1. Revolution Brings Reform and
Terror
Created and used with permission by Dan Ewert, Friendswood HS

2. After the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, things
proceeded quickly.
• On August 4th, the National Assembly abolished
feudalism.
• On August 27th, the National Assembly adopted the
Declaration of the Rights of Man.
• This Declaration was a bit like the U.S. Declaration
of Independence or the Bill of Rights and indeed
borrowed from them.

3. • A few articles from the Declaration of the Rights of Man
• 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social
distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
• 2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural
and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property,
security, and resistance to oppression.
• 9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been
declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness
not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely
repressed by law.
• 10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including
his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the
public order established by law.
• 11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most
precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak,
write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such
abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
• 17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be
deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined,
shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner
shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.

4. • There’s also this one:
• 6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right
to participate personally, or through his representative, in its
foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or
punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally
eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations,
according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their
virtues and talents.

5. The Church gets the treatment too.
• In 1790, the Assembly confiscated all the lands of the
Roman Catholic Church in France.

6. • The clergy was also stripped of its special rights and
privileges, and were made employees of the state who
were chosen by the state. Clerics had to take oaths of
loyalty to the state too.
• Some did and some refused.

7. In 1791, the National Assembly completed their
constitution and created the Legislative Assembly
• The constitution established a constitutional monarchy
and Louis XVI accepted it (reluctantly, but he didn’t
have many options).
• The Legislative Assembly split along three lines:
• Sitting in the right wing of the assembly hall were
the conservatives who favored a British-style
constitutional monarchy.
• Sitting in the left wing of the assembly hall were the
radicals who wanted to get rid of the monarchy
altogether and impose sweeping changes.
• Sitting in the middle were the moderates who were
somewhere in between.

8. • The radicals were often referred to as the sans-cullottes
because they wore trousers instead of knee britches.

9. • Another part of the sans-culotte uniform was the
Phrygian cap. It derives from the Roman Empire
and was worn by slaves who had been emancipated
and became Roman citizens.
Bust of French mascot
Marianne
6th century
Roman
mural

10. The cap is even on the seal of U.S. Senate

11. In June of 1791, Louis XVI tries to make a run for it.
• Escorted back to Paris under guard.
• Seals his fate…

12. By 1792, France is at war with Prussia and Austria
• The rest of Europe, most of which was governed by
monarchies, was slightly horrified at what was going on
in France.
• That intensified the stresses within the country.

13. The Legislative Assembly set aside the constitution of
1791, declared the king deposed, and called for new
elections of a body called the National Convention.
• By the summer, however, it was mostly chaotic mob
rule.

14. • People divided into political clubs, the most radical and
influential of which were the Jacobins.
• It was under their influence that the National
Convention tried Louis XVI for treason and
sentenced him to death.

15. Louis XVI was executed on Jan 21, 1793, by the
guillotine.

17. Marie Antoinette was executed on October 16, 1793.

18. A word on the guillotine.
• It was supported by Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin who
thought it a humane form of execution.
• In a way it was, considering the alternative methods
that were commonly in use.
• It also displayed the French obsession of equality in
that everyone was executed the same way instead
of nobles getting the axe and the poor being hung.
• Not to mention that it streamlined the execution
process into a near production-line style.
• It was last used in France in 1939 to execute a
murderer.

20. The Reign of Terror
• Lasts from September 1793 to July 1794
• During it, about 40,000 people are executed
throughout France.
• Occurs when the radicals take over the National
Convention and start making radical reforms.
• Anybody who wasn’t radical enough risked getting
radically executed.
• One 18 year old boy was executed for sawing
down a tree that was planted as a symbol of
liberty.
• A bartender was executed for selling sour wine
“to the defenders of our country”

21. • The Terror was led by Robespierre.

22. • Robespierre was known as being very virtuous and
incorruptible. Too bad.
• Among other things, he tried eliminating religion.
• All the months were renamed and given 30 days
each.
• The year began on the autumnal equinox.
The names of the months
Vendémiaire Brumaire Frimaire Nivôse Pluviôse Ventôse Germinal Floréal Prairial Messidor Thermidor Fructidor
vintage mist frost snow rain wind seed blossom meadow harvest heat fruits
• The weeks were ten days long with every tenth
day being a holiday.
• The days were: First Day, Second Day, Third
Day, Fourth Day, etc.
• Lame.

23. • Notre Dame was renamed the Temple of Reason
and Robespierre attempts to make a religion of
reason.
• It doesn’t go over well, so he creates the Cult of
the Supreme Being.

24. • Members of the Convention eventually fear for their
own heads and they betray him.
• He’s arrested and executed.
• People didn’t like
Robespierre’s radicalness
and de-Christianization.
• The Terror also did its
job and Robespierre was
no longer as necessary.