On August 26, 1784 the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was created by the National Assembly. The document was highly influenced by the Declaration of Independence created in the United States.
Rights promised are as follows:
- Innocence until proven guilty
-all are citizen regardless of the social class
- Freedom of religon and speech
-the ability to live your life free from government power as long as you do no harm to others, better known as Liberty
In parts of France, rumors were going around that Louis XVI was going to use the French military to take out the National Assembly. Another rumor was that foreign troops were going to go to Paris to kill as many French citizen as possible. What ever the truth may be, people began to gather weapons and mob Bastille, a prison, searching for weapons. This event became very symbolic to revolutionaries. The storming of Bastille took about 100 lives
Three days after the National Assembly was formed, Third Estate delegates found themselves locked out of the room that they would usually meet in. Since the want to have a meeting, they broke down the door to an indoor tennis court and pledge that they would stay there until they had written up a new constitution. This pledge was called the Tennis Court Oath. After the pledge, nobles and members of the clergy joined the third estate delegates because they wanted change too.
On June 17, 1789, Third Estate delegates had all agreed to the idea of the National Assembly. The national assembly was a congress that passed laws and reforms in the name of the French people.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the reason France was running into the ground . Marie spent money on jewels and gambling while Louis ignored anything that had to do with running a country. Louis XVI paid little attention to France's government advisers. There actions virtually left France with no money. Louis' solution? Taxing the nobility. This is when the Second Estate forced Louis to call the meeting of the Estates General. This was the first time the meeting was held in 175 years and it was held in Versailles.
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