Deck 16: Revolution: Liberty and Terror, 1780-1799

Question 1

Which of the following statements about women's rights in the wake of the French Revolution stands true?

A) Women were not able to participate in the events that transpired during the October Days.
B) The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen called out that women had specific rights.
C) In France, most of the demands in the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman" were met.
D) Women were granted the right to vote, except when they were pregnant.
E) The legalization of divorce was among the greatest gains for women's rights in France.

Answer 1

The legalization of divorce was among the greatest gains for women's rights in France.

Question 2

It was not long before France and the world recognized that the events of July 14, 1789, at the Bastille

A) signaled the absorption of the middle class into the lower class.
B) was the moment when the people forced their way into the political process.
C) would result in the domination of elites in the government and military.
D) marked the end of "absolutism" in Europe.
E) had introduced democracy to France.

Answer 2

was the moment when the people forced their way into the political process.

Question 3

Why was Anne-Robert Turgot dismissed after being appointed as the king's minister?

A) his efforts to introduce a radical liberalization of the French economy
B) his affair with the king's daughter
C) his refusal to practice Christianity
D) his refusal to overhaul the tax system
E) his writings objecting to the rise of the Patriot Party

Answer 3

his efforts to introduce a radical liberalization of the French economy

Question 4

Which of the following occurred during the two days known as the October Days?

A) A large numbers of prisoners were massacred in Paris.
B) The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was signed.
C) Parisian crowds led by men marched to the Bastille.
D) The National Guard suppressed the "Great Fear."
E) Revolutionaries forced the royal family to leave Versailles and return to Paris.

Question 5

Which of the following statements was true of a good deal of the underground literature during the Enlightenment in France?

A) The authors sought to avoid moralizing in favor of neutral political commentary.
B) The authors were in favor of upholding the courtly manners at Versailles.
C) The authors were some of the first in France who did not need to avoid censorship laws.
D) The authors were critical of the "unnatural" influence of powerful women at court.
E) The authors advocated a more public role for mothers in the court.

Question 6

Which of the following statements describes the effect of the looming bankruptcy that followed French assistance to the American revolutionaries?

A) It allowed Swiss bankers to take over the economy.
B) It convinced the king to invade Belgium while he still had a large military.
C) It forced the French to ally with Prussia.
D) It prevented the French from supporting Dutch Patriots.
E) It led to-and was quickly solved by-a series of financial reforms by Jacques Necker.

Question 7

Following the fall of the Bastille, the "Great Fear" led to

A) the rise of a tiny minority of wealthy landowners.
B) demands by peasants for the right to vote.
C) the solidification of noble power in the countryside.
D) the rise of Jean-Paul Marat.
E) the destruction of records listing peasants' obligations to landlords.

Question 8

What did the Tennis Court Oath state?

A) The Third Estate would initiate a royal coup.
B) The Third Estate would not disperse until they had provided a written constitution.
C) The new government would reinstate the policies of the Ancient Roman Empire.
D) The new Estates General would follow the Jacobin model.
E) France was now a republic led by the Third Estate.

Question 9

The people storming the Bastille on July 14, 1789, were seeking to

A) free the mass of prisoners held there and protest the terrible punishments that had taken place there since the National Assembly had been formed.
B) convince the government to establish an economic trade system that would account for the interests of the middle classes and the poor.
C) obtain weapons and gunpowder to defend Paris against an anticipated attack being planned by Louis XVI.
D) protest the unfair appointment of new leaders to a corrupt governing body called the Third Estate.
E) steal bread, gold, and other resources as part of the first bread riot of the French Revolution.

Question 10

In the end, what happened to Governor de Launay of the Bastille on July 14, 1789?

A) He chose to support the crowds of people swarming the Bastille, joining their cause.
B) He and his men successfully defended the Bastille, only for it to fall into enemy hands months later.
C) He was put in charge of publicly executing the prisoners held there as a warning to the revolutionaries.
D) He continued to support the king and committed suicide rather than surrender.
E) He surrendered and died a public death.

Question 11

The National Assembly was established following

A) the publication of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
B) the decision to build a new chamber to house them at Versailles.
C) a rally organized by the Second Estate.
D) the pledging of the Tennis Court Oath.
E) the signing of a new constitution.

