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Copyright and Permissions Copyright and Permissions The Choices Program curriculum units and the contents of the electronic versions are copyrighted—1989-present. These copyright protections extend to all the various elements of Choices units, including titles, lesson plans, background readings, and the construction and language of the “options” or “futures” that are central to each unit. If you would like to use material from a Choices unit, in whole or in part, in your own work, please contact us at [email protected] for permission. We are usually happy to extend permission for most non-commercial educational purposes with appropriate credit given. Your purchase of a Choices unit includes permission to make copies of the student text and appropriate student handouts from the Teacher’s Resource Book for use in your own classroom. This permission does not extend to copies made for resale. NOTE: This document is NOT intended for multi-teacher use. Duplication of this document for the purpose of resale or other distribution is prohibited. Publishing, posting or providing access to this file on an intranet or other networked or web based computer system is prohibited. Please contact us at [email protected] if you are looking for an E- Text that is appropriate for distribution on a secure intranet site. Our E-Text format allows you to post individual readings, study guides, and handouts for students to complete and submit back electronically. The Choices Program is committed to providing rigorous and scholarly educational materials to teachers and classrooms. We thank you for your support. From the Choices Program www.choices.edu The French Revolution CHOICES for the 21st Century Education Program September 2009 Director Susan Graseck Curriculum Editor Andy Blackadar Curriculum Writer Sarah Massey Office Manager Anne Campau Prout Outreach Coordinator Jillian McGuire Professional Development Director Mollie Hackett Program Associate Susannah Bechtel Staff Associate Acknowledgments Jessica de la Cruz The French Revolution was developed by the Choices for the 21st Century Education Program with the assistance of the research Videographer/Editor Tanya Waldburger staff at the Watson Institute for International Studies, scholars at Brown University, and other experts in the field. We wish to thank the following researchers for their invaluable input: The Choices for the 21st Century Education Program is a program of Jonathan Beecher the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute Professor of History, for International Studies and the University of California at Santa Cruz Office of Continuing Education at Brown University. Abbott Gleason Barnaby Conrad and Mary Critchfield Keeney Professor of History, The Choices Program develops Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University curricula on current and historical international issues and offers Sharon Larson workshops, institutes, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of French, Providence College in-service programs for high school teachers. Course materials place special emphasis on the Cover image and maps by Alexander Sayer Gard-Murray. importance of educating students in their participatory role as The French Revolution is part of a continuing series on public citizens. policy issues. New units are published each academic year, and Michael Kennedy all units are updated regularly. Director, Watson Institute for International Studies Visit us on the World Wide Web — www.choices.edu Contents Introduction: The Summer of 1789 1 Part I: France under the Old Regime 2 A New King 2 French Society 2 The Political Structure 6 France and the Age of Enlightenment 8 Part II: Crises and Change—1774-1789 12 Financial Crises 12 Political Evolution 14 The Estates General 16 The Fall of the Bastille 20 The National Constituent Assembly and the Future of France 23 Options in Brief 26 Option 1: Conserve the Power of the King 27 Option 2: Create a Constitutional Monarchy 30 Option 3: Liberate France from the Old Regime 33 Part III: A Revolution, a Republic, and the Terror 36 Revolutionary France 36 The Flight to Varennes 39 The Republican Revolution 40 The Terror 44 Thermidorian Reaction 48 Supplementary Documents 51 THE CHOICES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION PROGRAM is a program of the Watson Institute for Inter- national Studies at Brown University. Choices was established to help citizens think constructively about foreign policy issues, to improve participatory citizenship skills, and to encourage public judgement on policy issues. The Watson Institute for International Studies was established at Brown University in 1986 to serve as a forum for students, faculty, visiting scholars, and policy practitioners who are committed to analyzing con- temporary global problems and developing initiatives to address them. © Copyright September 2009. First edition. Choices for the 21st Century Education Program. