Q13: Why didn’t earlier revolts of peasants and workers bring about a big change in society?

A: Peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing taxes and food scarcity.
But they lacked the means and programmes to carry out full-scale measures that would bring
about a change in the social and economic order.
Q14: How did the middle class earn their wealth?
A: 18th century witnessed the emergence of social groups, termed the middle class, who
earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods
such as woollen and silk textiles that were either exported or bought by the richer members
of society.
Q15: Name 3 French philosophers. Name books written by them. What were their ideas?
A: (1) John Locke was a French philosopher who wrote the ‘Two Treatises of Government’. IN
it, he sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
(2) Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote ‘The Social Contract’ in which he carried the aforementioned
idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people
and their representatives.
(3) Montesquieu authored ‘The Spirit of the Laws’, in which he proposed a division of power
within the govt. between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
Q16: How was the American Constitution inspired by the French revolution?
A: The American Constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important example
for political thinkers in France.
Q17: How were the ideas of philosophers spread?
A: (1) The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffee-houses.
(2) These ideas were spread among people through books and newspapers.
(3) They were frequently read aloud in groups for the benefit of those who could not read
and write.
Q18: How were taxes imposed in Old Regime?
A: (1) In France of the Old Regime the monarch didn’t have the power to impose taxes
according to his will alone.
(2) Rather he had to call a meeting of the Estates General which would then pass his proposals
for new taxes.
(3) The Estates General which was a political body to which the 3 estates sent their
representatives. The monarch alone could decide when to call a meeting of this body. The last
time it was done was in 1614.
Q19: What is the Estates General?
A: The Estates General which was a political body to which the 3 estates sent their
representatives.
Q20: Describe the feudal system in France during the Old Regime -
A: (A) The king was an absolute monarch and at the top of the feudal system. The society was
divided into 3 estates.
(B) The first estate was that of the clergy. They were powerful Church officials like bishops
and cardinals. They extracted taxes called tithes from the peasants.
These were 1/10th of the agricultural produce. They paid no taxes to the State and owned
about 60% of the land along with the nobles and the richer members of the third estate.
(C) The second estate was of the aristocratic high-born nobility with titles like dukes, knights,
marquis, etc.. They also didn’t pay any taxes. They enjoyed feudal privileges and dues which
they extracted from peasants.
Peasants gave their services in the houses, the fields, and the army of the lords.
They also worked to build the roads for the lords as part of feudal dues.
(D) The third estate included many kinds of people like:
(1) Businessmen, lawyers, merchants, court officials.
(2) Peasants and artisans formed 90% of the population.
(3) Small peasants, landless labourers and servants.
(E) The third estate paid all the taxes. These included the direct tax to the State called Taille
and a no. of indirect taxes on articles of everyday use like salt and tobacco.
Q21: What was the process of voting in the Estates General?
A: Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle
that each estate had one vote.
Q22: Why did the 3rd estate walk out of the Estates General?
A: (1) The 3rd estate demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole,
where each member would have one vote.
(2) When the king rejected this proposal. The members of the 3rd estate walked out of the
assembly in protest.
Q23: What happened on the 20th of June in the indoor tennis court of Versailles?
A: The representatives of the 3rd estate declared themselves a National Assembly and swore
not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the powers of
the monarch. They were led by Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès.
Q24: What happened in Paris in the summer of 1789?
A: (A) A severe winter meant a bad harvest; the price of bread rose, often bakers exploited
the situation and hoarded supplies.
(B) After spending hours in long queues at the bakery, crowds of angry women stormed into
the shops.
(C) At the same time, the king ordered troops to move into Paris. On 14 July, the agitated
crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille.
Q25: What did Louis XVII do faced with the power of the revolting subjects?
A: (A) Louis XVII finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the
principle that his powers from now on be checked by a constitution.
(B) On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system
of obligations and taxes.
(C) Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes were abolished
and lands owned by the Church were confiscated.
Q26: Describe the political system or constitution of 1791 drafted by the National Assembly:
A: (1) The main objective of the constitution was to limit the powers of the monarch.
The powers were now separated and assigned to the legislative, executive and the judiciary.
This made France a constitutional monarchy. The Constitution of 1791 vested the power to
make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected. Citizens voted for a group
of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly.
(2) Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote.
(3) Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labour er’s
wage were given the status of active citizens, that is, they were entitled to vote.
(4) The remaining men and women were classed as passive citizens. To qualify as an elector
and then a member of the Assembly, a man had to belong to the highest bracket of taxpayers.
(5) (a) The Constitution began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
(b) Rights such as right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law,
were established.
(c) They were natural and inalienable rights.
(d) They belonged to each human being by birth and could not be taken away.
(e) It was the duty of the state to protect each citizen’s natural rights.
Q27: What was Marseillaise? Who composed it? What is it now in France?
A: Marseillaise was one among the patriotic songs sung. It was composed by the poet Roget
de l’Isle. It was sung for the first time by volunteers from Marseilles as they marched into Paris
and so got its name. The Marseillaise is now the national anthem of France.
Q28: What was the impact of the revolutionary wars on French society?
A: (1) The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to the people.
(2) While the men were away fighting at the front, women were left to cope with the tasks of
earning a living and looking after their families.
Q29: Why were many political clubs formed in France after 1791?
A: (1) The Constitution of 1791 gave political rights to only the richer sections of the society.
(2) Political clubs became important for people who wished to discuss government policies
and plan their own forms of action.
(3) E.g.: Jacobin club, which was one of the most successful clubs. Women too formed their
own clubs.
Q30: What was the background of the members of the Jacobin club?
A: (1) The members of the Jacobin club belonged to the less prosperous members of society.
They included small shopkeepers, artisans such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers,
printers, as well as servants and daily wage workers.
(2) A large group among the Jacobins decided to start wearing long striped trousers similar to
those worn by dock workers. This was to set them apart from the fashionable sections of
society, especially nobles, who wore knee breeches.
(3) Jacobins came to be known as sans-culottes, literally meaning ‘those without knee
breeches’. Sans-culottes men wore in addition the red cap that symbolised liberty.
Q31: What did the Jacobins do in the summer of 1791?
A: (1) Jacobins planned an insurrection of a number of Parisians who were angered by the
short supplies and the high prices of food.
(2) On the morning of August 10 they stormed the palace of the Tuileries, massacred the king’s
guards and held the king himself hostage for several hours.
(3) Later the Assembly voted to imprison the royal family. Elections were held. From now on
all men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth, got the right to vote.
Q32: What was the Convention?
A: On September 1792, the newly elected assembly called the Convention abolished the
monarchy and declared France a republic.
Q33: What is a republic?
A: A republic is a form of government where people elect the government including the head
of the government.
Q34: On what charges was Louis XVI executed?
A: Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a court on the charges of treason. In January 1793 he
was executed publicly at the Place de la Concorde. The queen Marie Antoinette met with the
same fate shortly after.
Q35: What happened during the Reign of Terror?
A: (1) Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment. All those whom he
saw as being ‘enemies’ of the republic- ex-nobles and clergy, members of other political
parties, even members of his own party who did not agree with his methods- were arrested,
imprisoned and then tried by a revolutionary tribunal. If the court found them ‘guilty’ then
they were guillotined.
(2) Robespierre’s govt. issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices.
(3) Meat and bread were rationed. Peasants were forced to transport their grain to cities and
sell it at prices fixed by the govt.
(4) The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the
pain d'égalité (equality bread), a loaf made of whole-wheat. Equality was also sought to be
practised through forms of speech and address.
Instead of traditional Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) all French men and women were
henceforth Citoyen and Citoyenne (Citizen).
(5) Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices.