French Revolution and National
Assembly
By Vivi Uppaluru
- Causes of French Revolution and Growth of National Assembly
- French Revolution was a more radical affair than its American counterpart.
- Sought to replace the “old order” ancien regime, with new political, social and cultural structures.
- drew inspiration from Enlightenment political thought
- fiscal problems put France on the road to revolution
- half of French royal governments revenue went to pay off
- King Louis couldn’t gather revenue from peasantry, so he increased taxes on French nobility.
- Aristocrats protested and forced Louis to summon the Estates General, an assembly that represented the entire French population through groups known as estates.
- In the old order, there were three estates, or political classes
- First estate consisted of about 100 thousand Roman Catholic clergy
- The second estate included some 400 thousand nobles
- The third estate embraced the rest of the population- serfs, peasants, laborers, artisans, shopkeepers, physicians, bankers and attorneys.
- The third estate demanded for political and social reform
- representatives of the third estate seceded from the estates general
- They called themselves those National assembly
- took an oath saying they would not disband until they have provided France with a written constitution
- this assertion of popular sovereignty caused great excitement in nearby Paris
- With a lot of support from people, National Assembly undertook a broad program of political and social reform
- The Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen, articulated the guiding principles of the program
- It reflected the influence of the American Revolutionary ideas
- The Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen proclaimed the equality of all men, declared that sovereignty resided in the people, and asserted individual rights to Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
- Assembly abolished feudal system along with the many fees and labor services that peasants owed to their landlords.
- altered role of church in French society by seizing church lands, abolishing the first estate, defining clergy as civilians, and requiring clergy to take an oath of loyalty to the state.
- also, it promoted (promulgated) a constitution that made the king chief executive official but deprived him of legislative authority.
- France became a constitutional monarchy in which men of property -half of adult male population- had the right to vote in elections to choose legislators.
- This all represented an effort to put Enlightenment political thought into practice
Estates General
National Assembly
This is my app explaining my objective, National Assembly. Using Adobe Presenter.