Estate of Mind
Comprising 99% of the French population, this social order included peasants, urban workers, artisans, and the educated bourgeoisie
Third Estate
Comptroller-General Jacques Turgot warned Louis XVI in 1774 that firing the first cannonball in war would force the state into this situation
Bankruptcy
In The Social Contract, he celebrated equality and popular sovereignty while observing that man was born free but was everywhere in chains
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
These 19 decrees passed between August 5–11, 1789, declared the feudal system entirely abolished.
August Decrees
Founded by Danton and Desmoulins in April 1790, this radical, low-fee political club championed direct democracy and the working class.
Cordeliers Club
This term describes the 18th-century wealthy, educated commoners who held significant financial power but lacked noble titles
Bourgeoisie
Published in February 1781 by Jacques Necker, this financial report deceptively claimed a 10 million livre surplus while hiding war debt
Compte Rendu au Roi
This Enlightenment thinker decried Catholic Church power and argued in 1762 that all ecclesiastics should be subject to civil government
Voltaire
Drafted primarily by Sieyès and Lafayette (with help from Thomas Jefferson), this August 26, 1789 document proclaimed that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights."
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (DORMAC)
Led by Barnave and Lafayette, this group of constitutional monarchists split from the Jacobins on July 16, 1791, to support the monarchy
Feuillants
Though making up just 0.6% of the population, this First Estate group owned 10% of French land and collected tithes
Clergy/First Estate
In August 1786, this Comptroller-General proposed a universal land tax and the abolition of internal customs barriers to avert collapse
Charles-Alexandre Calonne
This clergyman's famous 1789 pamphlet declared that the Third Estate was "Everything," had been "Nothing" in politics, and demanded to become "Something"
Sieyes
Enacted on November 27, 1790, this measure forced clergymen to swear primary allegiance to the French state or face dismissal.
Clerical Oath
Led by Jacques-Pierre Brissot, this moderate republican faction advocated for the provinces and pushed strongly for war in 1792 before being purged in June 1793
Girondins (or Brissotins)
Meaning "private law," this term refers to the tax exemptions and legal rights enjoyed by the First and Second Estates under the Ancien Régime
Privilege
Her spendthrift reputation, including spending 150,000 livres on the Trianon gardens, earned Marie Antoinette this hostile nickname
Madame Deficit
Banned in France, his 1748 work The Spirit of the Laws advocated for a Separation of Powers between legislative, executive, and judicial branches
Montesquieu
This radical political group sat on the high left seats of the National Convention and included Robespierre, Danton, and Marat
Montagnards
Enacted in 1781, this royal ordinance required military officer candidates to prove four generations of noble ancestry
Segur Ordinance
On August 16, 1788, with only 400,000 livres remaining in the Treasury, the French state took this drastic financial step
Declaring Bankruptcy
Returning from fighting in North America, this wealthy French noble became a famous champion of civic liberty and equal rights
Lafayette
Passed on September 17, 1793, this draconian law permitted the arrest of anyone whose conduct, associations, or writings showed them to be "enemies of liberty."
Law of Suspects
This uncommitted majority faction sat in the middle and lower seats of the National Convention, holding the balance of power between Girondins and Montagnards
Le Marais (The Plain)