When representative from the different French social classes came together in the meeting of the Estates General in 1789, change may have been in the air, but they likely didn't realize the remarkable transformation of France they would begin. The next two years can be considered the moderate phase of the French Revolution, when liberal reforms transitioned France from a feudal state to a constitutional monarchy. However, some events during this moderate stage foreshadowed the more radical events to come. Learn about the moderate phase of the French Revolution, how it changed French society, and how it grew into the radical phase in this summary.
Defining the Moderate Phase of the French Revolution
The French Revolution is often seen as being divided into four phases :
- The moderate stage of the French Revolution, also sometimes called the liberal phase, from 1789-1791.
- The radical stage, from 1792-1794.
- The reactionary phase, from 1795-1799.
- The Napoleonic phase, from 1799-1815.
Moderate vs. Conservative Phase of the French Revolution
It is possible to consider the opening phase of the revolution as conservative compared to what came later. However, the changes were revolutionary for French society nonetheless. It would be a misnomer to label the first few years of the revolution as conservative.
Calling it the liberal or moderate phase of the French Revolution is more appropriate.
A better way to consider how to compare a moderate vs. conservative phase of the French Revolution is to consider the reactionary phase and Napoleonic phase as two more conservative phases.
Moderate Phase of the French Revolution Overview
The moderate phase of the French Revolution grew out of numerous problems in pre-revolutionary France.
Causes of the French Revolution
In 1789, France was facing several challenges. These included:
- Large debts
- Food shortages and high prices due to bad harvests
- Resentment at the lavish lifestyle of the aristocracy
- The spread of Enlightenment ideas, especially among a new educated and well off but not aristocratic class of lawyers and businessmen, who wanted reforms
Fig 1 - A cartoon depicting the people of France carrying the priileged aristocracy and church.
When representatives from around France met in the Estates General in 1789 to consider how to address these concerns, the Third Estate representatives sought to institute liberal reforms that would make French society more equal.
The Three Estates and Estates General
In pre-revolutionary France, society was divided into three classes, called estates. They were:
- The First Estate - Church officials
- The Second Estate - The aristocracy
- The Third Estate - Everyone else
The First and Second Estates were exempt from taxes. While local village priests lived modestly, many higher church officials and the aristocracy lived lavishly. This provoked anger in the lower classes and wealthy members of the Third Estate, who wanted increased status. It was lawyers, merchants, and other professionals that were the primary drivers of the liberal reforms during the moderate phase of the French Revolution.
Although there were many more delegates from the Third Estate, each estate had one vote as a collective. That meant that the First and Second Estate could always outvote the Third on proposals to end their special tax-exempt privileges.
The National Assembly Kicks off the Moderate Phase of the French Revolution
Since the First and Second Estates would not agree to the reforms proposed by the Third Estate, they created their own new body, declaring themselves the National Assembly, based on the idea of one vote per representative, not per Estate.
Fig 2 - Painting showing the meeting of the Estates General.
The Tennis Court Oath
The members of the National Assembly, after being locked out of their meeting hall, met on a tennis court, where they made a pledge that they would not disperse until a new constitution was adopted. Many representatives of the First Estate, and even some from the Second Estate, joined the National Assembly.
King Louis XVI was forced to begrudgingly accept this, and the National Assembly became the Constituent Assembly, responsible for drafting a new constitution.
Storming of the Bastille
There were still rumors the king would shut down reform, and the presence of an army surrounding Paris was fuel for the fire.
Fear, along with the high price of bread, inspired a popular uprising in Paris. Angry and fearful Parisians stormed the Bastille, an old fortress that was being used as a prison and armory, and armed themselves to defend the assembly.
Bastille Day is celebrated today as a national holiday in France in honor of the start of the French Revolution.
Violence soon broke out across rural France in the Great Fear. Peasants, hungry and resentful of years of exploitation, reacted to rumors of an aristocratic plan to overthrow the National Assembly with attacks on landowners.
Journées in the French Revolution
The French word journée came to describe days of collective action during the French Revolution, like the Storming of the Bastille. They were characterized by the large-scale participation of the urban working class, known as the sans-culottes, and sometimes the peasantry. They were often akin to mob violence.
In the early moderate phase of the French Revolution, they primarily served to push forward reforms and ensure conservative or royalist forces did not overturn the changes made. However, they foreshadowed the more radical phase to come.
Fig 3 - Painting depicting the storming of the Bastille.
Liberal Reforms Adopted During the Moderate Stage of the French Revolution
Partly due to their own goals of remaking France, and partly due to the pressure exerted by actions like the Storming of the Bastille, the National and Constituent Assembly adopted some liberal reforms.
Abolition of the Ancién Regime
Perhaps the most influential step the National Assembly took was the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.
This declaration was based on the ideas of the Enlightenment, like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke's, and sought to establish a social and political order based on equality before the law, freedom of speech, and representative government.
The term ancién regime, "old order," was used to describe the pre-revolutionary social order. However, it is often used today in history and political science to describe the feudal order in all of Europe, not just France.
