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In 1789, the French Revolution was initiated and France was crumbling, but what caused the French Revolution? There are many causes of the French Revolution including how young the monarchs are, the funding of the French Revolution, the famine , the unbalanced social structure, influence of the Enlightenment thinkers, and the English and French Revolution. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the king and queen of the time of the French Revolution. They got married relatively young, which accounts for how they acted and how the decided to spend the countries money. Marie Antoinette spend most of her money on dresses, jewelry, and parties. King Louis XVI loved to spend his money on himself, the residences, and the funding of the French Revolution. Another reason is the funding of the American Revolution. The government's funding was diminishing because of all of the wars happening in France and from the funding of the American Revolution. King Louis XVI hated the English, so in order for him to defeat the English, he funded the American Revolution by giving them troops or more money. He spend so much money that the government went into deficit spending, when the government spends more money that what they actually had. Which leads to the famine. The famine was caused because of the overpopulation of people in France, the severe winters, and the lack of money, ultimately resulting in a famine and starvation across the countryside. Furthermore, the French Revolution happened because of the unbalanced social structure. The social structure of France started with the king, the clergy, the nobility, and ending with the laborers and peasants. The kings, clergy, and nobility had the upper hand in society resulting in these classes not to pay any taxes, leaving all the taxes to the laborers and peasants, who are the poorest of them all. A different way of causing the French Revolution was influencing the people, which came into play with the Enlightenment thinkers. The Enlightenment thinkers were spreading books and pamphlets about these ideas of changing the world. Some of these Enlightenment thinkers were Jean-Jacque Rousseau, Baron de Montesquieu, John Locke, and many more. Finally, the English and American Revolutions bring new ideas into the peoples minds with the English documents such as the Magna Carta, the Petition of Rights, and the English Bill of Rights. One of these ideas that were placed into the minds of the people were that in the Declaration of Independence, it critiques the king and shows them what he has truly done and how terrible he was. These are just a few points of what caused the French Revolution and how France is here today.

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History Notes

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The meeting of the Estates General was a meeting that was caused because since King Louis XVI spend all of his money, he imposed taxes onto the nobility, which is one of the two estates that weren't paying taxes at that time. So the second estates forced King Louis XVI to hold this meeting of representatives from all three of the estates to approve on this new tax law. This meeting was held on May 5th, 1789 in Versailles. The problem of the estates was that the clergy and the nobility would outvote the peasants. There were 1,200 delegates in total, having 300 form the First Estate, 300 for the Second Estate, and 600 for the Third Estate, making the voting fair. The voting process consisted of each estate getting a vote. The problem was that since there were so many delegates, they should have all got a vote instead of one concise vote. The meeting was about the financial and political situation in France at the moment. Since King Louis XVI has been spending all of the money and has forced all the taxes onto the Third Estate, they decided to have a meeting with King Louis XVI to come with a compromise. The meeting ended with the Third Estate setting up the National Assembly, motioning the outburst of the French Revolution.

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Lumen Learning

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The Tennis Court Oath is an oath that was made when the Third Estate were locked out of the Estates General Meeting, preventing them from getting in. In the end, they broke the door to the indoor tennis room and ensured that they made a new constitution that they forced King Louis XVI to sign. The King was relentless but he did sign the new constitution and ordered for all of the estates to conjoin into one and this new document is called the National Assembly. The people were in the Tennis Court for a total of 3 full days. The Tennis Court Oath contributed to the National Assembly which helped the estates combine.

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Britannica

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In 1789, Paris showed a lot of support for the National Assembly. The Palais Royal, the royal palace, became the place where people would have meetings. There were rumors that the French were bringing in foreign military and the people were afraid that they were going to get killed. So for defence, the people started gathering their weapons. While searching for gunpowder and weapons, the mob stormed the Bastille. The mob ended up taking control of the entire building. They stormed into the prison, taking the prison commanders and guards heads on pikes while going around the streets, showing off what they have done. In the prison there were only 7 prisoners, releasing them and letting them live. In the end, the Bastille was fired at and ultimately demolished. This event signified the fact that the Revolution was coming alive. And since this was a very big event for France, France decided to make it a national holiday, which is similar to the 4th of July, signifying freedom.

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Britannica

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The Establishment of the French Republic and the Declaration of the Rights of Man 

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The Establishment of the French Republic and the Declaration of the Rights of Man 

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The widespread of rebellion in France put a sense of panic upon the people, causing the Great Fear. The peasants would break into nobles' manor houses, destroyed legal documents that said that they needed to pay taxes and even burning their houses. The nobles and officers of the Church were also in a state of panic. The nobles and members of the clergy gather together for a meeting. This meeting was about how much they loved their liberty and equality, and resulting in the commoners being at the same level as the nobility and clergy. Three weeks later, the National Assembly decided to write a document called The Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Some of the rights listen in this document state, "men are born and remain free and equal in rights". This document also insured that each citizen to equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Although this ideal was going around France, it didn't work for everyone. Olympe de Gouges published her own version of The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, but included women's rights but her ideas were rejected. Later on, she would be declared the enemy of the Revolution and would be killed.

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Britannica

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The Establishment of the French Republic and the Declaration of the Rights of Man

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In June 1791, King Louis XVI tries to flee because his life is in danger. Since the National Assembly rewrote their agreements with the church and the state, making their Church officials and priests be elected and paid as state officials. Now that the Church officially has no freedom and no indepence, millions of Catholic French peasants are scared. So since many are scared and the King is being advised to leave France, he does. He attempts to flee to the Austrian Netherlands, but is stopped and returned back to Paris. The French didn't take this very well. This increased his enemies and sealed his fate of being killed. The National Convention convicted King Louis XVI guilty of 33 charges of betrayal, sabotage, a failure to lead his country. Soon after, King Louis XVI was taken to the guillotine, a machine that was used to behead people, and took his fate. Along with King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette is also convicted of the death penalty. She was also guillotined and killed.

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Alpha History

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With all of the political and governmental changes in France, most people who got involved with these situation were called Jacobins, a radical political organization group. The group leader of the Jacobins was a man by the name of Jean Paul Marat. Jean Paul would edit a newspaper in which he said that anyone who opposed the new government would be killed. Soon later, the King was killed by the guillotine, which was a machine in which chopped their heads off of. During this time of the Reign of Terror, about 40,000 people died. This time period was called the Reign of Terror because if you were suspected to be a enemy of the Revolution, you were sentenced to death. Most of these people were peasants, priests, and rivals. Robespierre ruled during the time of the Reign of Terror and changed everything for the peoples society. He changed the calendar, changing the days in the month, renaming the months and deciding to have no churches. The people felt afraid for their lives because you could go to trial and be guillotined on the same day. The period of the Reign of Terror happened for about a year. This changed the outlook on France forever.

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Britannica

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Since Robespierre was a terrible man in which he killed many people in France, they put him to trial and was guillotined. After his death, people began to go back to their normal lives and were searching for a leader. They found a general by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. When the National Convention met again, they created a new document named the Directory. This appointed Napoleon as their new leader. Napoleon becoming France's new leader marked the beginning of the Napoleonic Era for France. This era changed how the mindset of the people in France.

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Britannica

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