What were the three estates in Ancien Régime France?
The clergy, the nobility, and the Third Estate.
How many people made up the First Estate in 1789?
About 130,000 members, or 0.5% of the population.
What tax privilege did the Second Estate have?
They were exempt from the corvée royale, the gabelle, and the taille.
What percentage of the population did the Third Estate represent?
About 98% of the population.
Which groups were included in the Third Estate?
The bourgeoisie, urban wage laborers, and rural peasants.
What economic burdens did peasants face under the Ancien Régime?
They paid taxes, feudal dues, and tithes while facing poverty and food shortages.
What is Absolutism in government?
A system where the sovereign holds power by divine right without constitutional limits.
How was the king viewed in relation to the nation?
The king was considered the nation itself.
What two bodies was the king believed to possess?
A physical body that could die and a spiritual body passed to successors.
What rights did the Concordat of Bologna grant the king?
The right to appoint bishops and abbots and regulate church policy.
How did the Concordat of Bologna affect papal authority in France?
It limited papal authority and allowed altering monastic orders.
What was the official religion of France?
Catholicism was the official religion.
How did the Gallican Church relate to the pope and French monarch?
It recognized the pope but preserved autonomy for the French monarch.
What financial privileges did the Church have in France?
It owned 6% of land, collected a tithe, and was exempt from direct taxation.
What did the Enlightenment criticize about monarchy?
It criticized absolute monarchy.
Which powers' concentration did the Enlightenment criticize?
Legislative, executive, and judicial powers.
What societal issues did the Enlightenment oppose in the Ancien Régime?
Religious intolerance and privilege-based society.
Which documents encouraged democratic ideas in France?
The American Declaration of Independence and the 1787 U.S. Constitution.
Why did France face bankruptcy before the Revolution?
War, royal spending, poor harvests, cold winters, drought, cattle disease, and rising bread prices.
When did Louis XVI dismiss Finance Minister Turgot?
On 12 May 1778.
Why was Finance Minister Turgot dismissed by Louis XVI?
Due to nobility pressure over his liberal reforms and tax on nobility.
When did the Estates-General meet at Versailles after 1614?
On 5 May 1789.
What were the cahiers de doléances?
Lists of grievances compiled by local delegates for the king.
How many cahiers de doléances were compiled?
Approximately 30,000.
Why could the Third Estate be outvoted by clergy and nobility?
Because voting was by estate, not by head.
When did the Commoners declare themselves the National Constituent Assembly?
On 17 June 1789.
What did the Commoners claim by declaring the National Constituent Assembly?
Superior legitimacy as representatives of the nation.
What was promised in the Tennis Court Oath on 20 June 1789?
Not to disperse until France had a constitution.
What happened on 14 July 1789 in Paris?
Parisians captured the Bastille.
What was the Great Fear in summer 1789?
A wave of rural panic with peasants attacking tax collectors and landlords.
What did the Assembly decree on 4 August 1789?
The abolition of feudalism and its privileges.
Which symbol of absolute power was destroyed on 14 July 1789?
The Bastille.
What did peasants attack during the Great Fear?
Tax collectors, landlords, and seigneurial archives.
Which feudal privileges were abolished on 4 August 1789?
Feudal privileges, church tithes, venality of office, regional and fiscal privileges.
What did the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaim?
Equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty, and representative government.
What event occurred on 5 October 1789 involving women and the king?
Women marched to Versailles and forced the king and his family to move to Paris.
What did the Constitution of 3 September 1791 establish in France?
France's first written constitution and a constitutional monarchy with limited royal power.
Who were granted voting rights by the 1791 constitution?
Active male citizens over 25 who paid at least three livres in taxes.
How many voters did the 1791 constitution produce through censitary suffrage?
About 4.3 million voters.
How did the 1791 constitution reorganize France administratively?
It divided France into 83 departments.
What standardization did the 1791 constitution guarantee?
Unified weights and measures.
What civil right did the 1791 constitution guarantee?
Civil marriage.
What did the National Assembly do with Church property in November 1789?
They nationalized it and placed it at the nation's disposition.
What action did the Assembly take regarding monasteries on 13 February 1790?
They ordered their closure and the departure of inhabitants.
How did the Civil Constitution of the Clergy change dioceses?
It redrew dioceses according to state administrative divisions.
What financial change did the Civil Constitution of the Clergy make for clergy?
It made the state pay clergy salaries.
What political change did the Civil Constitution of the Clergy impose on priests and bishops?
It made them elective positions.
What oath did the Assembly require clergy to take on 27 November 1790?
A public oath of loyalty to the Constitution.
What were the consequences for clergy refusing the loyalty oath in 1790?
They lost their salary and position.
What was the effect of more than 50% parish clergy swearing loyalty to the Constitution?
It caused a schism between the Constitutional Church and clergy loyal to Rome.
What happened to Louis XVI on 21 June 1791 during his flight?
He was recognized at Sainte-Menehould, arrested at Varennes, and placed under surveillance.
What did the Declaration of Pillnitz of 17 August 1791 demand?
It called on European monarchs to liberate Louis XVI and restore Bourbon authority in France.
Why did the Legislative Assembly declare war on Austria and Prussia on 20 April 1792?
To defend the Revolution and spread its ideals.
What was the result of the attack on the Tuileries on 10 August 1792?
The king was arrested and the French monarchy ended.
What political change did the National Convention make on 22 September 1792?
It abolished the monarchy and established the French Republic.
Who wrote La Marseillaise and for what purpose?
Rouget de Lisle wrote it to mobilize French forces during the war.
Test your knowledge with 26 questions on French Revolution and Empire.
1. Which three groups formed the social estates of French society under the Ancien Régime?
2. Which obligation was the French nobility exempt from under the Ancien Régime?
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