EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
The French Revolution
Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne
https://www.coursera.org/course/frenchrev
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
1789-91: Making the New Nation
Notes taken on December 25, 2015 by Edward Tanguay
1789-1791: attempts by the National Assembly to remake the new France
National Assembly
May 1789, deptuties chosen to be the representatives of the three estates
National Assembly is made up for these three estates had come together to be the National Assembly
those who could not work with this body had resigned and left
charged with implementing the revolutionary principles of 1789 monarchy
regenerate a new France on very different principles
blueprint
1. absolute monarchy --> constitutional monarchy
2. divine right --> popular sovereignty
3. hierarchy of birth --> merit and talent
demonstrated capacity rather than the claims of birth
4. partial abolition of feudalism
two immediate problems
1. political power
the Declaration of Rights of Man Citizen had claimed that all sovereignty resided in the nation
the law was to be the expression of the general will
what did "all citizens" actually mean?
who should actually participate?
what should the role of the king be?
the king had originally called the Estates General together to advise him
a few months later he is expected to behave as a constitutional monarchy
various sections of the population are excluded
women
men who don't own sufficient property on which a certain level of taxes is paid
distinction between active and passive citizens
active citizens were about 60% of adult men
Louis XVI will be given a suspensive veto
a veto by which a law is merely suspended until reconsidered by the legislature and becomes a law if repassed by an ordinary majority
2. bankruptcy
Louis XVI had called the Estates General together to advise him on dealing with the fiscal crisis
this crisis had not gone away
seized church property
6% sold off at auction
used as the backing for a new revolutionary currency called the "assignat"
this property was called "biens nationaux"
on the bill was a picture of Louis XVI, "King of the French"
no longer Louis the XVI "King of France" by the grace of God
an enormous gulf for that man to cross in his understanding of his own role
institutional arrangements of 18th century France
large differences in taxes, particularly on salt
internal custom houses as well as external ones
differences in terms of weights and measures across the country
law
customary law of the north
written law of the south
sixty different provincial law codes
privileged orders, clergy and nobility had their own systems of law
language
Breton, Catalan, Basque, and many other dialects
France in the 18th century bears the imprint of centuries of state making
land that is divided in terms of regions
national assembly's goal
rationalize and make simpler and more efficient the map of France
create 83 departments of roughly the same size, 100 kilometers in diameter on average
each with a capital
still the basis of administrative life today
in every one department
one single set of administrative arrangements
cathedral in every department
taxation and the law will be the same in every one
custom houses will be rolled back to the frontier
uniform laws, rights and responsibilities
equal citizens of a new order
legal system
abolished all privilege arrangements for privileged orders
humanitarian reforms
outlawed torture
jury trials
justices of the peace
looked to the Netherlands and England
replaced old seigneurial courts
debate on capital punishment
kept for a handful of the most serious crimes such as treason
one way to put someone to death: the guillotine
the most painless way of dispatching someone
first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
Champ-de-mars, July 14, 1790
where Eiffel Tower is today
turned into large, flat space
suitable for celebrating this event
seems as those every Parisian turns up to celebrate
Alter of the Homeland
Louis XVI takes oath
Talleyrand reads prayers
Lafayette, head of National Guard
celebrated, united for the future
played out across the kingdom
alters of the homeland
almost all have disappeared
one left, in Thionville
oaths of 1790