French Revolution Dbq

“Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.” This quote comes from a famous Enlightenment thinker called John Locke. John Locke was an English philosopher and a physician. The Enlightenment was a political and philosophical movement, which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century. The Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution and its aims because it brought in the new concept of the republic, and the people liked the republic more than the monarchy since it was fairer. How successful was the French Revolution? In my opinion the French Revolution was successful for numerous reasons. First, the French people wanted to create a constitution that supports equality. Second, they wanted to remake the system of taxation to make

They wanted to pay the same amount of taxes like the clergy and nobles. The Glencoe World History textbook states, “ …the Third Estate wanted to set up a constitutional government that would abolish the tax exemptions of the clergy and nobility.” This piece evidence shows how the Third Estate is doing everything they can to get their rights back and to solve the financial crisis. Also, they hated the clergy and nobility because during this time of poverty where everyone is starving the clergy and nobility get jewelry and spend money on things for themselves when they can get food for the population. History.com states, “Louis XVI assembled the Estates-General, a national assembly that represented the three “estates” of the French people–the nobles, the clergy, and the commons.” This shows how the Third Estate came up with a very good plan which was during the meeting they all knew they were outnumbered with votes so they went on a tennis court and did a oath that they will not be separated and king Louis XVI tried to stop them but couldn’t so in the end all of the Estates were put into one fair group. The second aim was that they wanted to change the monarchy into a republic or a democracy. Unfortunately they were not able to create a monarchy, but it ended with the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Glencoe World History textbook states, “ …The National Convention’s first major step on September 21 was to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic…” This shows how they were going on the right track and that this aim was about to be a success and if this aim would have succeeded then this revolution could have been one of the most successful revolutions, but unfortunately the dictator Napoleon comes in and takes control. History.com states, “After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804.”