1) The document is an excerpt from the journal of Alexis Rolande, a French banker during the French Revolution from 1789-1799. It describes the events leading up to and during the early years of the revolution from Rolande's perspective as a supporter of the monarchy.
2) It discusses the signing of the Tennis Court Oath by the third estate to form a national assembly, which Rolande dismisses. It also describes the storming of the Bastille and growing unrest among the lower classes.
3) Over time, Rolande's views change as he witnesses the executions of Robespierre and King Louis XVI, coming to support the goals of the revolution, though still fearful of
2. National Assembly consisting of the King and all
three estates of the French society
Tennis Court Oath Document signed by the third-estate
People of the third-estate meeting
at the Jeu De Paume Tennis Court
3. The lower classes have gone insane! This is outrageous!
The French society under the rule of King Louis XVI has been virtuous. Us bourgeoisies have had high income, and lived a rather
content life. I would say that I’m happy, in fact very happy. Though at times, our taxes may be raised higher than all the other
estates, I honestly cannot care less, we have plenty to spend. The king is doing well for our country, and we are all in a good place;
except for maybe the peasants and sans culottes, but that is just because they are not earning enough money anyway, I mean, not
our fault at all. Gosh.
Around two weeks ago, I heard that the king decided to lock the third estate out of the national assembly. I don’t really go to these
anyway; whatever the king decides is always the right choice. Apparently the opinions of the peasants and sans culottes clashed
with the first and second estate, which caused them to be unhappy. I am a banker myself, I get decent income, and I cannot even be
bothered to care if they are not earning enough money. These people are poor, powerless, and bad mannered; do they really think
they can revolt against the authoritative government? If King Louis is doing all of this for the better of our nation, we need to listen to
him not them!
Yesterday while on my way to work, I witnessed nearly 600 people rambling to the Jeu de paume tennis court, just a few blocks
away from the Palace of Versaille. I was fairly confused and didn’t know what was happening, all I could hear were screams of
“We want our voices to be heard!” or “We deserve a place in this society!” It wasn’t until later on in the day when I was talking to my
fellow coworker when I discovered that a few days ago, they have decided to break free from the Estates General and a group of
people decided to draw up their own constitution. Stupid. King Louis discovered this and decided to lock up their meeting venue,
thankfully; but anger grew upon the crowds as they did not have a place to meet, and eventually settled at the tennis court.
Today’s morning paper headline read: “Vote by head. Not Order! Not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances
require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established.” I was mortified! Do these lower classes even know what they are doing?
The peasants and sans culottes have gone mad! I read further on in the article and discovered that 576 of 577 people signed the
oath except for Joseph Martin-Dauch. Only one man out of hundreds that is smart enough to know that that what they are doing is
completely immoral. The rest of them are plain idiotic, all people who disregard our prodigious king are foolish! They are the lowest
out of all of us; they are worth nothing. We need to stop these people before things get much worse!
June 21st, 1789
4. A drawing of Robespierre by a young son of a peasant
A picture of King Louis ready to be executed by the guillotine
5. July 29th, 1794
France can finally live in peace again, the evil man is perished, and he deserved every single part of it! This past year has been an absolutely horror in my
mind, and will haunt me for years to come. Maximilien Robespierre has killed 25,000 of not just aristocrats, but also citizens of France who ran foul on the
revolutionary control on prices. There were days where I was too afraid to walk out of my house, or even look out of my bedroom window. All I see were
troops rallying citizens on the streets to the lethal guillotine. It was a dreadful time, and people were petrified. Thank god it is all over now.
Any action that showed unsatisfactory was ought to put you under that guillotine, and this was becoming all too much. Around a month ago, a boy was
slaughtered just because he was not paying attention and cheering loud enough when Robespierre made his speech! He was only a little boy with a whole
life ahead of him! Also when the terrible, ruthless newspaper writer Marat,
. Everyone was afraid that his or her own name would one day appear on that list, but Charlotte Corday saved us all, she was our hero! She killed one but
saved millions; but was unfortunately executed herself. The revolution was spinning out of control, and I began to have an epiphany; I was wrong, maybe
the peasants and sans culottes were right about this after all. These third-estate members have come a long way since the Tennis Court Oath, and have
fought hard for their own will. They were the ones who discovered that King Louis tried for high treason; and he was executed on January 21st of last year. I
cannot believe that I once had faith in him to make decisions and lead us. How could he do this to our nation? How could he just abandon us like that? Us
French citizens don’t want power hungry tyrants that are making our lives miserable; we want a peaceful and upright life!
