CBSE Class 9 Social Science Advanced The French Revolution MCQs Set 01

Answer: (d) a-iii, b-i, c-iv, d-ii

Explanation:
1. John Locke wrote 'Two Treatises of Government', so a matches (iii).
2. Rousseau wrote 'The Social Contract', so b matches (i).
3. Montesquieu wrote 'The Spirit of the Laws', so c matches (iv).
4. Abbe Sieyes wrote the pamphlet 'What is the Third Estate?', so d matches (ii).
5. The set a-iii, b-i, c-iv, d-ii is option (d).

Teacher's Note:
1. Learn each thinker with his book: Locke - Two Treatises, Rousseau - Social Contract, Montesquieu - Spirit of the Laws.
2. Sieyes is the odd name out; he was a clergyman who spoke for the Third Estate.

Answer: (a) a-i, b-ii, c-iii, d-iv

Explanation:
1. 5 May 1789 was the day the Estates General met, so a matches (i).
2. 20 June 1789 was the Tennis Court Oath, so b matches (ii).
3. 14 July 1789 was the attack on the Bastille, so c matches (iii).
4. 4 August 1789 was the night the feudal system of obligations and taxes was abolished, so d matches (iv).
5. The order a-i, b-ii, c-iii, d-iv is option (a).

Teacher's Note:
1. The four events are in date order, so the matching follows the order of the list.
2. Option (d) repeats (i) twice, which is never possible in a one-to-one match.

Answer: (c) A female political leader

Explanation:
1. Olympe de Gouges was a woman of the revolutionary period who wrote the 'Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen' and demanded equal political rights for women.
2. She was active in politics, so she is described as a female political leader.

Teacher's Note:
1. She is the best-known woman voice of the Revolution; she was later guillotined.
2. Link her name with the demand for women's rights.

Answer: (a) One man-One vote

Explanation:
1. In the Estates General each estate had one vote, so the Third Estate was always outvoted by the other two.
2. The Third Estate demanded that every member should have one vote and that the whole assembly should vote together.
3. This is one man, one vote.

Teacher's Note:
1. Voting by estate (not by head) was the real quarrel in May and June 1789.
2. Equal votes for all members is the basic democratic idea.

Answer: (a) Lawyers and administrative officers

Explanation:
1. The Third Estate included merchants, officials, lawyers, peasants, artisans, landless labourers and servants.
2. Among the given options only lawyers and administrative officers are named in this list.

Teacher's Note:
1. Choose the option that matches the text: lawyers and court officials are named as part of the Third Estate.
2. The Third Estate included both rich and poor people.

Answer: (a) Elected government

Explanation:
1. In a republic the head of the state is not a hereditary king; the government is chosen by the people.
2. A hereditary monarchy and a constitutional monarchy both have a king or queen, so they are not republics.
3. A presidential government is only one form of republic (a parliamentary republic such as India or Germany is also a republic), so the best definition is elected government.

Teacher's Note:
1. The printed key gives (c); I changed it to (a) because republics may be parliamentary as well as presidential.
2. The French Convention declared France a republic on 21 September 1792.

Answer: (b) Underprivileged class society

Explanation:
1. The first two estates (clergy and nobility) enjoyed privileges and paid no taxes to the king.
2. The Third Estate (everyone else) had no privileges and bore most of the taxes.
3. So it meant the underprivileged class.

Teacher's Note:
1. Privileged = clergy and nobles; underprivileged = Third Estate.
2. Nobles and aristocrats belonged to the Second Estate.

Answer: (a) Old Regime

Explanation:
1. French society and institutions before the revolution of 1789 are called the Old Regime ('Ancien Regime').
2. So the answer is Old Regime.

Teacher's Note:
1. Old Regime means the order of things before 1789.
2. Manorial regime is a different term, linked with feudal manors.

Answer: (a) The French Revolution

Explanation:
1. The French Revolution spread the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity and the idea of rights of citizens.
2. These ideas shaped modern states, so the answer is The French Revolution (as per the book's key).

Teacher's Note:
1. The other events happened later and were also influenced by the ideas of 1789.
2. Remember its three slogans: liberty, equality, fraternity.

Answer: (a) Liberty and equality

Explanation:
1. The revolutionaries stood for liberty, equality and fraternity.
2. Taxes and dues were part of the old system that was abolished, so the answer is liberty and equality.

Teacher's Note:
1. The main ideas are the famous slogan of the Revolution.
2. Constitutional monarchy was a result of the revolution, not its central idea.

Answer: (c) 1815

Explanation:
1. Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804.
2. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.

Teacher's Note:
1. Memorise 1804 (emperor) and 1815 (Waterloo).
2. 1821 is the year in which he died on St Helena.

Answer: (c) 1789

Explanation:
1. Louis XVI became king in 1774.
2. He called the Estates General on 5 May 1789 to approve new taxes, so the year is 1789.

Teacher's Note:
1. Do not confuse the year he became king (1774) with the year of the assembly (1789).
2. The date of the first meeting was 5 May 1789.

