French revolution 3
French revolution 3French Revolution, cataclysmic political and social upheaval, extending from 1789 to 1799. The revolution resulted, among other things, in the overthrow of the monarchy in France and in the establishment of the First Republic. It was generated by a vast complex of causes and produced an equally vast complex of consequences.
For more than a century before the accession of King Louis XVI in 1774, the French government experienced periodic economic crises resulting from wars, royal mismanagement, and increased indebtedness. Attempts at reform accomplished little because of opposition from reactionary members of the nobility and clergy. As the financial crisis worsened under the rule of Louis, popular demand compelled him to authorize national elections in 1788 for the Estates-General (an assembly representing clergy, nobility, and commoners that had last met in 1614).
The Estates-General convened at Versailles in May 1789. The nobility and clergy immediately challenged the procedure for voting proposed by the commoners, or third estate. After a six-week deadlock, the third estate proclaimed itself a National Assembly with sole power to legislate taxation. The assembly then announced its intentions to draft a constitution. Some representatives of the nobility and clergy joined forces with the assembly, which soon renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly.
When Louis, reacting to pressure from the queen and others, concentrated loyal regiments in Paris and Versailles, the people of Paris reacted with open insurrection, storming the Bastille prison on July 14. The Parisian middle class, or bourgeoisie, fearful that the lower classes would seize power, hastily established a local provisional government and organized a people's militia, a pattern soon repeated throughout the nation. In October, as the Constituent Assembly proceeded to draft a constitution, a large body of Parisians marched on Versailles. Louis and his family then moved to Paris, where the court and the assembly became increasingly subject to pressures from the citizens of Paris.
The first draft of the constitution received the king's approval in July 1790. By the terms of the document, the provinces were reorganized, hereditary titles were outlawed, trial by jury was ordained, and restrictions were placed on the power of the Roman Catholic church. Property qualifications for the vote, however, confined the electorate to the middle and upper classes. During the 15-month interval before the completion of the final draft, a trend toward radicalism developed among the disfranchised section of the population. This process accelerated in June 1791, when the royal family was apprehended while attempting to flee France.
The revolutionaries of Paris demanded that the king be deposed, but moderates in the Constituent Assembly reinstated the king, hoping to stem radicalism and prevent foreign intervention. The Constituent Assembly was dissolved, and the new Legislative Assembly, which met in October, was divided into three groups: a majority without well-defined political opinions; the supporters of a constitutional monarchy; and a Republican faction, composed mainly of Girondins, who advocated a federal republic, and Montagnards, consisting of Jacobins and Cordeliers, who favored establishment of a...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.