The French Re volution
Activity Card
Instructions: Discuss the Discussion Questions with your group, making use of the Resource Cards.
Once your group has discussed the questions, move on to complete the Task, making sure to follow the
Task Evaluation Criteria.
Discussion Questions
1. What are some of the pros and cons of monarchy? For whom?
2. Compare and contrast the lives of members of the three estates in France in the 1700s.
3. Who in France would have welcomed revolution in the late 1700s and why? Who in France
would not have welcomed revolution in the late 1700s and why?
4. What political, social, and economic changes do you think each of the three Estates would
have wanted to see occur in France, and why?
Task
Create a poster showing the hopes and dreams members of each of the three estates have for the
future of France.
Task Evaluation Criteria
•
Poster shows the hopes and dreams members of each of the three estates have for the future of
France.
•
Poster makes clear how the dreams of members of each of the three estates differ from one
another.
•
Poster makes use of specific historical facts, symbols, and color.
The French Re volution
RESOURCE CARD 1 (OF 2)
Context-Setting: The French Revolution
In the 1700s, France was a monarchy (a government ruled by a royal family). France was also one of the
wealthiest (richest) and most powerful countries in the world. Although their country was rich and
powerful, the great majority of the people in France had neither money nor power.
The social hierarchy (ranking of peoples) in France left
most people struggling to earn a living. At the top of
French society was the royal family; everyone else in
France was divided into three social classes, called
“estates.” The First Estate included church officials (from
the official church of France: the Catholic Church), the
Second Estate included the nobility, and the Third Estate
included the remainder of the population. Members of the
first two estates had a share in France’s wealth and power
while the remainder of the people of France had very
little of either.
Members of the Third Estate, to which the majority of
French citizens belonged, had long been unhappy with
their situation. When new economic problems arose in
France, the unhappiness of the Third Estate grew. Since
the nobility and the Catholic Church were not required to
pay taxes, the economic burdens (problems) of France
fell on the members of the Third Estate. In the late 1700s,
unemployment was on the rise, wages were falling, and
trade had slowed. From 1787 to 1789, France
experienced poor harvests, driving the price of bread so
high that some people had to spend up to eighty percent
of their income on bread. People’s dissatisfaction
(unhappiness) with the government was growing.
Political cartoon showing the inequality of
taxation in France. An elderly (old) peasant
carries a bishop (church official) and a
nobleman on his back.
In September of 1788, a member of the English Parliament (the lawmaking branch of England’s
government), John Villiers, had this to say about what he observed while visiting France:
The whole country seems ready for a Revolution; everybody is dissatisfied. They despise [hate]
their king and they hate their queen. They begin now to see that so rich a country was not meant for
the service and pleasure of the king alone. There is little doubt that some revolution will take place
in the near future.
John Villiers was correct in his predictions for the future of France. Less than a year after he observed
the discontent (unhappiness) of the French, the French Revolution began.
In the spring of 1789, King Louis XVI called on the representatives of the three estates to meet to discuss
France’s economic problems. When King Louis XVI called this meeting of the Estates-General, he
unknowingly (without knowing) set in motion a series of events that would lead to his death, and to a new
way of life in France.
Note: the numbers in the top pie chart above
differ slightly from the numbers in the
graphic at left; this is due to a difference in
rounding.
The French Re volution
RESOURCE CARD 2 (OF 2)
Roots of Discontent (Unhappiness) in Pre-Revolutionary French Society: The Three Estates