Answer: (a) 1715-1789

Explanation:
1. The population of France grew from about 23 million in 1715 to about 28 million in 1789.
2. So the right period is 1715-1789.

Teacher's Note:
1. The increase put pressure on food supplies and contributed to the subsistence crisis.
2. Take the period from the book, which is the whole eighteenth century up to the Revolution.

Answer: (c) Taille

Explanation:
1. Taille was a direct tax paid to the state.
2. Tithe was paid to the Church, Livre was a unit of money and clergy is a group of persons.
3. So the answer is Taille.

Teacher's Note:
1. Taille - state; Tithe - Church; Gabelle - salt tax.
2. Livre is the old currency, not a tax.

Answer: (a) 1774

Explanation:
1. Louis XVI became the king of France in 1774 and inherited an empty treasury.
2. So the answer is 1774.

Teacher's Note:
1. Important dates list: 1774 - Louis XVI becomes king.
2. He was the grandson of Louis XV.

Answer: (d) illiterate.

Explanation:
1. Most people could not read or write at that time.
2. So the artist used pictures and symbols to carry the meaning of the Declaration of Rights.
3. This means the people were illiterate.

Teacher's Note:
1. Symbols are used where words cannot be read.
2. The question is about why symbols, not why revolution.

Answer: (d) women and peasants.

Explanation:
1. Only men above 25 who paid taxes of a certain amount were 'active' citizens with the vote.
2. The rest, that is the poor men, women, children and young people, were 'passive' citizens without a vote.
3. Among the options, women and peasants fits the passive group.

Teacher's Note:
1. Active = vote; passive = no vote.
2. Look at the figure of the 1791 system in your notes.

Answer: (a) Africa.

Explanation:
1. The word was used in those times for the indigenous people of Africa south of the Sahara.
2. It is now regarded as an insulting term.
3. So the answer is Africa.

Teacher's Note:
1. Most slaves in the French colonies were taken from Africa.
2. Avoid the word in your own writing; use it only when quoting.

Answer: (d) Montesquieu

Explanation:
1. 'The Spirit of the Laws' put forward the idea of the separation of powers among the legislature, executive and judiciary.
2. Its author was the French noble and judge Montesquieu.

Teacher's Note:
1. Montesquieu - Spirit of the Laws; Rousseau - Social Contract; Locke - Two Treatises.
2. Lenin and Marx are later thinkers.

Answer: (b) Indigenous people of Africa

Explanation:
1. The term meant the indigenous people of Africa south of the Sahara.
2. So the answer is indigenous people of Africa.

Teacher's Note:
1. The same fact as in the earlier question, asked in a different form.
2. Remember the Atlantic slave trade began from the coast of Africa.

Answer: (a) Declaration of Rights of man and citizen.

Explanation:
1. The Constitution of 1791 began with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
2. It declared the right to life, freedom of speech and opinion and equality before law to be natural and inalienable rights.
3. So the answer is Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.

Teacher's Note:
1. Natural and inalienable means rights no one can take away.
2. Women's Declaration was written later by Olympe de Gouges.

Answer: (b) French colonies.

Explanation:
1. These Caribbean islands were ruled by France and had plantations worked by slaves.
2. The wider description is French colonies.

Teacher's Note:
1. A plantation is a farm within a colony; the places themselves were colonies.
2. Slavery was ended in these colonies in 1794.

Answer: (a) declare itself a National Assembly.

Explanation:
1. On 20 June 1789 the Third Estate representatives gathered at an indoor tennis court at Versailles.
2. They declared themselves the National Assembly and swore not to leave until they had drafted a constitution.
3. Their first purpose was to declare itself a National Assembly.

Teacher's Note:
1. Strictly it was the Third Estate deputies, not peasants, who took the oath.
2. The oath was against the king's power, not for a monarchy.

Answer: (c) chateaux.

Explanation:
1. After 14 July 1789 the revolt spread to the countryside.
2. Peasants attacked the chateaux, the stately homes of the nobles, and burnt the documents recording their feudal dues.
3. So the answer is chateaux.

Teacher's Note:
1. Chateau means castle or stately residence of a noble.
2. They targeted the property of the nobles, not common farms.

Answer: (a) kings and aristocracies.

Explanation:
1. The National Assembly declared war on Prussia and Austria in April 1792.
2. People saw it as a war of the people against kings and aristocracies throughout Europe.
3. So the answer is kings and aristocracies.

Teacher's Note:
1. The revolution presented itself as a fight for all peoples against monarchies.
2. The war later brought losses and economic hardship.

Answer: (d) of reduction in wages.

Explanation:
1. Food prices rose sharply while wages did not rise at the same rate.
2. The poor therefore grew poorer while the privileged remained comfortable.
3. So the cause given is reduction in wages (real wages fell).

Teacher's Note:
1. Rising bread prices with stagnant wages widened the gap.
2. The rich were few, not many, so option (a) cannot be right.

Answer: (b) Directory.

