French Revolution Political Freedom!
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French Revolution Part 2: Political Freedom! Part 2: Political Freedom! Objective: Understand what political freedom is. Determine what the right balance is between security and freedom. Assessment Goals: (Learning Target 1,2,3,6,7): Identify the changes in government and rights of people throughout the revolution. Determine when you believe people were the most free. Explain and defend using primary and secondary source evidence. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A: Initial Revolutionary Movements _____________________________________________ Estates General Tennis Court Oath Storming of the Bastille http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/french-revolution/source-2/ ‘The London Gazette’ – Saturday 18 July – Tuesday 21 July, 1789 (ZJ 1/85 Transcript In the Evening a Detachment with Two Pieces of Cannon went to the Bastile, to demand the Ammunition deposited there. A Flag of Truce had been sent before them, which was answered from within; But nevertheless, the Governor (the Marquis de Launay) ordered the Guard to fire, and several were killed. The Populace, enraged at this Proceeding, rushed forward to the Assault, when the Governor agreed to admit a certain Number, on Condition that they should not commit any Violence. A Detachment of about Forty accordingly passed the Drawbridge, which was instantly drawn up, and the whole Party massacred. This Breach of Faith, aggravated by so glaring an instance of Inhumanity, naturally excited a Spirit of revenge and Tumult not to be appeased. A Breach was soon made in the Gate, and the Fortress surrendered. The Governor, the principal Gunner, the Jailer, and Two old Invalids, who had been noticed as being more active than the Rest, were seized, and carried before the Council assembled at the Hotel de Ville, by whom the Marquis de Launay was sentenced to be beheaded, which was accordingly put in Execution at the Place de Grêve, and the other Prisoners were also put to Death. Questions to Answer: 1. Why were the people outside the Bastille so outraged when the Governor gave the order to fire on them? 2. Some were allowed in - on what condition? 3. What happened to the 40 who went into the Bastille? 4. What happened to the Governor? Women March on Versailles Declaration of the Rights of Man Notes: Use this graphic Organizer to keep track of your information. Period of the Major Changes in Evidence Changes in Evidence Revolution Events/ the Rights People of Government this time Initial Revolutionary Movement ________________________________________________________________________________ B: Robespierre & the Reign of Terror ______________________________________________ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilien-Robespierre Who: Maximilien Robespierre, in full Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre, (born May 6, 1758, Arras, France—died July 28, 1794, Paris), radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French Revolution. When: In the latter months of 1793 he came to dominate the Committee of Public Safety, the principal organ of the Revolutionary government during the Reign of Terror, but in 1794 he was overthrown and executed in the Thermidorian Reaction. How: On July 27, 1793, Robespierre took his place on the Committee of Public Safety, which had first been set up in April. While some of his colleagues were away on missions and others were preoccupied with special assignments, he strove to prevent division among the revolutionaries by relying on the Jacobin societies and the vigilance committees. Henceforward his actions were to be inseparable from those of the government as a whole. Those who initiated the Terror saw it as a bitter but necessary medicine, a elimination of reactionary elements so the revolution could survive and remain on course. Little new policy was needed to initiate a policy of terror. Speeches in the Convention set the tone, while the radicals in the Committee of Public Safety gave their approval. The Law of Suspects, passed in September 1793, formed the legal basis for the Terror by outlining who might be targeted. The Law of Suspects called for the immediate arrest of anyone in one of six categories. Anything from hoarding grain, harbouring suspects, evading the levée en masse (conscription), possessing subversive documents, even speaking critically of the government could lead to a charge. Arrests and trials were conducted by the Revolutionary Tribunals, which were expanded and given new legal authorities. Primary Sources ©2013 The DBQ Project This page may be reproduced for classroom use 83 Republic of Virtue, Maximillian Robespierre 1794 If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the patrie. Robespierre, Speech on Revolutionary Government The theory of revolutionary government is as new as the Revolution that created it. It is as pointless to seek its origins in the books of the political theorists, who failed to foresee this revolution, as in the laws of the tyrants, who are happy enough to abuse their exercise of authority without seeking out its legal justification. And so this phrase is for the aristocracy a mere subject of terror a term of slander, for tyrants an outrage and for many an enigma. It behooves us to explain it to all in order that we may rally good citizens, at least, in support of the principles governing the public interest.It is the function of government to guide the moral and physical energies of the nation toward the purposes for which it was established.The object of constitutional government is to preserve the Republic; the object of revolutionary government is to establish it.Revolution is the war waged by liberty against its enemies; a constitution is that which crowns the edifice of freedom once victory has been won and the nation is at peace.The revolutionary government has to summon extraordinary activity to its aid precisely because it is at war. It is subjected to less binding and less uniform regulations, because the circumstances in which it finds itself are tempestuous and shifting above all because it is compelled to deploy, swiftly and incessantly, new resources to meet new and pressing dangers.The principal concern of constitutional government is civil Liberty; that of revolutionary government, public liberty. Under a constitutional government little more is required than to protect the individual against abuses by the state, whereas revolutionary government is obliged to defend the state itself against the factions that assail it from every quarter.To good citizens revolutionary government owes the full protection of the state; to the enemies of the people it owes only death. Notes: Use this graphic Organizer to keep track of your information. Period of the Major Changes in Evidence Changes in Evidence Revolution Events/ the Rights People of Government this time Reign of Terror ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ C: Napoleon Bonaparte ______________________________________________ NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (History.com) Who: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). When: After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51. Napoleon’s What impact did he/this have Evidence? Document actions/decisions/etc. on people and their rights? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Primary Sources 1. Source: General Napoleon Bonaparte to Andre Francois, private conversation in 1788 “I can no longer obey. I have tasted command. I have tasted power and I cannot give it up. I love power.” 2. Napoleon Bonaparte, 1802, shortly after being appointed Consul (leader) of the French Republic “Of all our institutions public education is the most important. Everything depends on it, the present and the future. It is essential to the morals and the political ideas of the next generation. Above all it is essential to equality. I was not always a ruler. Before I became a ruler, I was a subject, and before that I was a student. I can never forget how powerfully the sentiment (feeling) of equality influenced my mind and excited my heart.” 3. Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, in a letter to his brother Joseph, who Napoleon had made King of Spain. “I will be master everywhere in France and of everything, as long as I have breath in my body. Your character is quite different from mine. You like flattering people, and falling in with their ideas. I like people to please me, and to fall in (agree) with my ideas. I am master today.” 4. Source: Napoleon, in a conversation with Barry O’Meara in 1817. O’Meara was Napoleon’s doctor on the island of St. Helena following Napoleon’s final defeat and exile. “I have always been of the opinion that the sovereignty (power to rule) should lay with the people. In fact, my imperial government was a kind of republic.