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What rights do people have,
and where do they come from?

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Who gets to make decisions for others
and on what authority?

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And how can we organize society
to meet people's needs?

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These questions challenged
an entire nation

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during the upheaval
of the French Revolution.

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By the end of the 18th century,

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Europe had undergone a profound
intellectual and cultural shift

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known as the Enlightenment.

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Philosophers and artists promoted
reason and human freedom

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over tradition and religion.

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The rise of a middle class
and printed materials

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encouraged political awareness,

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and the American Revolution had turned
a former English colony

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into an independent republic.

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Yet France, one of the largest and richest
countries in Europe

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was still governed by an ancient regime
of three rigid social classes

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called Estates.

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The monarch King Louis XVI
based his authority on divine right

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and granted special privileges
to the First and Second Estates,

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the Catholic clergy, and the nobles.

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The Third Estate, middle class merchants
and craftsmen,

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as well as over 20 million peasants,
had far less power

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and they were the only ones
who paid taxes,

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not just to the king,
but to the other Estates as well.

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In bad harvest years,

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taxation could leave peasants
with almost nothing

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while the king and nobles lived lavishly
on their extracted wealth.

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But as France sank into debt due to
its support of the American Revolution

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and its long-running war with England,

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change was needed.

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King Louis appointed
finance minister Jacques Necker,

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who pushed for tax reforms

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and won public support by openly
publishing the government's finances.

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But the king's advisors
strongly opposed these initiatives.

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Desperate for a solution, the king called
a meeting of the Estates-General,

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an assembly of representatives
from the Three Estates,

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for the first time in 175 years.

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Although the Third Estate represented
98% of the French population,

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its vote was equal to each
of the other Estates.

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And unsurprisingly, both of the upper
classes favored keeping their privileges.

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Realizing they couldn't
get fair representation,

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the Third Estate broke off,

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declared themselves
the National Assembly,

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and pledged to draft a new constitution
with or without the other Estates.

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King Louis ordered the First
and Second Estates

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to meet with the National Assembly,

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but he also dismissed Necker,
his popular finance minister.

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In response, thousands
of outraged Parisians

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joined with sympathetic soldiers
to storm the Bastille prison,

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a symbol of royal power
and a large storehouse of weapons.

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The Revolution had begun.

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As rebellion spread
throughout the country,

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the feudal system was abolished.

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The Assembly's Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen

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proclaimed a radical idea for the time --

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that individual rights and freedoms
were fundamental to human nature

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and government existed
only to protect them.

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Their privileges gone,
many nobles fled abroad,

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begging foreign rulers to invade France
and restore order.

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And while Louis remained as the figurehead
of the constitutional monarchy,

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he feared for his future.

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In 1791, he tried to flee the country
but was caught.

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The attempted escape shattered
people's faith in the king.

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The royal family was arrested
and the king charged with treason.

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After a trial,

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the once-revered king
was publicly beheaded,

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signaling the end of one thousand
years of monarchy

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and finalizing the September 21st
declaration of the first French republic,

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governed by the motto
"liberté, égalité, fraternité."

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Nine months later,

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Queen Marie Antoinette,

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a foreigner long-mocked
as "Madame Déficit"

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for her extravagant reputation,

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was executed as well.

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But the Revolution would not end there.

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Some leaders, not content
with just changing the government,

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sought to completely transform
French society --

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its religion,
its street names,

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even its calendar.

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As multiple factions formed,

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the extremist Jacobins
lead by Maximilien Robespierre

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launched a Reign of Terror

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to suppress the slightest dissent,

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executing over 20,000 people

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before the Jacobin's own downfall.

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Meanwhile, France found itself
at war with neighboring monarchs

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seeking to strangle the Revolution
before it spread.

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Amidst the chaos, a general named
Napoleon Bonaparte took charge,

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becoming Emperor as he claimed to defend
the Revolution's democratic values.

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All in all, the Revolution
saw three constitutions

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and five governments within ten years,

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followed by decades
alternating between monarchy and revolt

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before the next Republic formed in 1871.

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And while we celebrate
the French Revolution's ideals,

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we still struggle with many
of the same basic questions

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raised over two centuries ago.