The Revolution Begins

Violence and the Rights of Man

Meeting of the Estates

General• May 4, 1789• Over 1,200 elected deputies met at

Versailles• Third Estate members were angered

– Ordered to vote in three separate chambers (rooms)

– Dressed in black cloaks to mark their inferior status

The National Assembly

• First Estate votes to join the National Assembly

• By June 27, Louis orders remaining delegates to join the National Assembly

• However, in early July, he also ordered 20,000 to nearby Paris and fired his only non-noble advisor – Jaques Necker.

The Tennis Court Oath

• May 17– Members of the 3rd Est. refused to meet separately,

and a few members of the other estates joined them.– They took the name National Assembly, claiming

they represented the “general will” of the nation (France).

– May 20th: After being locked out, the members of the National Assembly moved to a nearby tennis court and pledged their loyalty to unity, the pursuit of a constitution, and “the true principles of the monarchy.”

Trouble in Paris

• Bread prices rose from 8 to 14 sous (currency) per four-pound loaf

• Suspicions and rumors spread that the noble landowners were trying to starve the people into submission by withholding grain.

• The “common people” of Paris began to raid gunsmiths and other stores for weapons, but gunpowder was in short supply.

The Bastille

• To obtain gunpowder and more arms the Parisians attacked the Bastille – a prison fortress that was also a symbol of royal tyranny.

• The governor of the fortress – Marquis de Launay – further enraged the people when he ordered prison guards to fire on the invaders killing about one hundred of them and injuring another seventy.

• Launay surrendered when some soldiers joined with the crowd and turned the cannon on the prison.

Results of Victory at the Bastille

• Saved the National Assembly• Provided arms and gunpowder to a new

Militia commanded by the French hero of the American Revolution the Marquis de Lafayette.

• The withdrawal of royal troops from Paris and the recall of Necker

• The invention of the French flag• The beginning of a pattern of violence

Violence at the Bastille

• Marquis de Launay and six of his troops had been killed after losing the fortress.

More Violence• July 22nd

• The Royal Governor, Louis Bertier de Sauvigny, who allegedly told poor people in France to eat straw, is captured trying to escape Paris.

• He and his father-in-law were both decapitated and had their mouths stuffed with straw.

Violence in the Countryside

• As in Paris, the countryside was a place of open rebellion with noble rule being replaced by popular militias and councils.

• The common people refused to pay their feudal dues to nobles and the church

The National Assembly Responds

• The National Assembly passed laws (known as August decrees) abolishing feudal dues – taxes paid to nobles.

• On August 27, the National Assembly also approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen which guaranteed rights of free speech, association, religion and opinion.

• The age of feudalism was over.