Question 12

What was the result of Louis XVI's decision to double the number of delegates in the Third Estate?

A) The decision ended any remaining opposition by the nation regarding representation for the next decade.
B) The decision led to the establishment of a ruling body called the "Directory," comprised of six "directors."
C) The decision meant that commoners could now deliberate from a position of equality but needed to pay extra taxes.
D) The decision discredited the arguments of Emmanuel Sieyès, resulting in his imprisonment.
E) The decision was rendered meaningless because it did not allow deliberation or voting in common with the other two estates.

Question 13

Who wrote the pamphlet What Is the Third Estate?, demanding that the Third Estate comprise half of the deputies of the Estates General?

A) Honoré Riqueti de Mirabeau
B) Emmanuel Sieyès
C) Jacques Necker
D) Étienne Charles Loménie de Brienne
E) Jacques-Louis David

Question 14

Resistance to new taxes and financial reforms in France came primarily from the

A) lower class.
B) church.
C) king.
D) army.
E) privileged "notables."

Question 15

The French Revolution helped the word "revolution" take on its modern meaning of a(n)

A) gradual suppression of radicalization.
B) moderate change in politics by a minority class.
C) unpredictable whirling about of human affairs.
D) explosive expression of a people's collective will.
E) political upheaval marked by consensual changes.

Question 16

In 1790-1791 the National Assembly passed measures that

A) abolished slavery.
B) granted citizenship to French Jews.
C) gave women the right to vote.
D) recognized the equality of blacks.
E) ended the French monarchy.

Question 17

What was the significance of Louis XVI's decision in 1788 to call the Estates General?

A) Its announcement immediately set off riots that began the French Revolution, with protesters requiring all voting under the new system be postponed until after the fighting.
B) It initially brought together three equally balanced Estates, but the decrease in the wealth of French commoners after the Renaissance had made this equality impossible to maintain.
C) It led to the realization that voting by estate in France would guarantee that less than 2 percent of the population would always dominate all decisions.
D) It revealed that electing members to a chamber for each estate allowed each chamber equal representation like that achieved by the American revolution.
E) It set in motion the reorganization of the Three Estates so that they would privilege wealth as much as inherited status, much like the government in Britain did.

Question 18

Which of the following was a cause of the French government's inability to deal with the events leading up to summer 1789?

A) the immense wealth of the government's central bank, which financed the nation's wars
B) the absence of governmental institutions capable of serious financial reforms
C) the government's focusing too much attention on its "exisemen" and tax collection system
D) the king's disregard for the system of social privilege that had been in place for the last century
E) Louis XVI's reputation as a feared ruler who was overinvolved and impulsive in matters of policy and reform

Question 19

What was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen considered?

A) a brief moment of egalitarianism that largely was not influential
B) one of the first great feminist documents
C) the French Revolution's most enduring statement of revolutionary principles
D) an acceptance of the ultimate sovereignty of the king
E) the piece of writing that inspired the creation of a National Assembly

Question 20

On the night of August 4, 1789, the National Assembly abolished many obligations and privileges and thereby

A) ended the entire "feudal regime" that had governed France.
B) increased the prominence of private courts of law.
C) eliminated the possibility of ever offering compensation to their overlords for the changes.
D) expressed their loyalty to the king.
E) reinforced the principles of hierarchy.

Question 21

Following the establishment of the National Convention, which of the following economic trends took place?

A) The French economy boomed with the rise of paper currency.
B) The quality of life of most French people improved dramatically.
C) France experienced what today would be called "hyperinflation."
D) The principles of free trade declared after 1789 were upheld.
E) The cost of goods such as bread was at an all-time low.

Question 22

Who was the publicist who, in the book The Rights of Man, countered Edmund Burke's argument that the French revolutionaries were guided by a "barbarous philosophy"?

A) Louis-Antoine Saint-Just
B) Maximilien Robespierre
C) Thomas Paine
D) Joseph Priestly
E) Jean-Paul Marat

Question 23

Which of the following statements about the September Massacres was true?

