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Once upon a time there was a king named, King Louis the 

16th and a queen named Queen Marie Antionette, and both 

ruled all France. France was divided into 3 types of groups, 

called “the 3 estates”; the 1st estate was made up of 

members of the church, the 2nd estate was made up of rich 

land owners, and finally the 3rd estate made up 97% of 

France’s population were small business owners, skilled 

workers, and peasants. King Louis did not give many rights 

to the 3rd estate, for example he had them pay half of their 

monthly pay (which wasn’t much) to taxes, and the tax 

money would go to the rich land owners, the church, and 

the King. However something called “the enlightenment 

ideas” will soon inspire the 3rd estate to fight against King 

Louis.

During this time France is going through money 

problems, from the debt of the kings before King Louis 

and also in helping The 13 Colonies in fighting against 

their enemy Great Britain. Also in addition to these 

problems France was going through a harsh winter 

which left a small amount of flour, grain, and bread; 

which caused the cost of living to rise. The taxes on the 

3rd estate kept their monthly income low, therefore 

made it harder for them to feed their families, and take 

care of their needs.

The enlightenment ideas were ideas that came from 

the enlightenment thinkers that inspired the 3rd 

estate to fight for their rights. Some ideas that 

encouraged the 3rd estate include, everyone should be 

equal by Locke, a government in which all the people 

have a say on how it should be ran by Rousseau, and 

freedom of speech, religion, and press without getting 

killed or thrown in prison by Voltaire. The 3rd estate 

loved these ideas, however the 1st and 2nd estate 

hated them, for the reason that it would take away 

power from them, and give more power to the 3rd 

estate.

King Louis the 16th was not a great king, he never 

knew what to do, and did not care much about the 

problems happening in France. Queen Marie 

Antoinette was hated by the people of France, 

because she was from the enemy country Austria; 

and also spent lots of France’s tax money on 

jewelry, clothes, parties, and crazy hairstyles.

King Louis being that he did not know how to 

resolve the problems happening in France, he 

calls a meeting at his Royal Palace in the city of 

Versailles called “The Estates General Meeting”; 

where representatives from each estate came 

together and shared ideas to help solve the issues 

happening in France. At the meeting King Louis 

concluded that he would have the rich land 

owners pay his debt.

3 days into The Estates General Meeting, the 3rd 

estate was locked out of the meeting, for their 

enlightenment ideas shared there; the 1st and 2nd 

estate did not like that. However this did not stop 

the 3rd estate representatives from fighting for 

their rights. A couple doors down they knocked 

down a door to an indoor tennis court and 

pledged to stay until a new constitution was 

made; this pledge made was called the “Tennis 

Court Oath.” They also made a new government 

called the “National Assembly.”  

Rumors began to spread throughout France 

that King Louis was going to use the 

military to take down the new government, 

the National Assembly. The people believed 

that troops from Austria were going to rush 

into France and attack the French people. 

People of France then began to steal guns, 

but in order to use those guns they needed 

gun powder, which was in Paris’s prison. 

They broke into the prison, stabbed prison 

guards, and carried their heads on pikes.

The Declaration of Rights of Man was document 

created by the National Assembly to protect the right 

of the citizens of France. The document shared many 

similar ideas with the Declaration of Independence. 

The document also had many ideas from the 

enlightenment thinkers, Locke, Beccaria, Rousseau, 

and Voltaire. Some ideas were “men are born and 

remain free and equal in rights”, freedom of speech, 

religion, and equal justice.  

King Louis and Queen Marie attempted to flee 

France and escape to Queen Marie’s home 

country, Austria dressed as peasants. The king 

and queen were recognized, arrested in Varennes 

and were marched back to Paris. 

King Louis the 16th was executed for treason 

against the National Convention and months later 

Queen Antoinette Marie was also executed by the 

guillotine in Paris. This officially ends the 

monarchy, but the beginning of "The Reign of 

Terror" 

The man who invent the guillotine was named 

Antoine Louis, it was the main way of executing 

people during the revolution, because it was the 

quickest and painless way of execution known 

during this time. They were many guillotines 

around France, but the one was in Paris it was the 

most used and known. This guillotine executed 

2,639, including the king and queen, during he 

period of the Reign of Terror. 

A man named Robespierre the leader of the 

Committee of Public Safety wanted France to be a 

"republic virtue" by executing anyone who is not 

even excited about the revolution or anyone who 

was against the change in government. The 

committee's goal, was to eliminate any threat to 

the revolution. 40,000 people were executed 

during the Reign of Terror, and 85% of peasants, 

and the middle class benefited from the 

revolution. In 1794 Robespierre was arrested and 

executed, which ended the Reign of Terror.

During the revolution a young man named Napoleon 

joins the news government. Napoleon defends the 

government from rebels that are against the 

revolution and the rebels run frantically around Paris, 

defeating them, the people of France are cheering and 

calling him the "Savior of the French Republic." After 

this Napoleon was appointed to lead the French army 

in war against Italy, Austria, and Sardinia. Napoleon 

won these wars but his Navy was defeated in Egypt by 

Great Britain. However this defeat was kept hidden 

from the press, so he was still known as a hero.   

During this time the French government is weak and 

Napoleon sees this as chance to over throw the government 

and take over. This is what Napoleon exactly does, and has 

Austria, Great Britain, and Russia sign a peace treaty which 

is the first time there is peace in 10 years. Napoleon made 

changes to the government such as make an efficient tax 

system, built public schools, ended corruption in 

government, and established a new relationship with the 

church. He also took away some rights however such as no 

freedom of speech, press, and religion. Napoleon sells the 

Louisiana Territory to president Thomas Jefferson for 15 

million dollars, to use the money to help pay for conquering 

land in Europe and to punish their enemy Brittan, so the 

US becomes stronger with more land.

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