My wife and I were sitting at the dining table eating our lunch when we suddenly heard uproar in the crowds on the streets. I peeked through the window to
see what it was about, and all I could hear was: “The end of Robespierre! The end of Robespierre!” My wife and I quickly ran out the front door, and
followed the crowd to the towns square.
I still remember it so clearly in my head. He walks out the carriage with his hair chopped right below his ears, placed head-down on the board and slid into
the guillotine. It all happened so fast. The “woosh” sound of the blade, then the thud of the head falling into the basket, leaving a trail of sickening red blood
on the deck. The crowd roars deafeningly.
We have done our job, the insolent and vulgar Maximilien Robespierre is finally gone for good.
6. Rising General Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon leading the French Army in
Battlefield to gain land for France
Photos of Napoleon at War
7. November 11th, 1799
Our nation is finally in good hands. It’s been a while since we’ve had a stable government.
I was downright delighted when I heard that Napoleon Bonaparte, the great military general is now crowned the new emperor of France. The citizens
gathered in Paris to see Napoleon overthrow the atrocious directory that has been ruling us for more than four years. Napoleon has already done so much for
our country, gaining lands and fighting wars. His future as emperor was looking as bright as ever.
After the death of Robespierre, France had no clear leader. We needed a tranquil and peaceful head that could help France get back on track; so for the past
four years, a so-called directory was decided to govern our country. It was a few years later when we realised that the directory was a complete disaster; they
have done absolutely nothing to improve the lives of the French; this means four years gone to waste! They have abused their power and not only did they not
solve our financial crisis, but we went back into economic depression, then famine and crop failure began to occur during the following years. They were
supposed to help us, yet they are making everything even worse than it was before! Our voices were unheard, and once again, the third-estate’s opinions were
being neglected. Wasn't this exactly what we were trying to avoid since the beginning? The only time they seemed to have success was during the very
beginning of their time in power, but that was only because Napoleon was helping our country with his highly successful military campaigns.
We have only heard good stories about Napoleon, yet none about the directory. At the time, Napoleon was a rising general and was conquering vast lands for
France. This unbelievably talented military tactician was able to enter military academy at only nine years old, and at twenty years of age, he was a lieutenant
leading armies into precarious battlefields. How rare do we have someone this gifted and brilliant to take over France?
As my wife and I were walking home from the Paris Towns Square yesterday where Napoleon gave his speech, I saw a group of women that looked like they
were protesting against our new emperor. “Aren’t Kings and Emperors the same thing?” they yelled, “Wasn’t this exactly what we tried to avoid when King Louis
and Robespierre was overthrown?” They were furious! Fights even began to break out in the streets, but my wife and I left before the situation got worse. Later
on in the night, I heard from Mr. Salberg our next-door neighbor that these women were arrested due to their disrespectful and chaotic manner. Thank god. We
don’t need these people to insult our devoted and hardworking new emperor. We will lock them up for good if we have to.
Everything is starting to come into place and things are only going uphill from here. France is rising once again, and I know that Napoleon our great leader will
do us good. Vive Notre Nation (Long Live Our Nation)!
8. Citations:
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Tennis Court Oath June 20, 1789. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
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Left-Right Out. Digital image. Counter Currents Publication. John Gordon, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Theocratic Secularism: Part 1: The French Revolution. Digital image. Theonomy Resources. Steve C. Halbrook, 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Citizen Robespierre. Digital image. Deviant Art. N.p., 3 Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
THE IMPIOUS DIGEST. Digital image. The “56 Grassy Knoll Witnesses Conspired to Lie to the Warren Commission” Conspiracy Theory. N.p., n.d. Web. 19
Mar. 2015.
Napoleon III. Digital image. Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
On This Day – France Declares War on Austria, Igniting the French Revolutionary Wars. Digital image. History of War. James Hoare, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Darthmod Napoleon. Digital image. MODDB. N.p., 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
