Stars and Stripes: Liberty, Equality, Vocabulary: Words for Bastille Day, July 14

He was opposed to monarchy on general grounds, but he had seen in France monarchy and absolutism at their worst. Chinard, Gilbert

Meanwhile, a rising class of wealthy commoners, the bourgeoisie, threatened the privileged position of the aristocracy, increasing tensions between social classes. World History Encyclopedia

Despite the fact that post-Revolutionary France had its share of Emperors and Kings, perhaps the strongest notion that emerged from the Revolution was the concept of being a citizen. New World Encyclopedia

The Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and the Church ended the dechristianisation period and established the rules for a relationship between the Catholic Church and the French State that lasted until it was abrogated by the Third Republic via the separation of church and state on December 11, 1905. New World Encyclopedia

Through measures such as mass conscription, the Committee brutally crushed the civil wars and checked the foreign armies before turning its attention to unmasking domestic traitors and counter-revolutionary agents. World History Encyclopedia

Conservatives such as Edmund Burke accepted that reform was necessary but regarded revolution as a mistake from which the Terror and dictatorship inevitably followed. New World Encyclopedia

Inspired by Enlightenment principles and emboldened by the recent American Revolution, they demanded a constitution and the ability to make law for the people, by the people. National Geographic

On November 9, 1799, as frustration with their leadership reached a fever pitch, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d’état, abolishing the Directory and appointing himself France’s “first consul.” History.com

Many deputies of the Legislative Assembly formed themselves into two factions: the more conservative Feuillants sat on the right of the Assembly president, while the radical Jacobins sat to his left, giving rise to the left/right political spectrum still used today. World History Encyclopedia

A de facto prisoner from October 1789 onward, Louis XVI was sent to the guillotine a few years later—Marie Antoinette’s beheading followed shortly thereafter. History.com

Adopted on September 3, 1791, France’s first written constitution echoed the more moderate voices in the Assembly, establishing a constitutional monarchy in which the king enjoyed royal veto power and the ability to appoint ministers. History.com

Besides holding gunpowder and other supplies valuable to revolutionaries, the Bastille also symbolized the callous tyranny of the French monarchy, especially King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. History.com

What the Revolution did emphasize was the concepts of being a citizen with rights and of that nation as belonging to its citizens, who are not merely subjects of a ruler who more or less “owns” the state. The French revolution put nationalism on the political map. New World Encyclopedia

In an attempt to resolve the crisis, Louis XVI summoned the long-dormant Estates-General, a national assembly divided by social class into three orders: clergy (First Estate), nobility (Second Estate) and commoners (Third Estate). History.com

Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but several years of poor harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. History.com

The Convention approved the new "Constitution of the Year III" on August 17, 1795; a plebiscite ratified it in September; and it took effect on September 26, 1795. New World Encyclopedia

The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of ideological, political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French polity, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of republicanism, citizenship, and rights. New World Encyclopedia

Written during a period of reactionary entrenchment across Europe in the wake of the Napoleonic era, the Ninth developed a musical language that, according to Morlot, was revolutionary in its innovations. Seattle Times

Over the 10 years of upheaval that followed, France would execute its king and queen—and countless others—and transform into a republic. National Geographic

When war went badly, prices rose and the sans-culottes (poor laborers and radical Jacobins) rioted; counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions. New World Encyclopedia

The pulpit was used by the secular authorities for announcements and keeping the king's subjects docile and obedient. New World Encyclopedia

Working class men and women held that they had gained little benefit from the revolution. They demanded both universal suffrage and participatory democracy. Encyclopedia.com

The country's irregular systems of taxation were ineffective, and as creditors began to call for repayment in the 1780s, the government finally realized something had to be done. World History Encyclopedia

On August 4, 1789 the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism, in what is known as the August Decrees, sweeping away both the seigneurial rights of the Second Estate (aristocrats) and the tithes gathered by the First Estate (clergy). New World Encyclopedia

On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife Marie-Antoinette suffered the same fate nine months later. History.com