The document provides background information on the American and French Revolutions that occurred in the late 18th century. It discusses key dates and impacts, including the establishment of new forms of government based on Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty. The summary focuses on key events in France, including financial troubles that led King Louis XVI to call the Estates General in 1789, the storming of the Bastille, the formation of the National Assembly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy that gradually gave way to more radical phases of the revolution under the Jacobins and the Reign of Terror led by Robespierre.

1. The years 1776 and 1789 were
pivotal dates in world history:
MEMORIZE THEM!
IMPACTS of these
ATLANTICATLANTIC
REVOLUTIONSREVOLUTIONS
extend far beyond their borders
and time period.

2. Common Elements of the
“Revolutionary Era”
1. New IdealsNew Ideals
– Enlightenment:
Freedom, Equality…
“Popular Sovereignty”
– “Social Contract”
between governed & government
• John Locke
• Thomas Hobbes
• Jean Jacques Rousseau

3. 2.2. Many New Types ofMany New Types of
GovernmentsGovernments
Common Elements:
– Written constitutionsWritten constitutions
– Statements of individualindividual
rightsrights
– Elected assembliesElected assemblies
– Men of property & privilegeMen of property & privilege
held political power.
•HOWEVER, only the Haitian
Revolution empowered ALL men,
regardless of race.
Mt. Vernon
Monticello

4. 3.3. New IdeologiesNew Ideologies
• Political theories emerged to address the
dramatic changes of the age:
– ConservatismConservatism
– LiberalismLiberalism
Later:
– Fascism
– Socialism
– Communism
Differ in the degree ofDiffer in the degree of
Acceptance ofAcceptance of
Change & Authority.Change & Authority.

5. 4.4. Uneven Social ProgressUneven Social Progress
• Some profound & permanent
changes
– Feudal obligations & rights
in France abolished
• Some later & piecemeal
– Abolition of Slavery in Americas
– Equal Rights for Women …?
• Some changes were
not permanent
– Napoleon’s reign
1917

6. 5.5. National SovereigntyNational Sovereignty 
““NationalismNationalism””
New form of IdentityIdentity
Replaced traditional
ways of identifying
oneself:
• Based onBased on commoncommon
cultural & historicalcultural & historical
experienceexperience
I’m not a Catholic; I’m
not a Protestant. By
God, I’m an
American!!

7. NationalismNationalism
– Ethnic minoritiesEthnic minorities
demanded national
independenceindependence from
mother country
– Scattered groupsScattered groups
(Germans & Italians)
unifiedunified to create new
states to house their
national identities:
Germany & Italy.

8. American Revolution
1776
1787 – Constitution
1789 – Bill of Rights
You Tell ME!!

9. French Revolution
1789

11. Causes of French RevolutionCauses of French Revolution
1.1. Financial Crisis:Financial Crisis:
Huge national debt.Huge national debt.
• Overspending by NobilityOverspending by Nobility
• Nobility scoffed at spending
restrictions: Versailles, Marie
• Medieval system of land
ownership still enforced
• War debtsWar debts
• Involvement in almost all wars
abroad & in Europe, including:
– War of Spanish Succession,
– Seven Years’ War,
– American RevolutionAmerican Revolution, …

12. Some Reasons for theSome Reasons for the
French RevolutionFrench Revolution
• Inflexibility of the old regimeInflexibility of the old regime (nobility and the Church)
- continued to insist on absolute power & superiority.
• Aspirations of a rising bourgeoisie -Aspirations of a rising bourgeoisie - earning money,
but not earning influence.
• Indignant and starvingIndignant and starving peasants and wage-earners.peasants and wage-earners.
• Members of all classes came under the sway of the
ideas of the EnlightenmentEnlightenment.

