The Estates-General, consisting of three chambers of society, met at Versailles on May 5th, 1789. The clergy, nobility, and the “Third Estate,” representing the common people, each had their grievances to the throne. Pouring in from the provinces, grievances of the people all had the common theme of political and social reform, most definitely for matching the new outlook on religion and government that the French adopted from the Enlightenment. The hopes of the bourgeoisie, represented in Abbé Sieyès’ pamphlet, expressed how the Third Estate was the nation’s voice in the government, highlighting how the two were about identical. The Third Estate proclaimed their role as the National Assembly on June 17th of 1789 to Louis XVI’s dismay; eventually,
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On July 14th, adding to the king’s list of problems, Parisians stormed the Bastille, establishing the first hint of fear in the revolution. Courage mixed with a national food shortage and debt gave French peasants the perfect window of opportunity to cause trouble for the royals. Châteaus were pillaged, fear was struck into the hearts of the most powerful figures, and the Third Estate had reared its ugly, angry head. The clergy and nobles soon after gave up the privileges they so selfishly protected in the Assembly of Notables, proving that fear is a powerful asset to the common people. The French feudal system crumbled in a night, with the morning of October 5th, 1789 seeing the king and queen, the baker and his wife, and a crowd of angry, hungry Parisians to the Tuileries palace. Soon after the pandemonium, the assembly of clergy and nobility created a constitution announcing the reduction of royal power and an elected legislature. Most upsetting of the measures brought by this constitution was the suppression of religious orders and the requirement of the clergy to follow yet another state-issued constitution. Disturbance came and went, waking the lazy Louis XVI from his slumber and causing him to take his wife and run for
On July 14th, adding to the king’s list of problems, Parisians stormed the Bastille, establishing the first hint of fear in the revolution. Courage mixed with a national food shortage and debt gave French peasants the perfect window of opportunity to cause trouble for the royals. Châteaus were pillaged, fear was struck into the hearts of the most powerful figures, and the Third Estate had reared its ugly, angry head. The clergy and nobles soon after gave up the privileges they so selfishly protected in the Assembly of Notables, proving that fear is a powerful asset to the common people. The French feudal system crumbled in a night, with the morning of October 5th, 1789 seeing the king and queen, the baker and his wife, and a crowd of angry, hungry Parisians to the Tuileries palace. Soon after the pandemonium, the assembly of clergy and nobility created a constitution announcing the reduction of royal power and an elected legislature. Most upsetting of the measures brought by this constitution was the suppression of religious orders and the requirement of the clergy to follow yet another state-issued constitution. Disturbance came and went, waking the lazy Louis XVI from his slumber and causing him to take his wife and run for