Download A Declaration of the Right of Man and of the Citizen

Use what you have learned in class, the background information, and following
source documents to answer the following question:
Question:
Considering the goals of liberty and equality, were the gains of the French
Revolution worth the pain that was caused from 1789-1804?
I. Background Information
I - Timeline
May 1789
The General Estates meet in Versailles
July 1789
Parisian mobs storm the Bastille
August 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man
1791
Slave revolt in Haiti
September 1792
France declares itself a republic
January 1793
King Executed
Summer 1793
Reign of Terror
1794
Robespierre executed
1794
Slaves freed in Haiti by France
1799
Napoleon takes power
1802
Napoleon reintroduces slavery in Haiti
1804
Napoleon crowns himself Emperor
1804
The Napoleonic Code becomes the law for all of France
1804
Haiti declares its independence
-----------------------------------------------------
This is what France looked like in 1879
King Louis XVI stood at the top of both French society and government. Kings
were believed to rule by divine rights, and subjects were taught to view the royal family
as virtual deities [gods].
The nobility owned about a third of all the land in France, occupied all the key
government positions, and enjoyed a privileged status in society.
The Church owned about 10% of the country’s land, and exercised significant
influence upon the government. Though many priests were poor, the clergy still
enjoyed a privileged social status.
Everybody else – country peasants, urban poor, merchants, professionals –
comprised the bulk of the French population, paid all of the taxes, had no voice in the
operation of the government, and could be conscripted at a moment’s notice to serve
as foot soldiers in a war.
- from - The French Revolution: Using Primary Sources and the Internet
OUSD / 10th Grade World History Assessment / Fall Semester, 2005-2006 / page #1
II. Source Documents
Source 1
A Declaration of the Right of Man and of the Citizen
On August 27, 1789 the National Assembly of France wrote a Declaration stating what
they believed should be the rights of all men. The following are some of the rights that
they listed.
1) Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be
founded only upon the general good.
3) 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.
8) 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….
10) A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for
the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all citizens in
proportion to their means…
Source 2
Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizen, 1791
Woman, wake up; the trumpet of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe;
discover your rights.
Articles:
1.
Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights.
13.
Because women share all the duties and all the painful tasks; therefore, she must
have the same share in the distribution of positions, employment, offices, honors
and jobs.
Source: Olympe de Gouges wrote a ”Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizen,”
directly challenging the inferiority presumed of women by the “Declaration of the Rights
of Man.” Her attempts to push this idea lead to her being charged with treason during
the rule of the National Convention. She was quickly arrested, tried, and on November
3, 1793 executed by the guillotine.
OUSD / 10th Grade World History Assessment / Fall Semester, 2005-2006 / page #2
Source 3
“The
Second
Year of
the
French
Republic”
“Execution
of King
Louis,
January 21,
1793”
“Commemorating the Revolution on Chinaware [dinner plates]”
source: “Exploring the French Revolution” - http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/104/
Source 4 - Reasons for Executions During the Terror
Reasons
Hostile Acts Against the Government
Counterrevolutionary opinions
Conspiracy
Helping the Enemy
Clergy who refused to swear allegiance to the to
the revolutionary government
Corruption
Hiding the clergy who refused to swear
allegiance to the revolutionary government
Total executed
% Reasons for This Reason
78%
9%
4%
3%
3%
1%
.2%
13,347
Source 5
Francois-Rene Chateaubriand describes the terror of 1793
“While the armies were forming, the prisons were filled with all the wealthy persons of
France. At one place they were drowned by thousands, the guillotine was at work day
and night. The streets were so inundated with blood, as to become impassible, and it
became necessary to change the place of execution. It was in vain that immense pits
were opened to receive the dead bodies; they were soon filled, and new ones obliged
to be dug. Grey-headed people of eighty years old and girls of sixteen, fathers and
mothers, sisters and brothers, husbands, wives and children died covered with the
blood of each other.
- from Historical, Political and Moral Essay on Revolutions, Ancient and Modern,
Francois-Rene Chateaubriand (French novelist and essayist), 1815, p. 46-54
OUSD / 10th Grade World History Assessment / Fall Semester, 2005-2006 / page #3
Source 6 – Economic Classes and Executions
Classes in France - 1794
Clergy: 0.50%
Nobility: 1.50%
Middle Class:
4%
Peasants and Farmers
Working Class
Middle Class
Nobility
Clergy
Working Class:
8%
Peasants and
Farmers: 86%
Deaths Resulting from the Reign of Terror
(Percentages and Numbers)
Upper Middle
Class: 14%
(1,964)
Peasants: 28%
(3,961)
Lower Middle
Class: 11%
(1,488)
Peasants
Working Class
No status given
Clergy
Nobility
Lower Middle Class
Upper Middle Class
Nobility:
8%(1,158)
Clergy: 7%
(920)
Working Class:
31% (4,389)
No status given:
1%
Source 7
Decree of the National Convention of 4 February 1794
The National Convention declares the abolition of Negro slavery in all the colonies; in
consequence it decrees that all men, without distinction of color residing in the colonies
are French citizens and will enjoy all the rights assured by the constitution.
- from The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History,
translated, edited, and with an introduction by Lynn Hunt (Boston/New York, Bedford/St.
Martin’s 1996), 115-116
OUSD / 10th Grade World History Assessment / Fall Semester, 2005-2006 / page #4
Source 8
Napoleonic Code, 1804
Book 1: Of Persons
 8 – Every Frenchman shall enjoy civil rights

214 - The wife is obliged to live with her husband, and to follow him to
every
place where he may deem it convenient to reside; the husband is obliged to
receive her, and to furnish her with every
necessity for the wants of life, according
to his means and station.

215 - The wife cannot bring a court case in her own name, without the permission of
her husband, even though she might have a job or
separate property.
Source 9
“The Coronation of Napoleon, 1804” (detail)
In this painting Napoleon prepares to crown his beautiful wife, Josephine. Napoleon
also crowned himself emperor. Pope Pius VII, seated behind the emperor, is reduced to
being a spectator.
Illustration Source: DAVID, Jacques-Louis, , 1805
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Web Gallery of Art - http://www.wga.hu/art/d/david_j/7/709david.jpg
Caption Source: McKay, Hill and Butler, A History of Western Society, Houghton Mifflin,
2003, p. 715.
OUSD / 10th Grade World History Assessment / Fall Semester, 2005-2006 / page #5
OUSD / 10th Grade World History Assessment / Fall Semester, 2005-2006 / page #6