A) Many leaders of the sans-culottes were executed and their influence was eliminated in France.
B) They comprised the first major uprising of enslaved people in France and made the abolishment of slavery more likely.
C) The relatively bloodless uprising caused many observers outside France to proclaim their approval of the sans-culottes.
D) The sans-culottes' violent execution of counterrevolutionaries led many people outside France to revoke their support of the Revolution.
E) Many leaders of the Catholic Church were executed, which led to the formation of a new national religion.

Question 24

The summer of 1793 saw the fall of the Girondins and the

A) triumph of Jean-Paul Marat as political leader.
B) end of the "mass levy."
C) creation of the Committee of Public Safety.
D) passage of the first Patriot Act.
E) beginning of the Directory.

Question 25

On August 10, 1792, the seizure of the royal palace by the sans-culottes was followed within days by

A) a counterrevolutionary uprising in the Vendée.
B) the return of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette to the throne.
C) the abolition of the monarchy and the call for a National Convention.
D) the beginning of the period known as the Thermidorian Reaction.
E) the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte as leader of the French Republic.

Question 26

The failures in the war with Austria and Prussia led National Guards and the sans-culottes to

A) attack the royal palace in Paris.
B) join the Swiss guards.
C) force the king and queen to flee to Versailles.
D) turn on each other.
E) execute their officers.

Question 27

The sans-culottes were active urban militants who

A) preached hatred of the aristocrats and the wealthy.
B) preferred peaceful demonstrations over violence.
C) were led primarily by the common, working class.
D) defended the king and queen in times of violence.
E) were committed to the counterrevolution.

Question 28

The Committee of Public Safety increasingly justified its authority by invoking

A) the will of the people.
B) the authority of the Revolution itself.
C) the constitution.
D) popular sovereignty.
E) the nation of France.

Question 29

The "political culture" bequeathed to the Revolution by the Old Regime made the new government more likely to do which of the following?

A) suspect their opponents were performing treason
B) forge coalitions with commoners
C) reach compromises in the national interest
D) accept the will of the majority
E) form political parties

Question 30

In the Vendée, which of the following transpired along with peasant victories against the revolutionary government?

A) A French civil war was successfully avoided.
B) Their efforts received widespread support throughout the country.
C) The "Catholic and Royal Army" was formed.
D) There was limited bloodshed thereafter.
E) Catholicism was replaced by Protestantism.

Question 31

The French victory over the Prussians at the Battle of Valmy can be attributed to

A) political demonstrations organized by heroic citizens.
B) dysentery and the French artillery.
C) the onset of a huge blizzard.
D) the military expertise of Napoleon.
E) the purging of aristocrats from the army.

Question 32

Which of the following statements about the National Assembly's first Constitution of 1791 is true?

A) It granted all adult males the right to vote.
B) It gave the king an absolute veto over legislative decisions.
C) It divided the citizenry between "active" and "passive" citizens.
D) It prohibited priests and bishops from becoming elected officials.
E) It ended the National Guard and reorganized the army.

Question 33

By 1790, what did Austria and Prussia do?

A) They declared their support for the French Revolution.
B) They modeled their own National Assemblies on that of the French.
C) They advised Louis XVI against resisting revolutionary change.
D) They forbade French nobles from entering their lands.
E) They assembled a counterrevolutionary army to restore Louis XVI to his full powers.

Question 34

Which of the following occurred as Jean-Paul Marat and Maximilien Robespierre rose to prominence?

A) Their policies were widely accepted and provided a strong sense of unity.
B) The king and queen kept in contact with émigrés determined to overthrow the Revolution.
C) The counterrevolutionaries became less prominent and soon disappeared.
D) The counterrevolutionaries prevented further violence.
E) A right-wing faction in the Assembly gave crucial support to the revolutionaries' cause.

Question 35

What happened to Louis XVI following the establishment of the National Convention?

A) He died in a tragic accident that brought both sides of the conflict together.
B) He was murdered in secret without due process of law.
C) He was cast into exile and lived out the rest of his life in Britain.
D) He was put on trial and, found guilty of betraying the people, was executed.
E) He was restored to the throne and given a ceremonial role in the Convention.

Question 36

Why was Robespierre opposed to the Girondins' proposal to expand the war?