13. Summer 0f 1789
– High Unemployment & Rising pricesHigh Unemployment & Rising prices
– Discriminatory Tax System:Discriminatory Tax System:
• Burden carried by the peasants while church and nobility were
exempt.
• New taxes were about to be added…
– DroughtsDroughts damaged French harvests,
ie.: WheatWheat
• Hot, Dry, Hungry summer…

14. Women’s March onWomen’s March on VersaillesVersailles
5 October 1789 Protesting rarity and high price of bread in Paris.
One of the earliest events of the French Revolution:One of the earliest events of the French Revolution:

15. A TALE OF TWO CITIESA TALE OF TWO CITIES
An Excerpt from Charles Dickens’
It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have
ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than
I have ever known…
-Sydney Carton
Charles Dickens,
A Tale of Two Cities
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of
despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other
way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some
of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for
evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book 1, Chapter 1

17. To Raise Taxes:To Raise Taxes:
King called Estates General: Governing body had notKing called Estates General: Governing body had not
met in 175 yrsmet in 175 yrs
1- Clergy1- Clergy
2- Nobility2- Nobility
3- Masses3- Masses
Block votesBlock votes
Coalition ofCoalition of
1 & 21 & 2

18. Tennis Court MeetingTennis Court Meeting
June 17, 1789
3rd
Estate named itself
the “National Assembly”

19. Woops! Too Late!!Woops! Too Late!!
• King forced other estates to joinKing forced other estates to join
the National Assembly to write athe National Assembly to write a
new Constitutionnew Constitution
• Restless peasants stormed theRestless peasants stormed the
Bastille armory…Bastille armory…

20. Fighting broke
out in the
streets of
Paris

21. Anarchy Swept through
Countryside and Cities

22. Peasant mobs attacked nobility & feudal
institutions

24. ““Declaration of the Rights of Man andDeclaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizenthe Citizen””
National AssemblyNational Assembly - Aug. 1789
• Curtailed influence of the Aristocracy & Church
– Abolished Feudal Rights
– Freedom of Worship
• Created a new, elected Legislative Assemblyelected Legislative Assembly
that reflected the power of the people.
• Established a Constitutional MonarchyConstitutional Monarchy
• Guaranteed individual rightsGuaranteed individual rights based on:
– Enlightenment ideals
– English Bill of Rights
– Declaration of Independence
– Liberté, égalité, fraternitéLiberté, égalité, fraternité

25. 1st
Constitution
Ratified by National Assembly,
1791
Constitutional MonarchyConstitutional Monarchy
“Those who wanted to abolish the
Monarchy felt cheated; those who wanted to
retain the monarchy felt betrayed.”

26. Revolutionary Zeal:Revolutionary Zeal:
Royal Family Arrested;Royal Family Arrested;
Taken to ParisTaken to Paris

27. Revolutionary Zeal: 1792Revolutionary Zeal: 1792
Military exporting Revolution throughout
Europe!

28. Austria & Prussia Invaded France!!
Tried to re-instate
Monarchy
Why?
Why?
Cuz Marie Antoinette was a
Cuz Marie Antoinette was a
Hapsburg, and…?
Hapsburg, and…?

29. 22ndnd
Constitution- 1791Constitution- 1791
• ““The Convention”The Convention” = new ruling body
• Abolished Monarchy
• Proclaimed a
““Republic”Republic”

30. Radical Jacobins
Hijacked the RevolutionHijacked the Revolution
1793 – King & Queen beheaded for treason1793 – King & Queen beheaded for treason

31. Maximilien de Robespierre
““TheThe
IncorruptableIncorruptable
””
•Great Orator
•2 yrs – Head ofHead of
Committee of PublicCommittee of Public
SafetySafety
•Preached Virtue andPreached Virtue and
TerrorTerror as necessary &
inseparable for
Revolution

32. “If virtue be the spring of a popular
government in times of peace, the spring of
that government during a revolution is virtue
combined with terror: virtue, without which
terror is destructive; terror, without which
virtue is impotent.
Terror is only justice prompt, severe and
inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it
is less a distinct principle than a natural
consequence of the general principle of
democracy, applied to the most pressing
wants of the country. ... The government in a
revolution is the despotism of liberty against
tyranny.”
- Maximilien Robespierre
July 1794 – Convicted of
Tyranny, sentenced to
Guillotine

33. ““Reign of TerrorReign of Terror””
• 2nd
Constitution tossed!
Instead… ruled without
one.
Committee of the PublicCommittee of the Public
SafetySafety
– “Enforced” the Revolution:Enforced” the Revolution:
Policy of TerrorPolicy of Terror
• Beheaded 30,000 with “anti-
revolutionary tendencies”  no
more counterrevolutionaries in
France
– Built strong nationalBuilt strong national
militarymilitary to defend against
possible re-invasion.
Guillotine

