2. Before the Estates General
Each Estate met separately
One vote per Estate
Thus 3rd could always be outvoted
Disliked by bourgeoisie and some liberal nobles
Argued for voting by head – double vote for 3rd Estate
Issue dominated Paris Parlement 1788
Essentially
upper class body
Supported traditional voting method
3rd Estate outraged
3. Voting By Estate
Each Estate had one vote
1st Estate = 300 clergy and 1 vote
Represented approx 115,000 people*
2nd Estate = 300 nobles and 1 vote
Represented approx 350,000 people*
3rd Estate = 600 commoners and 1 vote
Represented approx 24,500,000*
* Source: Rees, Dylan France In Revolution
4. Voting By Head
3rd Estate had 600 representatives
1st and 2nd had 300 each
Thus the 600 from 3rd Estate + a few clergy (or nobles)
could out-vote everyone else
5. Estates General: Build-Up 1
3rd Estate: now against Paris Parlement
Pamphlets attacking Paris parlement
Debate no longer focused on King and ministers:
Now broader question of traditional society and leadership
What is the Third Estate?
Pamphlet by Abbé de Sieyès, January 1789
Answer to question posed: everything
Worked and paid taxes for France
Yet counted for nothing It is not royal
despotism that needs
A CONSTITUTION was necessary
to be destroyed: it is
the first two estates
6. What did Louis XVI do?
Necker encouraged him support
demands of 3rd Estate
Revive popularity of monarchy
Show king understood his people, wanted
exercise his powers in their interests
King agreed double 3rd Estates’
representatives
No change to voting procedure – so
meaningless gesture The Estates General will give their
advice on everything we shall ask
Not all gloomy though... them to discuss, and also tell us
of their grievances ... Every kind
of abuse will be reformed
7. The Women’s Petition
We ask to be able to give our children a
reasonable education so as to make
them subjects worthy of serving you. We
will transmit to them the love we have for
your majesty. We defy French men to
love you better than we. When we, sire,
see you at Versailles, with pounding
hearts, and are able to gaze for an
instant upon your august person, tears
flow from our eyes. We see in you only a
tender father, for whom we would
One of the Cahiers de Doléances
sacrifice our lives a thousand times.
Petition from the women of Paris, addressed directly to the king
8. Overview of Cahiers
1st & 2nd Estate All Estates 3rd Estate
•Surprisingly liberal •No taxation without •Most major demands
•Condemned Ancien consent for reform from 3rd
Regime for despotism and •Against absolute royal Estate
inefficiency
power – wanted it limited •Voting per head on all
•89% nobles accepted end by elected assembly issues
of some privileges
•Elected assembly to •Abolition of feudal rights
•39% supported voting per
head on matters of general
have right to vote taxes •Abolish inequality in
interest and pass laws taxation
•Accepted importance of •Regular meetings of
merit rather than birth for Estates General
some posts •Freedom for the press
•Overall about 90 nobles in
•Abolition of lettres de
favour of change
cachet
•Overall about 200 clergy in
favour of change
9. Estates General: Build Up 2
Bread riots in France 1789
Lay-offs in textile industries:
production cut 50%
Réveillon riots – 1 week before
Estates General
Réveillon – respected wallpaper
manufacturer
Commented high wages = problem
1st great popular riot of revolution
Lasted several days
Troops fired – many killed
Shouts of “Vive le roi” and “Vive
Monsieur Necker” from crowd
Cahiers led peasants to think king
would help them
10. The Estates General
Convened 4th May 1789
1st + 2nd Estates = 561 deputies
3rd Estate = 578 deputies
400 lawyers; 100 + haute bourgeoisie; some intellectuals including clergy,
nobles
Abbé de Sieyès; Mirabeau
Expectations high when met
But first 7 weeks spent arguing
Key disputes:
meeting arrangements
voting procedure
King aloof, distracted
Eldest son had just died
King’s ministers discussed ideas for reform but did nothing
11. The National Assembly
After 7 weeks, patience of 3rd Estate ran out...
17th June 1789 Declared itself the National
Assembly
There can only be one single body of
representatives; and no deputy, from whatever
order or class, has any right to work apart from
the Assembly.
The National Assembly would:
Assume control of its own affairs
Decide taxation
19th June clergy voted to join them
The National Assembly now posed direct
challenge to the King
12. Video Clips
As you watch these clips, identify all the factors
that led to the 3rd Estate to finally rebel
From Estates General National Assembly
From 03.58 end
Next clip Tennis Court Oath
13. The Tennis Court Oath
Necker advised King:
Hold royal session of all 3 Estates, offer reforms
But events moved too fast
20th June: 3rd Estate’s meeting hall locked,
guarded
Preparations for royal session
3rd Estate alarmed by troops present
Was king going to use force against them?
Angry, 3rd Estate met in a tennis court
Took oath never to abandon the National
Assembly until a constitution had been established
Became known as The Tennis Court Oath
14. The Royal Session
23rd June 1789: attitudes hardening
Louis XVI saw 3rd Estate’s action as personal attack on
his authority
Accepted some reforms:
No taxation without consent
Abolition of lettres de cachet
Freedom of the press
Abolition of gabelle, corvée, internal customs barriers
But also stood firm
Any resolutions by 3rd Estate acting on its own = void
Estates General continue meet separately
Then ordered their dispersal
1st and 2nd Estate left
3rd remained; refused to leave hall
15. Louis XVI Backs Down
3rd Estate gained support
24th June: 151 clergy join 3rd Estate
25th June: 47 nobles join 3rd Estate
Including Duc d’Orléans – king’s cousin
Popular demonstrations: Paris and beyond
Rumours spread
Grain to be withheld; National Assembly to be destroyed;
Paris to be starved into submission
27th June 1789: King backed down
1st + 2nd Estate to join 3rd
Voting to be by head
But was it too late...?
16. Tension Escalates 1
Since June troops in, around Paris
More and more troops including foreign
By 4th July: c.30,000 troops
Crowds ready to take to streets; militant;
wanting justice
Rumours: National Assembly to be dispersed
by force
Increasingly distrusted king
Whipped up by popular orators (Desmoulins)
Palais Royale = hotbed of rebellion
11th July Necker dismissed
17. Tension Escalates 2
12th – 13th July poor of Paris raided stores
Including gun sellers, sword smiths, food stores
Attack on Parisian customs posts
40/54 destroyed
Gardes-français (French troops): loyalty no longer
guaranteed
St Lazare monastery taken over
Wealthier citizens of Paris alarmed
Emergency meeting at Hôtel de Ville
Established committee – The Commune – to run city
Set up own National Guard (citizens’ militia)
To protect property from attacks by poor
Protecting city from attack by the King
Lafayette = first commander
18. Storming the Bastille
14th July 1789: 8,000 Hôtel des Invalides
Weapon store – seized 28,000 muskets, 20 cannon
No gun powder, cartridges
Rumour Bastille stored them
Crowds and some National Guard Bastille
2 members Commune met governor
Crowds waited – frustration grew full scale assault
Governor captured, decapitated, head on a pole
Bastille storming = very significant
Hated symbol of Ancien regime
Royal troops had done nothing
Some joined crowds
Royal troops withdrawn from Paris
Parisians had saved the National Assembly
Now known as Constituent Assembly
