½ of France’s royal government revenue went to pay off war debts
¼ of the revenue went to French armed forces
King Louis couldn’t tax the peasants anymore because they ran out of money
He began taxing the noble class
Aristocrats protest this, and force Louis to summon the Estates General, which is a group of people that represent the entire French population
Had not met since 1614 (it was the 1780s)
Making of the National Assembly
The Estates General met in Versailles in May of 1789
The third Estate (comprised of peasants) demanded social and political reform
The first and second Estates were strongly opposed to the reform
This meeting went nowhere, and after six weeks the third Estate secedes from the Estates General, and declared themselves the National Assembly, a true representation of the French People
They swore they wouldn’t break up until they had provided France with a written constitution
This cessation sparked rebellion all over France
In Paris, a crowd stormed into a jail and royal arsenal to steal weapons and ammunition
There was total anarchy and chaos all over France, many people died because of the rage-filled peasants
National Assembly
The peasants began the ruthless execution of nobility, including King Louis XVI, using the guillotine
They drafted a Declaration of the Rights of Every Man and Citizen, very similar to the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson
It contained 17 Articles, stating that all men are created equal and should be entitled to the “unalienable rights” described in the Declaration of Independence (liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression)
There is also an article that states “taxation is necessary: it must be equally divided among all citizens according to their means”
The National Assembly took “liberty, equality, and fraternity” as its goals, and abolished the feudal system as well as many debts peasants owed their landlords.
They changed France into a constitutional monarchy, where men who owned property could vote for their legislature.
Map of France before and after the French Revolution
Works Cited "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. "France in the Long Nineteenth Century." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. "French Revolution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. "Louis XVI of France." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. SusannahC. "Maps of Central Europe, 1789-1815: The Effects of French Revolution & Napoleon's Ambition." Maps of Central Europe, 1789-1815: The Effects of French Revolution & Napoleon's Ambition. N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. "Thomas Jefferson." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.