French+Revolution+P7

The French Revolution occured as a result of the American Revolution and discontent with absolute rule. After assisting the Americans in their rebellion against the British, the French monarchy sustained heavy debts. In order to tax the people, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General in 1789, comprised of the First Estate, or the nobility; the Second Estate, or the clergy; and the Third Estate, which represented the rest of the French population. Though the First and Second Estates were a small portion of the population, they had an equal amount of votes as the Third Estate. The Third Estate felt that they should have more representation than the priviledged nobility and clergy because of their superior numbers. The Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly of France and refused to disband until a French Constitution had been written on June 17, 1789 in the Oath of the Tennis Court. On August 26,1789, they composed the //Declaration on the Rights of Man//, a document that like the American Declaration of Independence, established the inalieable rights of Frenchmen and served as the Constitution of the National Assembly; it guaranteed all citizens, regardless of class, due process of law, sovereignty of the people, freedom of expression and religion, equality, tax by consent, and separate government branches. The king was forced to make the government a constitutional monarchy after his power was weakened by the storming of the Bastille and the October March by discontented peasants. On September 17, 1792, the National Convention declared France a republic based on the values of equality, liberty, and fraternity. The subsequent Reign of Terror saw the creation of the Committee of Public Safety in 1793, which undertook violent measures under Robespierre, killing any suspected monarchial sympathizers or enemies of the state, in addition to Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette. In the Thermidorian Reaction of July 27, 1794, Robespierre was unseated and beheaded and the moderate bourgeoisie took control. The five-man Directory became the leading group of the government and remained in power until Napoleon's coup d'etat in 1799.

Thomas Jefferson served as the American minister to France on the eve of the French Revolution. He strongly supported the Revolution with its ideals of liberty and independence; he even helped Lafayette to compose the //Declaration on the Rights of Man//. Though he was a proponent of the revolution, he wavered as the revolt became increasingly violent. However, he maintained that all groups should be allowed to fight for their independence, claiming that the "ball of liberty...will roll round the world," aided by the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence drafted by Jefferson himself. As the ambassador to France, Jefferson had personal ties to the country and felt that the French had the right to rebel; he also hoped that the French revolt would strengthen the legitimacy of the American Revolution. Despite denouncing the violence of the Revolution, he maintained that measures such as desposing of the king had been necessary for the French to achieve their goals.

-If the Americans are justified in revolting against their controlling body, then why aren't the French? Don't they have as much right to fight for their liberty as the Americans? -The French were pivotal in the American victory over the British. Isn't it only fair that the Americans assist them in their own revolution, if only to further the American cause? -The French Revolution is based on the ideals introduced in the American Revolutionary War; wouldn't you as Americans want to be involved in the proclamation of these ideals in order to prevent them from being miscontrued or misused in a way that casts a negative reflection on the United States?