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-60123-037-0. WWW.CHOICES.EDU I WATSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, BROWN UNIVERSITY I CHOICES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION PROGRAM I ii The French Revolution France in 1789 ENGLAND AUSTRIAN NETHERLANDS BOULONNAIS ARTOIS FLANDERS English Channel METZ, VERDUN, PICARDY AND TOUL Rouen ÎLE DE FRANCE ALSACE NORMANDY Paris CHAMPAGNE Strasbourg Versailles AND BRIE BRITTANY LORRAINE Rennes MAINE ORLÉANAIS ANJOU Dijon FRANCHE- TOURAINE NIVERNAIS SAUMUROIS COMTÉ BERRY SWISS BURGUNDY CONFEDERATION POITOU BOURBONNAIS MARCHE SAINTONGE AND ATLANTIC ANGOUMOIS LYONNAIS SAVOY AUVERGNE OCEAN LIMOUSIN DAUPHINÉ Bourdeaux GUYENNE AND GASCONY NICE Toulouse PROVENCE LANGUEDOC BÉARN Marseilles FOIX COMTAT ROUSSILLON VENAISSIN Mediterranean Sea France in 1789 SPAIN Province Border CORSICA LANDES Province Name 0 100mi I CHOICES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION PROGRAM I WATSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, BROWN UNIVERSITY I WWW.CHOICES.EDU The French Revolution 1 Introduction: The Summer of 1789 n July 14 1789, several thousand French tion would last for another ten years. During Oworkers attacked and captured the Bas- this time France would have three constitu- tille—a military fortress and prison in the city tions and repeated changes of government. of Paris. Many were hungry and looking for It would fight a series of international wars food. They were also looking for gunpowder and a civil war. It would go through a period to defend themselves against soldiers called of brutal dictatorship known as the Terror. It to Paris by France’s King Louis XVI. The king would also produce “The Declaration of Rights had said that the soldiers were there to pre- of Man and Citizen,” a document that has had serve public order. But the workers suspected a profound impact on contemporary thinking the soldiers were there to disband the National about human rights and the role of govern- Assembly, a new representative body that had ment. just formed against the wishes of the king. The National Assembly hoped to solve Why is the French Revolution the serious problems facing France. Economic important to understand today? conditions were desperate and France’s gov- The ten years of the French Revolution ernment was nearly bankrupt from fighting a were a time of intense debate and upheaval. succession of wars. Most recently France had The upheaval would have profound effects in spent a fortune helping Britain’s American col- France and beyond. Borders in Europe would onies achieve independence. Many of France’s change, many would suffer and die, and new people faced hunger and starvation. Riots over ideas about politics and individual rights the price of bread were common. would emerge that would reshape the world. It Worries about the arrival of the king’s is these far-reaching effects that contribute to troops disrupted the work of the month-old our interest in the French Revolution today. National Assembly. When they found them- As you read in the coming days, try to selves locked out of the assembly’s regular consider the following questions: Why was meeting place, the delegates swore an oath on there upheaval and change in France? What a nearby tennis court to remain in session un- were the events that led to the storming of the til they created a new constitution for France. Bastille and eventually to revolution? How This, they believed, was an important step to did the French people determine what sort of solving France’s troubles. government they would have? Why did efforts to create a democratic republic fail? Why did We swear never to separate ourselves those committed to political rights resort to “ from the National Assembly, and to terror and dictatorship? How did the French reassemble wherever circumstances Revolution contribute to new thinking about require, until the constitution of the the relationship between people and their realm is drawn up and fixed upon government? solid foundations.” In these readings and the activities that —The Tennis Court Oath, June 20, 1789 accompany them, you will explore the social, political, and economic conditions of France Today the fall of the Bastille is the event in the eighteenth century. You will then be that France and the world use to mark the asked to recreate the debate in the National French Revolution. But the revolution did not Assembly as it pondered what should be in occur in a single moment. In fact, the fall of the constitution of France. Finally, you will the Bastille was closer to the beginning of the consider the outcome of these debates and the revolution than the end. The French Revolu- course of the French Revolution. WWW.CHOICES.EDU I WATSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, BROWN UNIVERSITY I CHOICES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION PROGRAM I 2 The French Revolution Part I: France under the Old Regime hat was life like in eighteenth century It is in my person alone that sovereign WFrance? It is safe to say that it was very “ power resides.... It is from me alone different from the life we are familiar with that my courts derive their authority; today. Yet without some sense of the life and and the plenitude of their authority, beliefs of the French people at the time, it is which they exercise only in my name, difficult to answer the question: why did the remains always in me...
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