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Part I
Do First (5 mins)
Read the article on the Arab Spring, use the chart below to compare and contrast this revolution
to the French Revolution.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/topics/reference/arab-spring-cause/

Arab Spring French Revolution Commonalities (What the

two revolutions have in
common)

1 1 1

2 2 2

3 3 3

Part II
Let’s check in with John Green for a Crash Course. (25 to 30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTvKwCylFY

Questions​:

1.​ ​What systematic problems did 18th Century France have in the way it collected taxes?

2.​ ​Other than bankruptcy, what other factors contributed to tensions in France?

3.​ ​What radical move was carried out by the National Assembly on August 4th?

4.​ ​What was the Women’s March and what fueled it?
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5.​ ​Why might the first phase of the French Revolution be considered not so revolutionary?

6.​ ​Why did Louis XVI and the National Assembly decide to invade Austria? What was the
result?

7.​ ​What time period of the revolution was marked by the death of Louis XVI and why is it
significant?

8.​ ​If not revolutionary, what does John Green argue made the French Revolution so radical?

PART III
Notes on today

• The French Revolution sought radical change and led to a period of instability and violence, known
as the Reign of Terror, in which Maximilien Robespierre ruled over the execution of more than 10,000
enemies of the revolution.

• After the Reign of Terror ended, France was eventually ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte who reinstated
many less democratic elements, proclaiming himself emperor. In general, after the dust had settled from
the revolution, France saw more significant social change than political change. In particular some of the
old class system and the privileges that nobles and clergy had under the ancient regime were ended.

PART IV The Exit Ticket (20 minutes)

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DBQ Body Paragraph CFS:

·​ ​Begins with an assertion that echoes the prompt and uses language of historical
reasoning

·​ ​Includes paraphrased or minimally quoted evidence from multiple documents

·​ ​Explains how the evidence supports the assertion

·​ ​Uses linking language to identify points of corroboration and/or conflict between

documents

·​ ​Analyzes the significance of at least one document’s historical situation, purpose,

audience, and/or point of view

·​ ​Includes a specific piece of outside evidence that supports the assertion

SOURCE A
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789)

The National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the
auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and the citizen:
1.​ ​Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions
may be based only on common utility. ​
 
2.​ ​The purpose 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. ​
 
3.​ ​The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation. No body
and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate expressly
from the nation. ​
 
4.​ ​Liberty consists in the ability to do whatever does not harm another;
hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no other limits than
those which assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the same
rights. These limits can only be determined by the law. ​
 
5.​ ​The law only has the right to prohibit those actions which are injurious to
society. No hindrance should be put in the way of anything not prohibited by
the law, nor may any one be forced to do what the law does not require. ​
 
6.​ ​The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right
to take part, in person or by their representatives, in its formation. It must be
the same for everyone whether it protects or penalizes. All citizens being
equal in its eyes are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices, and
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employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than

that of their virtues and talents. ​


SOURCE B

National Assembly of France, Decree Abolishing the Feudal System (1789)

ARTICLE I. The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the feudal system. It
decrees that, among the existing rights and dues, both feudal and ​censuel,​ all those
originating in or representing real or personal serfdom shall be abolished without
indemnification. All other dues are declared redeemable, the terms and mode of
redemption to be fixed by the National Assembly. Those of the said dues which are not
extinguished by this decree shall continue to be collected until indemnification shall take
place.

​ RTICLE XI. All citizens, without distinction of birth, are eligible to any office or dignity,
…​ A
whether ecclesiastical, civil, or military; and no profession shall imply any derogation.

ARTICLE XVII. The National Assembly solemnly proclaims the king, Louis XVI, the
Restorer of French Liberty​.
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SOURCE C

Unknown artist, engraving of Robespierre and the guillotine, ​Robespierre, After Having
All The French Guillotined, Beheads the Executioner with His Own Hand​, 1793

SOURCE D

Maximilien Robespierre, speech to the National Convention, “On the Moral and Political
Principles of Domestic Policy,” (excerpt), February 5, 1794

We must smother the internal and external enemies of the Republic or perish with it; now
in this situation, the first maxim of your policy ought to be to lead the people by reason
and the people’s enemies by terror. If the spring of popular government in time of peace
is virtue, the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror:
virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is
nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore [part] of virtue; it is not
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so much a special principle as it is a consequence of the general principle of democracy

applied to our country’s most urgent needs . . .

SOURCE E

Napoleon Bonaparte, personal account delivered to the Legislative Body, ​Napoleon’s

Account of the Internal Situation of France,​ December 31, 1804

The internal situation of France is today as calm as it has ever been in the most peaceful
periods. There is no agitation to disturb the public tranquility, no suggestion of those
crimes which recall the Revolution. Everywhere useful enterprises are in progress, and
the general improvements, both public and private, attest the universal confidence and
sense of security. ...

It was clearly seen that for a great nation the only salvation lies in hereditary power,
which can alone assure a continuous political life which may endure for generations, even
for centuries. ...

After prolonged consideration, repeated conferences with the members of the Senate,
discussion in the councils, and the suggestions of the most prudent advisers, a series of
provisions was drawn up which regulate the succession to the imperial throne... The
French people, by a free and independent expression, then manifested its desire that the
imperial dignity should pass down in a direct line through the legitimate or adopted
descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte, or through the legitimate descendants of Joseph
Bonaparte, or of Louis Bonaparte.

SOURCE F

The Napoleonic Code​, laws created by Napoleon after his rise to power.

The exercise of civil rights is independent of the type of citizen, which is only acquired
and preserved conformably to the constitutional law.

Every Frenchman shall enjoy civil rights. … Everyone should earn their own fortune for
themselves; the law does not grant any rights over the property of one’s father or mother
after they have deceased. It does not grant to them any right over the property of
relations of their father or mother. Instead, every man should make his own wealth.

SOURCE G

Source: Imperial Catechism, which all schoolchildren would read in France.

Question: What are the duties of Christians toward those who govern them, and what in
particular are our duties towards Napoleon I, our emperor?
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Answer: Christians owe to the princes who govern them, and we in particular owe to
Napoleon I, our emperor, love, respect, obedience, fidelity, military service, and the taxes
levied for the preservation and defense of the empire and of his throne. We also owe him
fervent prayers for his safety and for the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the state.

​ rite a body paragraph: Analyze one change or continuity in French society or politics
W
after the French Revolution.
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