Module 13 Lesson 1 The French Revolution Begins

What were the TWO economic causes of the French Revolution?

• Rising debt

• Weak leadership

• New taxes

• The right to vote

Weak leadership from the French Monarchy was causing what kind of instability?

• Economic

• Political

• Religious

• Social

The sudden rise in prices of which staple food caused social tensions?

• alcohol

• rice

• bread

• cheese

The second estate did not pay taxes. Who is the second estate?

• The military

• The peasentry

• The monarchy

• The clergy

Enlightenment Ideas

New views about power and authority in government were spreading among the Third Estate. Members of the Third Estate were inspired by the success of the American Revolution. They began questioning long-standing notions about the structure of society. Quoting Rousseau and Voltaire, they began to demand equality, liberty, and democracy. The Comte D’Antraigues, a friend of Rousseau, best summed up their ideas on what government should be:

“The Third Estate is the People and the People is the foundation of the State; it is in fact the State itself; the . . . People is everything. Everything should be subordinated to it. . . .It is in the People that all national power resides and for the People that all states exist.”

Question: The ________ Revolution and Enlightenment writers influenced the French bourgeoisie to agitate for more political power during the 1780s.

• American

• Italian

• Mexican

• Russian

What effect did Louis XVI’s treatment of National Assembly delegates have on the people of Paris?

• They formed their own assembly to pick their own leaders.

• They called for the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

• They responded by arming themselves against the king’s soldiers.

• They supported the king and condemned the leaders of the Third Estate.

Storming the Bastille

In Paris, rumors flew. Some people suggested that Louis was intent on using military force to dismiss the National Assembly. Others charged that the foreign troops were coming to Paris to massacre French citizens.

People began to gather weapons in order to defend the city against attack. On July 14, a mob searching for gunpowder and arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison. The mob overwhelmed the guard and seized control of the building. The angry attackers hacked the prison commander and several guards to death, and then paraded around the streets with the dead men’s heads on pikes.

Question: Fearing a backlash from Louis XVI’s troops, the citizens of Paris armed themselves by taking over the __________ area and stealing guns and ammunition.

• Eiffel Tower

• Bastille Prison

• Louvre Museum

• Versailles Palace

Why did the women of Paris demand that the royal family return to Paris with them?

• They demanded Marie Antoinette answer charges of treason against the state.

• They expected Marie Antoinette to distribute bread among the poor of the capital.

• They felt that the distance from the capital allowed Louis to ignore their immediate needs.

• They wanted to establish a representative government that would meet in the Versailles Palace.

Bread

Bread was a staple of the diet of the common people of France. Most families consumed three or four 4-pound loaves a day. And the purchase of bread took about half of a worker’s wages—when times were good. So, when the price of bread jumped dramatically, as it did in the fall of 1789, people faced a real threat of starvation.

On their march back from Versailles, the women of Paris happily sang that they were bringing “the baker, the baker’s wife, and the baker’s lad” with them. They expected the “baker”—Louis—to provide the cheap bread that they needed to live.

Question: When the women of Paris exclaimed that they were taking “the baker, the baker’s wife, and the baker’s lad” back with them to the capital, they expected the baker, _________, to keep them from starving through the winter of 1789.

• Louis XVI

• Marie Antoinette

• Comte d'Antraigues

• Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès

Open the reading by opening the following link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y9zU3QR_uGSspA6U6qPD55qXBtHOdkiW6-tUIZUi1cc/edit?usp=sharing

Question 1:

Evaluate   Why did members of the Third Estate believe they were being oppressed by the government?