The Declaration:
- abolished feudalism by removing the special privileges granted to the church and aristocracy and
- established the principle of government though popular sovereignty, not the absolutist power of monarchs.
Popular Sovereignty
The idea that government's power comes from the people. While it does not necessarily mean democracy, it does mean that governments should be representative of the interests of all citizens and fulfilling its duty to the people is how it derives its power. This contrasts it to the ideas of absolutism, which holds that the king has power simply because he is the king.
However, Louis XVI refused to accept the declaration explicitly. This prompted the March on Versailles, when hundreds of Parisian marched to the palace at Versailles, demanding reforms, and that the king, queen, and National Assembly return to Paris. Louis XVI accepted. It was a powerful demonstration of power by the people over the king.
The March on Versailles is often called the Women's March because it included the participation of many women. Women were denied playing much of a role in the political bodies such as the National Assembly that directed the reforms of the French Revolution, but they were often participants in revolutionary collective action.
Fig 4 - The Declaration of the Rights of Man was one of the major achievements of the moderate phase of the French Revolution.
The King's Intransigence Prompts the Radical Phase
In October 1789, despite widespread anger and desire for change, most French people, especially in the countryside, were still loyal to the king. Anger was often directed at his ministers and Queen Marie Antoinette, from Austria.
Over the next two years, popular opinion turned increasingly against him. The National Assembly seemed unable to craft a constitution that would please everyone, and the king only begrudgingly accepted some reforms, refusing to comply with others. Conspiracy theories that the king hoped to roll back the reforms that had been adopted continued to abound.
Louis confirmed these suspicions when he attempted to flee Paris in June 1791. He hoped to escape to Austria and return with an army to end the revolution. However, he was caught near the border and returned to Paris.
The Legislative Assembly and Rise of the Radicals
With its adoption of a new constitution in September 1791, the Constituent Assembly became the Legislative Assembly. Many moderates felt that their goals had been achieved. France was now a constitutional monarchy, with legal equality and a social order based on merit rather than birth.
The revolution had triumphed, apparently. But radical factions wished to carry it further. They increasingly curried support from the sans-culottes. Additionally, there were royalist forces that wished to see a return to the old order, and many foreign countries had issued threats to revolutionary France. Finally, continued food shortages and high prices further fueled discontent and anger in the streets and the countryside.
The king's refusal to fully accept moderate reforms from the Legislative Assembly, the start of war with Austria and Prussia, and royalist rebellion in the Vendée region all contributed to the situation boiling over. On August 10, 1792, an angry mob attacked the Tulleries Palace where the king lived. The Legislative Assembly was replaced with the National Convention, which soon was taken over by the radicals.
Fig 5 - Painting showing the attack on the Tuilleries Palace ending the moderate phase of the French Revolution.
In early 1793, they executed the king for treason, and soon the Committee of Public Safety, empowered by the National Convention to defend the revolution, instituted the Reign of Terror, ushering in the radical phase of the French Revolution.
Moderate Phase of the French Revolution Effects
Despite its failure to establish stability, the effects of the moderate phase of the French Revolution were enormous. It firmly abolished feudalism. After the revolution, the monarchy was restored, but as a limited, constitutional monarchy similar to the one the 1791 Constitution had proposed.
Even if the violence eclipsed its achievements, the lasting legacy of the French Revolution is rooted in the liberal reforms of the moderate phase of the revolution.
Important Moderate Phase of the French Revolution Facts
See some of the most important moderate phase of the French Revolution facts:
- The moderate phase began with the declaration of the National Assembly in 1789.
- The Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and abolished feudalism.
- It also adopted a new constitution that made France a constitutional monarchy.
- Internal and external factors eventually pushed the revolution in a more radical direction, moving beyond the liberal reforms of the moderate phase.
Moderate Phase of the French Revolution Timeline
See important events in the Moderate Phase of the French Revolution timeline:
- May 2, 1789: the meeting of the Estates General.
- June 20, 1789: members of the Third Estate issue the Tennis Court Oath, calling for a new constitution and creating the National Assembly.
- July 14, 1789: the Storming of the Bastille.
- August 26, 1789: the National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
- June 20, 1791: the king attempts to flee France.
- September 13, 1791: a new constitution is passed.
- Summer of 1792: France goes to war against Austria and Prussia and faces royalist rebellion.
- August 10, 1792: a mob attacks the Tulleries Palace, beginning the radical phase of the revolution.
Moderate Stage and Liberal Reform - Key takeaways
- The moderate phase of the French Revolution began when the representative of the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and advocated for a new constitution.
- King Louis XVI tried to resist reforms, but he was forced to accept them due to popular actions like the Storming of the Bastille.
- The Declaration of the Rights of Man, the abolition of feudalism, and a new constitution of 1791 effectively made France a constitutional monarchy.
- The growing power of the radicals, the refusal of the king to agree to more moderate reforms, and fears that foreign and rebel armies would overturn the gains of the revolution contributed to the start of the radical phase of the revolution.
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