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French Involvement in the American Revolution
The French saw possibilities of success in the American Revolution and officially entered by declaring war on Great Britain. By the war's end, they had accumulated a debt with an interest that accounted for 50% of the country's revenue. This was a catalyst for the conflicts in France during the 18th century (http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution#a0). -
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Conflics Among the Monarchy and Nobility Begin
Feb. -May, 1787: By the late 1780s, the French government couldn't command sufficient taxes to function within the limits and practices of existing political institutions. The monarchy's unsuccessful search for adequate revanue lead to ongoing conflicts with aristocracies and ecclesiastical institutions (594). -
Fall of the Bastille
The Parisians who had elected the Third Estate regarded the dismissal of the minister of finance, Necker, as the opening of a royal offinsive against the National Consituient Assembly and the city and began to organize a citizen militia. On July 14, large crowds of poor or middle class Parisians marched to the Bastille to get weapons for the militia. The crowd stormed the fortress, marking the first of the instances where the populace drove the course of the revolution (599). -
National Assembly Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate, after being asked to sit as a separate assembly, found themselves locked out of a "Royal Session" of the National Assembly. The met in a nearby indoor tennis court where they took a vote to sit until they gave France a constitution (597). -
The Great Fear
A movement known as the "Great Fear" swept the French country side, brining with it rural disorder. In attempt to stop the spread of the Great Fear, on the night of Aug. 4, 1789, several liberal nobles and clerics rose in the National Constituent Assembly and denounced their feudal rights (601). -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
In late August 1789, the National Constituent Assembly decided that it should publish a statement of broad political principles. The Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which drew on the political language of the Enlightenment and the Declaration of Rights that the state of Virginia had adopted in June 1776 (601). -
The Parisian Women's March on Versailles
Louis XVI's stalling before ratifying the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen and the aristocratic renunciation of feudalism fueled suspicion against him. From Oct. 5-6, some 7,000 armed Parisian women marched to Versailles demanding bread and that Louis and his family return to Paris with them. On Oct. 6, the monarchy settled in the old palace of the Tuileries in the heart of Paris (603). -
Monarchy Attempts to Flee Paris
Louis XVI and his family attempted to flee the country, but were recognized and arrested at Varennes. The National Constituent Assembly suspended the King’s authority until further notice. This established the king as the chief counterrevolutionary in France and ended any hope for a constitutional monarchy (609). -
Monarchy Abolished
The Convention, established as another new assembly to write a new constitution, met on Sept. 21, 1792, and declared France a republic. Thus, the nationwas to be goverened by an elected assembly and the monarchy was abolished (610). -
The Two-Thirds Law Adopted
Fears of a resurgence of both radical democrats and royalists in the unpcoming elections for the Council of Five Hundred lead to a Convention ruling that at least two-thirds of the new legislator must have served in the Convention itself.The Two-Thirds law, which sought to foster continuity but also clearly favored politicians already in office, quickly undermined public faith in the new constitutional order (624).
