Third Estate Representatives example essay topic

Estates General-1789 It quickly became clear to the king and his advisors that the common French people had reached a point of "tax saturation". That is, they simply could not provide more government revenue. Thus the king agreed in 1789 to hold a meeting of the Estates General - a medieval assembly elected to advise the king on policy. The Estates General consisted of three major groups: the First Estate of the Clergy, the Second Estate of French nobility, and the Third Estate of commoners. Each group elected representatives on a regional level to go to Versailles to advise the king. It is clear from the election process of the Third Estate that, while there was no revolutionary intent, the commoners desired to use this process to improve their political position.

They sent their representatives to Versailles with Cahiers, or notebooks, full of recommendations for reforming government. As soon as the Estates General got down to business, it became clear that the primary issue on the minds of most delegates was the political reform of the French state - not simply the right of the king to new taxes. While it is unclear why, on June 2, 1789, the Third Estate representatives were locked out of their meeting hall, where they had been demanding that votes be taken by head, rather than by chamber. Upset at this apparent denial of their right to take part in the process, they marched to a nearby indoor tennis court, and there resolved as a body to remain in session until they had written a constitution for France (Tennis Court Oath).

They invited the first and second estates to join them. Some of the clergy did. This group then renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly, and arrogated to itself the duty of creating a constitution which limited the powers of the king, and allowed for greater participation in the political process. 1789-1791: The National Constituent Assembly Beginning in June 1789 the Third Estate of the Estates-General, called by King Louis XVI to repair France's finances, seized the political initiative and made the demand for fundamental governmental reform. The "Constituent" forced through a series of reforms that converted France into a constitutional monarchy, abolished feudal privileges and created a representative (but not democratic) electorate. Its most famous piece of legislation is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, roughly the equivalent of the American Bill of Rights.

1791-1792: The Legislative Assembly The Constituent provided France with a unicameral parliament called the Legislative Assembly. The king governed in conjunction with this body, but the machinations of his wife, Marie Antoinette, and his growing desire for republicanism worked to undermine the regime. On August 10, 1792, a Parisian mob marched on the Tuileries (the royal residence in the Louvre Palace) and forced the king to flee to the safety of the Legislative Assembly. The monarchy was now through. The most notable action of the Legislative Assembly was its declaration of war against Austria and Prussia in April 1792. (From this date until Napoleon's abdication in 1814, with the exception of a brief period in 1802-1803, France was at war.) 1792-1795.

National Convention National Convention, longest lived of the revolutionary assemblies. It was elected by male suffrage and composed entirely of republicans (749 members, of whom 486 were new men). Parties: The Plain had a majority but was dominated by the Girondists and then by the Mountain. The Girondists now formed the Right, and the Mountain, under Robespierre, Danton, and others, formed the Left.

Legislative Assembly sat from October 1791 until September 1792, when, in the face of the advance of the allied armies of Austria, Holland, Prussia, and Sardinia, it was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the Republic. The King was brought to trial in December of 1792, and executed on January 21, 1793. In January of 1793 the revolutionary government declared war on Britain, a war for world dominion which had been carried on, with short intermissions, since the beginning of the reign of William and Mary, and which would continue for another twenty-two years. The Committee of Public Safety and the Revolutionary Tribunal were instituted immediately after the execution of the King. The Reign of Terror, during which the ruling faction ruthlessly exterminated all potential enemies, of whatever sex, age, or condition, began in September of 1793 and lasted until the fall of Robespierre on July 27, 1794: during the last six weeks of the Terror alone (the period known as the "Red Terror") nearly fourteen hundred people were guillotined in Paris alone. The Convention was replaced in October of 1795 with the Directory, which was replaced in turn, in 1799, by the Consulate.

1795-1799: The Directory The Directory was established by the Constitution of Year. Citizenship was extended to all males of at least 21 years of age who were on the civic lists of a canton and either paid direct taxes or had served in the army. All citizens could vote (no distinction between active and passive citizens). The constitution provided for a bicameral legislature (Council of Five Hundred and Council of the Ancients), with deputies each serving a three-year term, and a five-member executive branch (the Directory) chosen by the legislature. Freedom of the Press was confirmed by the constitution, but it could be restricted by the Directory for a year.

Political clubs, collective petitioning, and popular societies were suppressed.