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Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
MAIN IDEA
REVOLUTION The revolutionary government of France made reforms but also used terror and violence to retain power.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Some governments that lack the support of a majority of their people still use fear to control their citizens.

TERMS & NAMES
• Legislative Assembly • émigré • sans-culotte • Jacobin • guillotine • Maximilien Robespierre • Reign of Terror

SETTING THE STAGE Peasants were not the only members of French society

to feel the Great Fear. Nobles and officers of the Church were equally afraid. Throughout France, bands of angry peasants struck out against members of the upper classes, attacking and destroying many manor houses. In the summer of 1789, a few months before the women’s march to Versailles, some nobles and members of clergy in the National Assembly responded to the uprisings in an emotional late-night meeting.
TAKING NOTES
Recognizing Effects Use a flow chart to identify the major events that followed the creation of the Constitution of 1791. Assembly Creates a Constitution

The Assembly Reforms France
Throughout the night of August 4, 1789, noblemen made grand speeches, declaring their love of liberty and equality. Motivated more by fear than by idealism, they joined other members of the National Assembly in sweeping away the feudal privileges of the First and Second Estates, thus making commoners equal to the nobles and the clergy. By morning, the Old Regime was dead.
The Rights of Man Three weeks later, the National Assembly adopted a statement of revolutionary ideals, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Reflecting the influence of the Declaration of Independence, the document stated that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” These rights included “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” The document also guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. In keeping with these principles, revolutionary leaders adopted the expression “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” as their slogan. Such sentiments, however, did not apply to everyone. When writer Olympe de Gouges (aw•LIMP duh GOOZH) published a declaration of the rights of women, her ideas were rejected. Later, in 1793, she was declared an enemy of the Revolution and executed. A State-Controlled Church Many of the National Assembly’s early reforms

focused on the Church. The assembly took over Church lands and declared that Church officials and priests were to be elected and paid as state officials. Thus, the Catholic Church lost both its lands and its political independence. The reasons for the assembly’s actions were largely economic. Proceeds from the sale of Church lands helped pay off France’s huge debt. The assembly’s actions alarmed millions of French peasants, who were devout Catholics. The effort to make the Church a part of the state offended them, even

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One of the people who stopped Louis from escaping said that he recognized the king from his portrait on a French bank note.

though it was in accord with Enlightenment philosophy. They believed that the pope should rule over a church independent of the state. From this time on, many peasants opposed the assembly’s reforms.
Louis Tries to Escape As the National Assembly restructured the relationship between church and state, Louis XVI pondered his fate as a monarch. Some of his advisers warned him that he and his family were in danger. Many supporters of the monarchy thought France unsafe and left the country. Then, in June 1791, the royal family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands. As they neared the border, however, they were apprehended and returned to Paris under guard. Louis’s attempted escape increased the influence of his radical enemies in the government and sealed his fate.

Divisions Develop
For two years, the National Assembly argued over a new constitution for France. By 1791, the delegates had made significant changes in France’s government and society.
A Limited Monarchy In September 1791, the National Assembly completed the

new constitution, which Louis reluctantly approved. The constitution created a limited constitutional monarchy. It stripped the king of much of his authority. It also created a new legislative body––the Legislative Assembly. This body had the power to create laws and to approve or reject declarations of war. However, Left, Right, and Center the king still held the executive power to enforce laws. The terms we use today to describe
Factions Split France Despite the new government, old

Recognizing Effects How did differences of opinion on how to handle such issues as food shortages and debt affect the Legislative Assembly?

problems, such as food shortages and government debt, remained. The question of how to handle these problems caused the Legislative Assembly to split into three general groups, each of which sat in a different part of the meeting hall. Radicals, who sat on the left side of the hall, opposed the idea of a monarchy and wanted sweeping changes in the way the government was run. Moderates sat in the center of the hall and wanted some changes in government, but not as many as the radicals. Conservatives sat on the right side of the hall. They upheld the idea of a limited monarchy and wanted few changes in government.

where people stand politically derive from the factions that developed in the Legislative Assembly in 1791. • People who want to radically change government are called left wing or are said to be on the left. • People with moderate views often are called centrist or are said to be in the center. • People who want few or no changes in government often are called right wing or are said to be on the right.

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In addition, factions outside the Legislative Assembly wanted to influence the direction of the government too. Émigrés (EHM•ih•GRAYZ), nobles and others who had fled France, hoped to undo the Revolution and restore the Old Regime. In contrast, some Parisian workers and small shopkeepers wanted the Revolution to bring even greater changes to France. They were called sans-culottes (SANZ kyoo•LAHTS), or “those without knee breeches.” Unlike the upper classes, who wore fancy knee-length pants, sans-culottes wore regular trousers. Although they did not have a role in the assembly, they soon discovered ways to exert their power on the streets of Paris.