A) He thought it would cost too much money and harm alliances with other countries.
B) He thought it would aid the cause of the revolutionaries rather than the counterrevolutionaries.
C) Like Jacques-Pierre Brissot, he wanted France to focus on liberating oppressed groups throughout Europe.
D) He thought it would distract from the objective of rooting out counterrevolution at home.
E) He thought the French military was not advanced enough to be successful.

Question 37

Which of the following took place in Saint-Domingue in part due to the French Revolution?

A) Enslaved Africans and white elites from the colony joined forces to invade other French possessions in the Caribbean.
B) The French commissioners who ultimately defeated enslaved Africans' attempts at rebellion came to model their leadership after that of the French monarchy.
C) Although their efforts were quickly suppressed and the formation of a black republic was made impossible, the enslaved Africans in the colony managed to lead a large revolt.
D) Enslaved Africans led the most successful slave revolt in history, and in a matter of years, slavery in the colony was abolished.
E) The Jacobins took political control of the colony and managed to revitalize its economy through a new system of serfdom.

Question 38

What was the principle division of political groups in the National Convention?

A) the Girondins and the Mountain
B) the National Assembly and the Directory
C) the Estates General and the sans-culottes
D) the émigrés and the Patriots
E) the Committee of Public Safety and the National Assembly

Question 39

What was a consequence of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette's quasi-captivity in Paris and their failed attempt at escape?

A) The Austrian troops that had been planning to help them escape went on to successfully dissolve the National Assembly.
B) After hearing the Assembly's excuses regarding the failed escape, millions of citizens began to believe the idea that the king and queen were treasonous.
C) Many citizens who had previously sided with the revolutionaries felt sympathy for the king and queen and began to support them again.
D) Riots broke out protesting their captivity, and during the commotion, the king and queen finally managed to flee the country.
E) Because the king and queen remained removed from the public eye, violent crowds and riots became far less likely.

Question 40

Which of the following statements correctly describes how the National Assembly's first Constitution of 1791 was received?

A) The National Assembly defended the interests of and was supported by the Catholic Church.
B) The National Assembly quickly reached a popular consensus about the central ideas to include in the constitution.
C) Most of France supported the constitution, but these supporters were afraid to demonstrate their approval openly.
D) The king's supporters and the National Assembly were unified in that they both supported the pope's role as head of the Catholic Church in France.
E) A series of disputes about which reforms to implement left much of the country in an unsettled state.

Question 41

Which of the following correctly describes the influence of the Convention during the Reign of Terror?

A) The Convention focused on the economy and paid little attention to the armed forces.
B) The Convention attempted to gain the people's favor by gradually placing Louis XVI and his former ministers in leadership roles.
C) The Convention refused to exert control over the sans-culottes, such as by limiting their access to goods.
D) The Convention allowed people legally to be arrested based on suspicion alone for sympathizing with the counterrevolutionary cause.
E) The Convention alone, without contributions by the French common people, played a role in driving the events of the Terror forward.

Question 42

What occurred with the defeat of the Catholic and Royal Army in the 1793 battle in the Vendée?

A) an increase in the counterrevolutionaries' control over the revolutionaries
B) the most peaceful period since the French Revolution had begun
C) a series of trials punishing the revolutionaries for war crimes
D) the protection of citizens of the Vendée by politicians in Paris
E) slaughter on a scale not seen in Europe since the seventeenth century

Question 43

What was the Republic's relationship with Christianity during the Radical Revolution?

A) It preserved churches such as the Cathedral of Notre Dame as places of Christian worship.
B) It allied with the pope.
C) It sought to suppress Christianity.
D) It fought to eradicate the "cult of the supreme being."
E) It supported the Church in outlawing atheism.

Question 44

Which of the following statements correctly describes the period of history beginning with the rise of Napoleon?

A) It was a period marked by popular enthusiasm for overthrowing the Bastille.
B) It was a period in which military conquest was the ultimate driving force.
C) It was a period in which the democratic flame of the French Revolution remained as strong as ever.
D) It was a period of chaos in which Napoleon was unable to restore law and order effectively.
E) It was a period in which the government granted the press unprecedented freedom.

Question 45

Toussaint L'Ouverture led Saint-Domingue as the first black republic in the world.

Question 46

Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau insisted that public figures should be judged by their private conduct.

Question 47

In his book that became the founding text of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke held that political reform needed to be gradual and based on existing tradition.

