-
The french economy was in deep trouble. Bad harvest in 1787 and 1788, and a slowdown in manufaturing led to food shortages, rising prices for food and unemployment
-
The King called for the Estates-General to discuss a fiscal reform. Each estate had each a collective vote. The reform did not go forward
-
The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the kingdom decress that all members of this assembly shall immediately take a solemn oath not to separate until the constitution of the kingdom is established on firm foundations
-
The mob, joined by some of the king's soldiers stormed the Bastille, a small but key fortification that could attack popular neighbourhoods
-
The assembly adopts this important document, wich was inspired by the American Declaration of Independence
-
Secularization of the Clergy and a Civil Constitution for the Curch
-
Finally, the promised Constitution was ready:
- It defined France as a Constitutional monarchy.
- It established division of powers.
- Representatives would be elected by census suffrage. -
The king, who since 1789 was forced to live in the Tuileries palace instead of Versailles, tried to flee in 1791 but was caught and considered a traitor
-
The continuation of the economic and social crisis escalated up to 1792 into mob violence by the sans-coulottes in early August, who stormed in the Tuileries, on the 11ºth, the Legislative Assembly voted to suspend the king