War and Execution
Monarchs and nobles in many European countries watched the changes taking place in France with alarm. They feared that similar revolts might break out in their own countries. In fact, some radicals were keen to spread their revolutionary ideas across Europe. As a result, some countries took action. Austria and Prussia, for example, urged the French to restore Louis to his position as an absolute monarch. The Legislative Assembly responded by declaring war in April 1792.
France at War The war began badly for the French. By the

Jean-Paul Marat 1743–1793
Marat was a thin, high-strung, sickly man whose revolutionary writings stirred up the violent mood in Paris. Because he suffered from a painful skin disease, he often found comfort by relaxing in a cold bath—even arranging things so that he could work in his bathtub! During the summer of 1793, Charlotte Corday, a supporter of a rival faction whose members had been jailed, gained an audience with Marat by pretending to have information about traitors. Once inside Marat’s private chambers, she fatally stabbed him as he bathed. For her crime, Corday went to the guillotine.

summer of 1792, Prussian forces were advancing on Paris. The Prussian commander threatened to destroy Paris if the revolutionaries harmed any member of the royal family. This enraged the Parisians. On August 10, about 20,000 men and women invaded the Tuileries, the palace where the royal family was staying. The mob massacred the royal guards and imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children. Shortly after, the French troops defending Paris were sent to reinforce the French army in the field. Rumors began to spread that supporters of the king held in Paris prisons planned to break out and seize control of the city. Angry and fearful citizens responded by taking the law into their own hands. For several days in early September, they raided the prisons and murdered over 1,000 prisoners. Many nobles, priests, and royalist sympathizers fell victim to the angry mobs in these September Massacres. Under pressure from radicals in the streets and among its members, the Legislative Assembly set aside the Constitution of 1791. It declared the king deposed, dissolved the assembly, and called for the election of a new legislature. This new governing body, the National Convention, took office on September 21. It quickly abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. Adult male citizens were granted the right to vote and hold office. Despite the important part they had already played in the Revolution, women were not given the vote.
Jacobins Take Control Most of the people involved in the governmental changes in September 1792 were members of a radical political organization, the Jacobin (JAK•uh•bihn) Club. One of the most prominent Jacobins, as club members were called, was Jean-Paul Marat (mah•RAH). During the Revolution, he edited a newspaper called L’Ami du Peuple (Friend of the People). In his fiery editorials, Marat called for

Analyzing Causes What did the September Massacres show about the mood of the people?

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The Guillotine
If you think the guillotine was a cruel form of capital punishment, think again. Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin proposed a machine that satisfied many needs––it was efficient, humane, and democratic. A physician and member of the National Assembly, Guillotin claimed that those executed with the device “wouldn’t even feel the slightest pain.” Prior to the guillotine’s introduction in 1792, many French criminals had suffered through horrible punishments in public places. Although public punishments continued to attract large crowds, not all spectators were pleased with the new machine. Some witnesses felt that death by the guillotine occurred much too quickly to be enjoyed by an audience.
RESEARCH LINKS For more on the guillotine, go to classzone.com

Once the executioner cranked the blade to the top, a mechanism released it. The sharp weighted blade fell, severing the victim’s head from his or her body.

Some doctors believed that a victim’s head retained its hearing and eyesight for up to 15 minutes after the blade’s deadly blow. All remains were eventually gathered and buried in simple graves.

Tricoteuses, or “woman knitters,” were regular spectators at executions and knitted stockings for soldiers as they sat near the base of the scaffold.

1. Synthesizing In what ways was the

Beheading by Class
More than 2,100 people were executed during the last 132 days of the Reign of Terror. The pie graph below displays the breakdown of beheadings by class. Before each execution, bound victims traveled from the prison to the scaffold in horse-drawn carts during a one and one-half hour procession through city streets.

guillotine an efficient means of execution?

See Skillbuilder Handbook, page R21. 2. Comparing France continued to use the guillotine until 1977. Four years later, France abolished capital punishment. Conduct research to identify countries where capital punishment is still used. Use your findings to create a map titled “Countries Using Capital Punishment.”

First Estate Second Estate Third Estate

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the death of all those who continued to support the king. Georges Danton (zhawrzh dahn•TAWN), a lawyer, was among the club’s most talented and passionate speakers. He also was known for his devotion to the rights of Paris’s poor people. The National Convention had reduced Louis XVI’s role from that of a king to that of a common citizen and prisoner. Now, guided by radical Jacobins, it tried Louis for treason. The Convention found him guilty, and, by a very close vote, sentenced him to death. On January 21, 1793, the former king walked with calm dignity up the steps of the scaffold to be beheaded by a machine called the guillotine (GIHL•uh•TEEN). (See the Science & Technology feature on page 659.)
The War Continues The National Convention also had to contend with the con-

tinuing war with Austria and Prussia. At about the time the Convention took office, the French army won a stunning victory against the Austrians and Prussians at the Battle of Valmy. Early in 1793, however, Great Britain, Holland, and Spain joined Prussia and Austria against France. Forced to contend with so many enemies, the French suffered a string of defeats. To reinforce the French army, Jacobin leaders in the Convention took an extreme step. At their urging, in February 1793 the Convention ordered a draft of 300,000 French citizens between the ages of 18 and 40. By 1794, the army had grown to 800,000 and included women.