Question 48

The end of the Directory, the emergence of Napoleon as sole director, and the staging of a military coup was aided by

A) Georges Danton.
B) Emmanuel Sieyès.
C) Maximilien Robespierre.
D) Louis-Antoine Saint-Just.
E) Thomas Paine.

Question 49

What did the Jacobins do following the execution of Marie-Antoinette in 1793?

A) They elevated the status of women through a women's suffrage movement.
B) They established the first centers for child care for new mothers.
C) They empowered women by creating new job opportunities.
D) They created pro-revolutionary women's political clubs.
E) They insisted women stay out of the public eye and not pursue political rights.

Question 50

Which of the following statements about Napoleon's legacy is correct?

A) He was the world's first "media general" in that he sponsored writers to celebrate his and his army's exploits.
B) He was the first French leader to rise to power at such an old age.
C) In part due to his unpopularity, he was the last general to be put in power in French history.
D) He stopped a major coup in November 1799 and restored the revolutionaries to the Directory.
E) His Egyptian campaign was an enormous success, causing him to lead additional military campaigns before returning to France.

Question 51

The Ninth of Thermidor began the "Thermidorian Reaction" with

A) the promotion of Maximilien Robespierre as leader of the National Convention.
B) the formal establishment of Napoleon as leader of the sans-culottes.
C) demands for the arrest of Maximilien Robespierre and Louis-Antoine Saint-Just.
D) a formal acknowledgement of the ultimate victory of the revolutionaries.
E) an alliance between the National Convention and Catherine the Great.

Question 52

To what did the "Thermidorian Reaction" eventually lead?

A) the beginning of the French Revolution
B) the Reign of Terror
C) the first bread riot of the French Revolution
D) the emergence of the Directory and Napoleon
E) the English invasion of France

Question 53

Marie-Antoinette was right to claim that "these imbeciles don't see that they are helping us" to regain power when she and the king supported Brissot's call for war with Austria.

Question 54

Robespierre and Saint-Just fought to dissolve the Committee of Public Safety, a small but powerful political club.

Question 55

The repression in the Vendée caused the killing of hundreds of thousands of counterrevolutionaries.

Question 56

The Jacobins were an important radical political club that included revolutionaries such as Maximilien Robespierre.

Question 57

Which of the following aspects of the French Revolution disappeared under Napoleon?

A) the institution of religious toleration
B) the confiscation of the lands of the Church
C) civic equality
D) the end of the countryside's seigneurial system
E) the right of the people to choose their own rulers

Question 58

In 1790 the Times of London reflected the opinion of all of Britain when it condemned the French revolutionaries as criminals and thugs.

Question 59

Increasingly, revolutionaries such as Maximilien Robespierre relied more on the purity of their cause and their followers and less on the institutions through which they governed.

Question 60

The election to the National Convention in 1792 was the first time in European history that every one of the nation's adult males could vote.

Question 61

By gaining a strong foothold in Ireland and turning Ireland and Great Britain against one another, France successfully undermined the British war effort.

Question 62

What were some of the reasons underlying the failure of the Estates General?

Question 63

What was the role of the royal family in their own demise?

Question 64

What were the international reactions to the French Revolution?

Question 65

Napoleon can be credited with enabling the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.

Question 66

What are the events that led to the creation of the Reign of Terror, and what were its goals?

Question 67

In August 1792, the san-culottes attacked the royal palace in Paris.The fighting that ensued led to the election of a National Convention to write the constitution for a new republic.What were the consequences of the declaration of the First Republic?

Question 68

Explain Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to director.

Question 69

Early in his political career, Napoleon diffused fears of the rise of a modern-day Caesar who would create a tyrannical empire in the wake of the fall of the Republic.

Question 70

The eighteenth Brumaire saw Napoleon fail to dissolve all representative institutions in a military coup.

Question 71

The French Republic was the second French revolutionary government of the conflict and the first of these two governments to be a republic.

Question 72

What factors contributed to an increased role of "the people" after 1788?

Question 73

What were some of the most important factors leading up to the French Revolution?

Question 74

Discuss the factors contributing to radicalization after 1790.

Question 75

Why did the efforts to establish a mixed monarchy fail in France?