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Financial Crisis
The French economy had been expanding for 50 years until it came to a stop and suffered from a bad harvest in 1787 to 1788. This led to food shortages which led to a spike in price for bread. This made the French people mad because King Louis XVI did not address the problem. Instead of the king addressing the problem he spent money on luxuries for himself. Then on the verge of the economic collapse, he was forced to call a meeting and that meeting is called the Estate-General. -
Period: to
French Revolution
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Estates-General
The Estate-General started on May 5, 1789. The Estate-General was a meeting of all social class to vote on a new tax method. On June 17, 1789, the third estate called itself a National Assembly and decided to make a constitution. Three days later they came back to the meeting to find the doors locked. The third estate was not going to stop there so they broke the doors off a nearby tennis court and made the Tennis Court Oath. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Cout Oath started on June 20, 1789. When the other two estates locked the third estate out of the meeting hall and tried to disband the National Assembly. Instead of successfully disbanding the National Assembly the third estate broke down the doors of a nearby tennis court to take the Tennis Court Oath. The third estate took an oath to never disband until a new written constitution was in Frances government. -
Great Fear
The Great Fear started on July 17, 1789, to August 3, 1789. The Great Fear started from rumors that the nobles hired outlaws to terrorize the peasants. So in response, the peasants broke into the nobles houses and burned the legal documents that made them pay the nobles and sometimes even burned the nobles homes down. These riots ended when the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was made. -
Declaration of the Rights of Men and the citizen
On August 26, 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Men and the citizen was made. This Declaration took some of the ideas from the Declaration of Independence it also took some ideas of the English Bill of Rights. The Declaration of the Rights of Men and the citizen has 17 articles which all state the basic rights that everyone has. Most of the articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Men are very close to the American Declaration of Independence like freedom of speech and equal rights.
