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Estates-General
An assembly of representatives from all three estates, to approve Louis XVI new tax. That implied imposing taxes on the nobility. The meeting was the first since 175 years. -
National Assembly
Sieges suggested the Third Estate delegates to name themselves "National Assembly" and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French citizens. After a long night the voted expecting the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government. -
Tennis Court Oath
Finding themselves locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles on June 20 and thinking that the king was forcing them to disband, they moved to a nearby indoor tennis court (salle du jeu de paume). There they took an oath never to separate until a written constitution had been established for France. -
The Rights of Man
The National Assembly established a document reflecting the rights of "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." The document also guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. "Liberty, equality, fraternity." was their slogan. -
The Great Fear
Violence spread throughout the French countryside since rumours were spread that the lords had hired robbers to murder peasants. This rumor was not true, but it raised fear that led to the peasants rising up against their lords. Peasants broke into houses, killed many of the nobles, and took possession of their properties. -
Jacobins
The Jacobins were members of an influential political club during the French Revolution. They were radical revolutionaries who plotted the downfall of the king and the rise of the French Republic. They are often associated with a period of violence during the French Revolution called "the Terror." -
Émigré
Frenchmen, at first mostly aristocrats, who fled France in the years following the French Revolution of 1789. Many émigrés plotted against the Revolutionary government, seeking foreign help in their goal of restoring the old regime. The Revolutionary leaders in France, fearful of their activity, took action against them: émigrés who did not return by January 1792 were liable to death as traitors. -
San-Culottes
The sans-culottes were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th century France, a great many of whom became radical and fierce partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the Ancien Régime. -
Guillotine
The guillotine was invented by Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a professor of anatomy in Paris. In 1791, the "National Assembly" voted a law to use it as the execution device. This method was considered humane as the victim only felt a small breeze on his neck before his head was chopped off. -
Reign of Terror
A man named Robespierre led the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. He wanted to stamp out any opposition to the revolution, so he called for a rule of "Terror." Laws were passed that said anyone suspected of treason could be arrested and executed by guillotine. Thousands of people were executed including Queen Marie Antoinette and many of Robespierre's political rivals.