The Terror Grips France
Foreign armies were not the only enemies of the French republic. The Jacobins had thousands of enemies within France itself. These included peasants who were horrified by the king’s execution, priests who would not accept government control, and rival leaders who were stirring up rebellion in the provinces. How to contain and control these enemies became a central issue.
Robespierre Assumes Control In the early months of 1793, one Jacobin leader, Maximilien Robespierre (ROHBZ•peer), slowly gained power. Robespierre and

his supporters set out to build a “republic of virtue” by wiping out every trace of France’s past. Firm believers in reason, they changed the calendar, dividing the year into 12 months of 30 days and renaming each month. This calendar had no Sundays because the radicals considered religion old-fashioned and dangerous. They even closed all churches in Paris, and cities and towns all over France soon did the same. In July 1793, Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety. For the next year, Robespierre governed France virtually as a dictator, and the period of his rule became known as the Reign of Terror. The Committee of Public Safety’s chief task was to protect the Revolution from its enemies. Under Robespierre’s leadership, the committee often had these “enemies” tried in the morning and guillotined in the afternoon. Robespierre justified his use of terror by suggesting that it enabled French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution. He also saw a connection between virtue and terror:
PRIMARY SOURCE The first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of the people by terror. If the basis of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular government in time of revolution is both virtue and terror: virtue without which terror is murderous, terror without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue.
MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE, “On the Morals and Political Principles of Domestic Policy” (1794)

Analyzing Primary Sources How did Robespierre justify the use of terror?

The “enemies of the Revolution” who troubled Robespierre the most were fellow radicals who challenged his leadership. In 1793 and 1794, many of those who had led the Revolution received death sentences. Their only crime was that they were

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considered less radical than Robespierre. By early 1794, even Georges Danton found himself in danger. Danton’s friends in the National Convention, afraid to defend him, joined in condemning him. On the scaffold, he told the executioner, “Don’t forget to show my head to the people. It’s well worth seeing.” The Terror claimed not only the famous, such as Danton and Marie Antoinette, the widowed queen. Thousands of unknown people also were sent to their deaths, often on the flimsiest of charges. For example, an 18-year-old youth was sentenced to die for cutting down a tree that had been planted as a symbol of liberty. Perhaps as many as 40,000 were executed during the Terror. About 85 percent were peasants or members of the urban poor or middle class— for whose benefit the Revolution had been launched.

End of the Terror
In July 1794, fearing for their own safety, some members of the National Convention turned on Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French Revolution, ended on July 28, 1794, when Robespierre went to the guillotine. French public opinion shifted dramatically after Robespierre’s death. People of all classes had grown weary of the Terror. They were also tired of the skyrocketing prices for bread, salt, and other necessities of life. In 1795, moderate leaders in the National Convention drafted a new plan of government, the third since 1789. It placed power firmly in the hands of the upper middle class and called for a twohouse legislature and an executive body of five men, known as the Directory. These five were moderates, not revolutionary idealists. Some of them were corrupt and made themselves rich at the country’s expense. Even so, they gave their troubled country a period of order. They also found the right general to command France’s armies—Napoleon Bonaparte.
SECTION

▲ At his trial, Georges Danton defended himself so skillfully that the authorities eventually denied him the right to speak.

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ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Legislative Assembly • émigré • sans-culotte • Jacobin • guillotine • Maximilien Robespierre • Reign of Terror

USING YOUR NOTES
2. Do you think this chain of

MAIN IDEAS
3. What major reforms did the

CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING
6. SYNTHESIZING How did the slogan “Liberty, Equality,

events could have been changed in any way? Explain.
Assembly Creates a Constitution

National Assembly introduce?
4. What did the divisions in the

Fraternity” sum up the goals of the Revolution?
7. COMPARING AND CONTRASTING What similarities and

Legislative Assembly say about the differences in French society?
5. How did the Reign of Terror

differences do you see between the political factions in the Legislative Assembly and those in the U.S. government today?
8. ANALYZING CAUSES What factors led to Robespierre

come to an end?

becoming a dictator?
9. WRITING ACTIVITY REVOLUTION Working in small teams,

write short biographies of three revolutionary figures mentioned in this section.
INTERNET ACTIVITY

Use the Internet to conduct research on governments that use terrorism against their own people. Prepare an oral report on the methods these countries use.

INTERNET KEYWORD

human rights

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Links: MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE, “On the Morals and Political Principles of Domestic Policy” (1794) Analyzing Primary Sources How did Robespierre justify the use of terror?