French Revolution

By 1789, France was faced with different political and economic problems, so the French Revolution wanted reforms. They had grown weary of the absolute monarchy and the unstable prices of food, and started to absorb the political ideas from the Enlightenment philosophers. In 1793, a new constitution was drawn and a Republic was formed. The constitution was set to stabilize the national economy and allow all people except women in France to vote. However, the skyrocketing prices of food and the liberty and freedom for the people of France was not fully resolved; furthermore, France was always involved in many costly wars after the revolution and the economy began to worsen. Although the people of France did not resolve the problems for their economy and the people’s individual rights of freedom and liberty, they achieved the goal by starting to rule themselves democratically and ended the rule of dictatorship and absolutism that had been present in France for centuries.

The people of France achieved their goal to end absolutism and started the rule in a republic. Louis XVI was the king of France before 1791, he lacked the ability to make decisions and he accepted poor suggestions from his court. The people of France began to grow tired of his poor judgments and wanted some changes in France since their king could not protect them anymore. In 1789, the Third Estate became the National Assembly. They pledged to have a constitution in the Tennis Court Oath and demanded a stabilized economy and tax system. However, Louis XVI was fickle and could not make any positive changes in France. Since, Louis XVI was not able to stabilize the economy and change the tax system, the new constitution limited the power of Louis XVI and Louis had to give up his legislature power to the National Assembly unlike the previous kings in France. The National Assembly took control of the legislature and ended feudalism and the Old regime. On June 1791, Louis XVI tried to flee France. This attempted escape made the people of France to longer trust Louis XVI and achieved their goal by ending the absolutism in France by executing Louis XVI. After Robespierre’s dictatorship in the Reign of Terror, a constitution was drawn. A group of five men called the Directory and a two house senate was elected to rule over the people. The five-man Directory held executive power and the two house senate held the legislature power. This prevented one from gaining absolute power like it was in the Old Regime. In 1799, a new constitution was drawn and a new government called the Consulate was formed. A three man group called the consulate was formed to rule the government and Napoleon quickly took the title as first consul because of his popularity. Under Napoleon’s lead as first consul, people gained more liberty and freedom by building a firm and steady government with economic prosperity. Unlike the rule of Louis XVI, the people of France were able to end absolutism and Napoleon