, he could write a

letter to the King and have you put in prison for any reason.

No trial.No warning.

Tradesmen performed duties for the estate like woodcutting, road mending, weaving, and blacksmithing. Peasants worked in the chateau or in the fields.

The imbalance of this social orderCommoners paid high taxes to the

aristocrats and a large tithe to the clergy.

The aristocrats and the clergy paid no taxes.

Commoners were afraid and angry

A Weak King…

France had a King, but he was weak. Louis XVI paid attention to personal interests and ignored the growing anger of his people.

He was strongly influenced by his wife…

Queen Marie Antoinette loved to dress up, give parties, and eat expensive foods…

They lived in a big luxurious chateau called Versailles…

They dressed and slept in luxury. They spent, and spent, and spent…

They had many aristocratic friends who lived as well as they did...

Financial Troubles:The French government had many debts

from the King’s living expenses, loans to the American colonies, and ambitious wars.

The commoners were unhappy because they had to pay more and more taxes.

There was no way for anyone to change the laws (Louis XVI was an absolute monarch).

The aristocrats and clergy said “no way” to taxes on themselves…and Louis listened.

Meanwhile, the commoners worked hard and paid, and paid, and paid…

New Ideas…During this time, a lot of new ideas about

how governments should act and how citizens should be treated were circulating.

These ideas, called The Enlightenment, really appealed to the miserable commoners.

The aristocrats and the King pretty much ignored the new ideas and thought life would go on forever just as it was.

The Enlightenment:People should make up their own minds about

things rather than be told what to think by Kings or a church.

Truth comes from science and evidence rather than superstition, faith, or blind obedience.

Humans are all created equal, can reason, and deserve freedom and choices.

Religion and politics should be separated. There should be no state religion.

People are capable of ruling themselves through democracy…one man, one vote…not by absolute monarchs who are born to rule.

The American colonies had stood up to England’s King George III in 1776 and won…

The French Revolution was inevitable…

In 1789, after an extremely hot summer and very cold winter, the wheat crop failed…

There was no bread, the main food of the commoners. This was “the last straw.”

On July 14, 1789, the revolutionary patriots stormed the Bastille prison in Paris…

The French Revolution had lasting effects…

Equality under the law

Universal suffrage…everyone votes for their government

Everyone pays taxes

Religious freedom

Right to an attorney and a speedy trial by jury

The idea of privilege based on birth was never to return.

Any individual could find their way to the top of society.

The French Revolution changed the whole world for the better…A Tale of Two Cities is a book about people

who lived at the time of the French Revolution.

They lived in Paris, France and London, England…two cities, 280 miles apart.

They struggled with the same issues as the French commoners

What causes an out-of-balance society to finally correct itself? Is it actions, words, or ideas whose time has come?

Guiding Questions:As we read, ask yourself these questions:• What contradictions exist in all cities?• What are the dangers of poverty and

oppression?• What literary tools (devices) does Charles

Dickens use to create a real picture of life before and during the French Revolution?

• How well does fiction teach history and the human experience?

Let’s read to answer the questions…