Declaration of the Rights of Man

1. Declaration of the Rights of Man • Calls for end to Absolute Monarchy • Representative government • Freedom and Equality to all • Freedom of Press • They want a constitution, which is a set of fundamental principles that the state follows

2. Groups • Get into groups of 5 with the people around you. • Now we are going to play a guessing game. • When you are a leader, you have to make hard decisions. • You are going to perspective take, and make choices that you think are best for French society. • You are going to be making decisions as if you are King Louis XVI

3. 1st Question • France was in a dire situation. It was obvious that changes needed to happen. The people of the 3rd Estate were pushing for a revolution, they were demanding some sort of change. But the 1st and 2nd Estate – basically all the Nobles did not want to relinquish any power. As King, you needed the Nobles on your side to be able to make any real positive change. • So, if you were King Louis the 16th. Would you call the Estates General? • Yes or No. Take a few minutes to discuss with your group.

4. In my opinion…. • The answer would be yes. The Estates General is a great opportunity to allow the 3rd Estate to voice their opinions and feel heard. • It also gives you the ability to start talking to the Nobles and Church, and try to come up with a way of convincing them to allow you to raise taxes.

5. Question #2 • Now that you have the people talking in the Estates General, do you let the 3rd Estate form a National Assembly (which is the body that represents the people)? • Yes or No…?

6. In my opinion… • No, because the Nobles and Clergy would be infuriated to give up all of their power. If the Nobles are unhappy they can leave France (Emigres) and take their wealth and abilities with them (they have connections). If you anger the Church too much, they will get the rest of the population outside of the cities to rebel (remember, the population is very Catholic at this time). • So you need to hold off in giving the people this power until you can convince them it is necessary.

7. Émigré The Émigré were people from the 1st and 2nd estate who had to leave France due to the political and social situation. They had lots of power, money, knew how society ran. Had influence in different countries; lots of connections to money, armies, trade.

8. The Bastille • As we learned about in previous classes. The Bastille represented the most visible and oppressive symbols of power of the state. • Started with Bread Riots, people knew they were going to get arrested, got armed, realized they needed more arms. Things got out of hand. • Quick quote from Book.

9. Sans-Culottes • Radical left-wing group of lower class urban laborers • Were supporters of radical means, to get radical change • Often were quick to take their opinions of the will of the people, and then violently enforce them • When revolution got going, they often made up a large percentage of the revolutionary army

10. Sans-Culotte • Lead by Jean-Paul Marat • While not as skilled as a politician he was able to catch peoples attention and rally them around a common cause • He often acted as a voice of outrage

11. Mob Mentality • People can often be influenced by others around them • This often means that things escalate very quickly • There have been many cases of this where people do things in a group, that they would have probably never done on their own • Take a minute and talk to a partner, can you think of an example of this?

12. 3rd Question • At the Fall of the Bastille (Paris was starting to lose control), do you send in the army after the Sans Culotte mob? • Yes or No?

13. In my opinion • No – the wrong army was sent in. Many of the soldiers who he sent to disperse the mob had fought in the American Revolution, and had sympathized with what this group was fighting against. So when his army got to the Bastille, instead of killing the mob, the army joined them.

14. Continued • As well, if the army gets sent in, and kills many of these people, the King will be viewed as being against the revolution. • He needs to be seen as a leader who supports his people. • As well, if you let the group run rampant, the Nobles will see dire (serious) the situation is. • This means they might be more likely to accept a reformation of the tax system.

15. Game over for now… • We will have a short test next week that will tie to questions that have been on your worksheets. As long as you have them. You will be well equipped for the test. • Brain Break?

16. Focus of the National Assembly • Economic Reform – with the Declaration of the Rights of Man stating that all men should have equal rights, there was a need to reform the economic system. • This meant that there was an abolishment of special privileges given to Nobility. • The Assembly announced that nobles and clergy would start having to pay tax  This would be based on the value of their property and their income • The Assembly also started to sell the land of the Church

17. Focus of the National Assembly • Rationalization - there was a strong push to find a common measuring system for all of France. Previous to this many different areas had different ways of measuring. They eventually chose the METRIC system.

18. Focus of the National Assembly • Rationalization – This also meant that they broke up the way that land in France was previously divided. Instead of separating land into generalities, the Assembly made 83, roughly the same size areas, called departments. • In the upcoming maps, notice the difference in the areas.

19. Generalities

20. Departments

21. Legal System • There was a new legal system set up. Instead of many different courts of the old regime, there was a new national court. • This system used elected officers and citizens’ juries.