34. Revolutionary Changes
Church De-Throned…
– “Cult of Reason” as secular alternative to
Christianity
The Clothes made the Man…
– Display of revolutionary zeal by wearing
working class clothes
Even Time was not safe from Change!
– Keep 30-day months but new 10-day units
instead of 7-day weeks; No day of Religious
Observance
– New historical period starting with Year One
with declaration of First Republic on
9/22/1792.
Women’s rights!!??
– Yes: Inherit property, divorce husbands
– No: voting or participation in political affairs

35. Olympe de Gouges
• Playwright, feminist, abolitionist,
pamphleteer
• Demanded French women be given
the same rights as French men.
• Declaration of the Rights ofDeclaration of the Rights of
Woman and the FemaleWoman and the Female
CitizenCitizen (1791) - challenged the
practice of male authority and the
notion of male–female inequality.
• She was condemned during the reign
of terror for attacking the regime of
the Revolutionary government.

36. The Directory
ConservativeConservative ReactionReaction against theagainst the
excessesexcesses of the Conventionof the Convention
•1793 - ModerationModeration set in and the middle class
“Directory” was established, 1795 – 1799.
•Executed Robespierre
•Separation of PowersSeparation of Powers::
– Representative BicameralRepresentative Bicameral
LegislatureLegislature
– Five-man ExecutiveFive-man Executive
•Built up military.Built up military.
•2nd
to last stage of French
Revolution
3rd
Constitution created:
Qualified property owners
Elected 750 legislators:
Council of Five Hundred &
Council of Ancients with
staggered 3-yr terms.
Guaranteeds: Freedom of
speech, religion, press, labor,
But forbade armed groups or
any kind of assembly
without a government
representative present.

37. Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte
• Immensely popular & brilliant military leader:
General at 24
• Supported the Revolution, Directory
• Invaded Egypt…
• Overthrew Directory: became
one of three consuls  named self
Consul for Life
“The truth is that one ought to serve his people
worthily, and not strive solely to please them.
The best way to gain a people is to do that
which is best for them.
Nothing is more dangerous than to flatter a
people. If it does not get what it wants immediate-
ly, it is irritated and thinks that promises have not
been kept; and if then it is resisted, it hates so
much the more as it feels itself deceived.”

38. Stability After Years of ChaosStability After Years of Chaos
• Popular vote legitimized his take-over
Domestic Programs:
• Aid to Agriculture,
• Built Infrastructure,
• Public Education,
• Normalized relations with Church

39. NapoleonicNapoleonic
CodesCodes
• Extremely
PaternalisticPaternalistic laws –
based partly on Roman law:
– Rights of women & children
severely limited
– Freedom of Press & Speech
limited
• Recognition of
Rule of LawRule of Law & guarantee
of some basic rightsof some basic rights
to men
• Parts in force today – model for
other countries…

40. Napoleonic EmpireNapoleonic Empire
International Policy:
French aggression!
Conquest!
• Austria, Prussia,
Spain, Portugal, Italian
kingdoms, Netherlands…
• Reorganized German
state into a
Confederacy…
• Fought British by
sea $$
Le mot ‘impossible’ n'est pas français.

41. 18041804
NapoleonNapoleon
CrownedCrowned
HimselfHimself
EmperorEmperor

42. Jacques-Louis David: The Coronation of the
Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte

43. Decline…
• Money!Money!
– Empires are
expensive!
• NationalisticNationalistic
uprisingsuprisings
undermined
his power
• Italy, Spain, Portugal,
Mexico…

44. Attacked Russia
Baited into going all the way to Moscow… with Winter setting in…

45. Russians set Moscow aflameRussians set Moscow aflame
(scorched earth)(scorched earth)

46. Problems in RussiaProblems in Russia
• Scorched EarthScorched Earth  nowhere to billet troopsnowhere to billet troops
• Short of SuppliesShort of Supplies
• Army decimated… Napoleon returned toArmy decimated… Napoleon returned to
France in Disgrace, a beaten man in aFrance in Disgrace, a beaten man in a
bankrupt nationbankrupt nation..

47. • Napoleon forced into Exile at Elba, 1814.

48. Escaped, returned,
Raised army … but was defeated by
British in 1815….

49. Napoleon met his…
Waterloo is in present-day Belgium, then part of BRITISH CROWN!
1815

51. And France??And France??
Can you say,Can you say,
““Louis XVIII?”Louis XVIII?”
The musical version:
http://www.history.com/topics/napoleon/videos#the-french-revolution
.