CBSE Class 9 Social Science The French Revolution Notes Set 03

French Society in the Late Eighteenth Century

Louis XVI became king of France in 1774. The country was drained by wars, including its support for the thirteen American colonies in their fight for independence from Britain, and taxes were raised to meet regular expenses. French society was divided into three estates. The clergy (first estate) and nobility (second estate) enjoyed privileges by birth and did not pay taxes. The third estate made up the rest of the population. About 90 per cent of the population were peasants, but only a few of them owned the land they cultivated. Members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the state, including the direct tax called the taille and indirect taxes on everyday goods such as salt and tobacco.

The Struggle to Survive

The population grew rapidly, but food production did not keep pace with demand, so the price of bread rose sharply. Low wages widened the gap between the poor and the rich, and drought or hail made things worse. Peasants often revolted against taxes and food scarcity.

A Growing Middle Class Seeks an End to Privileges

In the eighteenth century, a middle class emerged from overseas trade and from manufacturing woollen and silk textiles. Lawyers and administrative officials were also part of the third estate. Educated people in this group believed that privilege by birth was unjust and that social position should depend on merit. Rousseau proposed government based on a social contract between the people and their representatives, and Montesquieu proposed dividing power between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The USA put this model of government into practice.

The Outbreak of the Revolution

The king could not impose new taxes on his own, so Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General on 5 May 1789. Each estate had one vote, but representatives of the third estate demanded that each member have one vote. The demand was rejected, so the third estate walked out and swore not to disperse until a constitution limited the powers of the monarch. Bread prices rose again during a harsh winter. Rumours spread that nobles were hiring bands to destroy crops, and peasants looted grain and burnt manor records. Louis XVI recognised the National Assembly and accepted that his powers would be checked by a constitution. On 4 August 1789, the Assembly abolished the feudal system of obligations and taxes, abolished tithes, and confiscated Church lands.

Constitutional Monarchy

The Constitution began with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. It declared rights such as the right to life, freedom of speech and opinion, and equality before law as natural and inalienable, belonging to every human being by birth. In 1791, the National Assembly completed the constitution, which separated powers among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. France became a constitutional monarchy. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least three days of a labourer's wage could vote, so not every citizen had the right to vote.

France Becomes a Republic

In April 1792 the National Assembly voted for war against Prussia and Austria, and the Marseillaise became the national anthem. Many people felt the revolution had to go further, since the 1791 constitution gave political rights only to the richer sections of society. Political clubs were formed, and the Jacobins became the most successful. Jacobin members included small shopkeepers, artisans, servants and daily-wage workers. They wore long striped trousers, and so were called sans-culottes, meaning "those without knee breeches". On 10 August 1792, the Jacobins stormed the Tuileries Palace and held the king hostage. Elections followed, and all men aged 21 and above gained the vote. The monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792 and France was declared a republic.

The Reign of Terror

The period from 1793 to 1794 is called the Reign of Terror. People seen as enemies of the republic were arrested and tried by a revolutionary tribunal. Those found guilty were executed by the guillotine. Wages and prices were capped, meat and bread were rationed, and white flour was banned. Equality was practised in forms of address, so all French men and women were called citizen and citizeness. Robespierre, who led the Terror, was himself arrested and sent to the guillotine in July 1794.

A Directory Rules France

When the Jacobin government fell, the wealthier middle classes seized power. The new constitution again denied the vote to non-propertied sections of society. It created two elected legislative councils, and a Directory of five members acted as the executive. Political instability paved the way for the military dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Did Women Have a Revolution?

Women were active from the start. Women of the third estate had to work for a living and had no access to education or job training, and their wages were lower than men's. Women started their own political clubs and newspapers, and the Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was one of the most famous. They demanded equal political rights, including the right to vote and to hold political office. The revolutionary government made schooling compulsory, legalised divorce, and allowed women to run small businesses. During the Reign of Terror, however, women's clubs were closed and their political activities banned. Women in France won the right to vote only in 1946.

The Abolition of Slavery

The Jacobin government's most radical social reform was the abolition of slavery in the French colonies. Slave trading had begun in the seventeenth century. Enslaved people were captured through local chieftains, branded, chained, and packed into ships for a three-month voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Slave labour met the demand for sugar, coffee and indigo in Europe. In 1794, the Convention freed all slaves in the French overseas possessions. Napoleon reintroduced slavery in 1802, and it was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848.

The Revolution and Everyday Life

The revolution changed the lives of men, women and children. Censorship was abolished in the summer of 1789. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen declared freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right. A free press meant that opposing views of events could be published, and plays, songs and festive processions drew large crowds.

Conclusion

Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804. He introduced many laws, including the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures based on the decimal system. He was defeated at Waterloo in 1815. The most important legacy of the French Revolution was the idea of liberty and democratic rights, and colonised peoples later drew on the same idea to build sovereign nation-states.

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