Important People of the French Revolution

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Important People of the French Revolution

• Chapter3

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Louis XVI

• Married to Marie Antoinette of Austria
• He became King on May 10, 1774
• His Shyness will be his downfall
• In June 1789 he and his family were brought
  back to Paris by protesters
• Charged with treason in November 1792, he was
  executed in Jan. 1793

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Marie Antoinette (Madame Deficit)

• Married to Louis XVI (King of France)
• Married at the age of 14 and became queen at 19.
• Archduchess of Austria and daughter of Empress
  Maria Teresa
• Angry mob of women brought her and family back to
  Paris
• She was executed for treason theft in Oct.
  1793.
• She was an extravagant spender, but received a
  lot of blame for debt.

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Jacques Necker

• He was named Finance Minister by Louis XVI in
  October 1776.
• He was a good politician and allowed the country
  to curb its debt.
• He used loans to help fund the American war of
  independence
• made some very popular reforms like the
  abolishment of serfdom.
• In 1781, Necker criticized the royal pension
  system and the royal family expenditures and
  special privileges of estates and was fired

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Maximillian Robespierre

• Jacobin Lawyer and Politician
• Mastermind behind Reign of Terror in which people
  were arrested and executed without trial if they
  were accused of being enemies of the revolution.
• In July 1794, He was evicted from the Convention
  and accused of dictatorship and tyranny and
  executed.

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Abbe Emmanuel Sieyes

• Became very famous when he published the pamphlet
  in January 1789 on 3rd Estate. This essay was
  considered a foundation of the French Revolution
  of 1789.
• Sieyes was elected representative of the Third
  Estate during at Estates General in May 1789.
• He proposed the transformation of the Third
  Estate chamber to a National Assembly.
• Worked on the Constitution and drafted the
  Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

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Olympe de Gouges

• Olympe de Gouges, a famous playwright in France
  at the time of the Revolution
• In 1791 she wrote and published the "Declaration
  of the Rights of Women and of the Citizen."
• The basis that women, as citizens, had the right
  to free speech, and therefore had the right to
  reveal the identity of the fathers of their
  children -- a right which women of the time were
  not assumed to have.

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Jean-Paul Marat

• Journalist with radical ideas
• In September 1789, he started his own newspaper
  Friend of the People where he attacked the
  enemies of the Revolution.
• His extremist ideas were accused to have led to
  the massacre of September 1792.
• In 1793, he was elected president of the Jacobins
  club and served on National Assembly
• On July 13th, 1793 Marat was murdered by
  Charlotte Corday, opposition sympathizer.

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Georges-Jacques Danton

• Created and participated in the revolutionaries
  court in March 1793.
• Hired to Committee of Public Safety in April 1793
  and fired in August 1793, and Robespierre took
  his position
• He was accused of being too soft by counter
  revolutionaries criticized for desire for power
  and money.
• He was accused by the revolutionaries court of
  being an enemy of the Republic. He was condemned
  and killed on April 5th, 1794.

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Francois-Noel Babeuf

• French political agitator and journalist
• His newspaper The Tribune of the People was
  best known for his advocacy for the poor and
  calling for a popular revolt against the
  Directory (French Legislature/Government).
• He was a leading advocate for democracy, the
  abolition of private property and the equality of
  results.
• executed for conspiracy against the government
  in May 27, 1797

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Napoleon Bonaparte

• Military general who came to 1st dictator of
  France
• Under his direction Napoleon turned his reforms
  to other areas of the country including its
  economy, legal system and education
• reinstated Roman Catholicism as the state
  religion.
• Instituted the Napoleonic Code, which forbade
  privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of
  religion and stated that government jobs must be
  given to the most qualified.