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Louis the XVI Calls the Estate General
The Estates General meeting held great importance, as it was the first meeting since 1614. Louis XVI requested the meeting in desperation after the aristocrats blocked his plan of making people pay more taxes and to explain the economic crisis they were in. Louis XVI wanted to propose solutions to his governments financial problems, and persuade them to approve new taxes. The financial problems were caused by the decades of war that drained treasury from the years at war with Great Britain. -
Forming the National Assembly
Issues of how they would vote on the proposal arose during the Estate General meeting. Louis XVI said that each estate would get one vote, but the members of the Third Estate disagreed with this role, as they were very likely to be outvoted. The Third Estate decided to take control and call themselves the National Assembly. Third Estate The Third Estate wanted to change the system and create a new constitution that would set out equal rights for all men. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was when delegates from the third estate were elected to go to Versailles to solve financial crisis and to insist on reforming the government. This event is important to the Revolution because this was when the people of France reformed the government declaring themselves the National Assembly and the state of the Revoluton. -
The Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille was when over than 800 Parisians crowded outside of Bastille, a fortress used as a prison for political & other prisoners, demanding weapons and gunpowder. The Storming of the Bastille is a symbol of the French Revolution because it was seen as a step toward freedom. -
The Great Fear
The Great Fear was when villages and towns were said to have been attacked and all spread in panic. This can also be known as when the government took over peasants crops, such as grain. The Great Fear was important to the Revolution because these attacks showed how angry citizens of France were with their unfair/unorganized government. -
Writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Men and the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man stated men were "born and remain free and equal in rights." Which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of the Rights of Man impacted the revolution because it aloud any Frenchmen to hold public office which urged people to stick up for themselves by acting against those whole ruled them also it sparked the Women's March on Versailles. -
Women March on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles was when the women of Paris marched to Versailles shouting, "Bread!" and demanded to see the king. People were mad because their king and queen were not paying attention to them and their concerns. So the women marched to Versailles to get king and queen to move to Paris. This was important to the revolution because it sent the beginning of the end for the King and Queen. -
The French Constitution of 1791
The French Constitution of 1791 set up a limited monarchy which replaced the absolute monarchy which then ruled France for centuries. The Constitution made the government more efficient by replacing the old provinces with 83 departments of roughly equal size. Also abolished old courts and reformed laws. The French Constitution of 1791 was important to the revolution because it completed the revolution, and it ensured equality before the law for all male citizens.