Explanation:
1. Robespierre was guillotined in July 1794 and the Reign of Terror ended.
2. A new constitution then set up an executive of five members called the Directory.
3. So the answer is Directory.

Teacher's Note:
1. Reichstag was the German parliament; Convention was the assembly of 1792.
2. Directory = five directors.

Answer: (b) Palace of the Tuileries.

Explanation:
1. On the morning of 10 August 1792 the Jacobins stormed the Palace of the Tuileries.
2. They held the king hostage for several hours.
3. So the answer is Palace of the Tuileries.

Teacher's Note:
1. The question printed 'Louis VI'; it was Louis XVI.
2. The king was executed later, at the Place de la Concorde.

Answer: (d) Camille Desmoulins.

Explanation:
1. Camille Desmoulins was a revolutionary journalist and a friend of Danton.
2. He was guillotined in April 1794 during the Reign of Terror.
3. Marie Antoinette was the queen, not a journalist, so the answer is Camille Desmoulins.

Teacher's Note:
1. The printed question says 'woman journalist', but Desmoulins was a man; I removed the word 'woman' so that the key is correct.
2. Olympe de Gouges, the woman writer executed in 1793, is not among the options.

Answer: (d) queen.

Explanation:
1. Olympe de Gouges wrote the declaration in 1791, modelled on the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
2. She dedicated it to Marie Antoinette, the queen.
3. So the answer is queen.

Teacher's Note:
1. She argued that women should have the same rights as men.
2. The document was addressed to the Queen of France.

Answer: (c) 21 September 1792.

Explanation:
1. The elected Convention met in September 1792.
2. On 21 September 1792 it abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.
3. Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793.

Teacher's Note:
1. Link 21 September with 1792 and 21 January with 1793.
2. The Constitution of 1791 still had a king.

Answer: (d) Tithes.

Explanation:
1. Tithes were a tax of one-tenth of the farm produce, collected by the Church.
2. Gabelle was the salt tax and taille a direct tax to the state.
3. So the answer is Tithes.

Teacher's Note:
1. Tithe means one-tenth.
2. Gabelle - salt, Taille - state, Tithe - Church.

Answer: (a) 1789

Explanation:
1. The Revolution began in 1789 with the meeting of the Estates General and the storming of the Bastille.
2. So the answer is 1789.

Teacher's Note:
1. The date 14 July 1789 is celebrated in France as its national day.
2. Other years are distractors.

Answer: (c) Jacobin club

Explanation:
1. Political clubs became rallying points for people who wished to discuss government policies.
2. The most successful of these was the Jacobin club, named after the former convent of St Jacob in Paris.
3. Zollverein was a German customs union. So the answer is Jacobin club.

Teacher's Note:
1. Jacobins were led by Robespierre.
2. Zollverein is a Prussian trade union, an easy option to reject.

Answer: (b) Tipu Sultan & Raja Rammohan Roy

Explanation:
1. Tipu Sultan was a member of the Jacobin Club in Seringapatam and planted a tree of liberty.
2. Raja Rammohan Roy admired the ideas of liberty and equality of the Revolution.
3. So the answer is Tipu Sultan and Raja Rammohan Roy.

Teacher's Note:
1. Both are cited as Indian examples of the Revolution's influence.
2. Haider Ali, Tilak and the others are not linked with these ideas in the textbook.

Answer: (d) National Assembly

Explanation:
1. After the Revolution the legislature, a lawmaking body elected by the people, was the National Assembly.
2. Duma is the Russian parliament and the House of Lords is British.
3. So the answer is National Assembly.

Teacher's Note:
1. Match the country with its legislature to eliminate options.
2. The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly.

Answer: (a) Napoleon Bonaparte

Explanation:
1. The remark is credited to Napoleon Bonaparte, who is quoted as saying that without Rousseau there would have been no Revolution.
2. So the answer is Napoleon Bonaparte (as per the book's key).

Teacher's Note:
1. Rousseau is called the architect of the Revolution.
2. Mirabeau and Robespierre were leaders of the Revolution.

Answer: (d) Gabble

Explanation:
1. The salt tax in France was known as the Gabelle (written 'Gabble' in the question).
2. So the answer is Gabble (Gabelle).

Teacher's Note:
1. Gabelle - salt tax, hated by the poor.
2. Remember the three taxes: Taille, Gabelle and Tithe.

Answer: (c) Jacobin club

Explanation:
1. The Jacobin club, named after the old convent of St Jacob, became the most successful political club.
2. The other names are not clubs of the Revolution.
3. So the answer is Jacobin club.

Teacher's Note:
1. This question is repeated from an earlier year; the answer stays the same.
2. The Jacobins organised the August 1792 insurrection.

Answer: (a) Rousseau

Explanation:
1. Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote 'The Social Contract', arguing that government rests on an agreement between the people and the ruler.
2. So the answer is Rousseau.

Teacher's Note:
1. Montesquieu wrote 'The Spirit of the Laws'.
2. If a ruler breaks the contract, the people may withdraw their loyalty.