Previewing the Text (done before you Annotating the text (done while reading):

read): 4. Circle key terms

1. Review the title/author/directions 5. Highlight or Underline main ideas or arguments and
2. Review the questions and/or writing information relevant to the questions/writing prompt
6. Justify your reasoning for highlight or underline in the
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Factions of the French Revolution: Moderates vs. Radicals

Directions: Read the following text about the different factions of the French Revolution. Use the information from
the text to fill in the Venn diagram comparing the Moderates and the Radicals.

THE MODERATE FACTION: DRAFTING A CONSTITUTION

On August 4, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen, a statement of democratic principles grounded in the philosophical and
political ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Locke. The
document proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to replace the ancien régime with a
system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty (power
deriving from the people) and representative government.

Drafting a formal constitution proved much more of a challenge for the National
Assembly. For months, its members wrestled with fundamental questions about the
shape and expanse of France’s new political landscape. For instance, who would be
responsible for electing delegates? Would the clergy owe allegiance to the Roman
Catholic Church or the French government? Perhaps most importantly, how much
authority would the king retain? 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. This compromise did not sit well with influential radicals like
Maximilien Robespierre, Camille Desmoulins and Georges Danton, who began
drumming up popular support for a more republican form of government and the trial of
King Louis XVI.

The Work and Reforms of the National Assembly (Moderates)

- The National Assembly’s reforms are viewed by many as having created the foundations for modern France.
- They had to deal with a range of difficult aims and tasks, namely:
o Turn France into a constitutional monarchy, including the creation of a new constitution.
o Rebuild the economy
o Decentralise administration
o Create a uniform and acceptable legal system.
o Agree on the relationship between Church and State.
o Deal with the King- How much power should he have?
- The reforms attempted to address four key principles, linked to democratic government:
o The principle of election (including judges, the clergy and government)
o The principle of merit (election and employment based on ability)
o The principle of equality (before the law, and in taxation)
o The principle of wealth (voting qualifications based on wealth, one can buy into land).
- The main beneficiaries were the bourgeoisie, who made up much of the National Assembly.
THE RADICAL FACTION: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TURNS
RADICAL
In April 1792, the newly elected National Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia, hoping to
spread its revolutionary ideals across Europe through warfare. On the domestic front, meanwhile, the
political crisis took a radical turn when a group of insurgents led by the radical Jacobins attacked the royal
residence in Paris and arrested the king on August 10, 1792. The following month, amid a wave of
violence in which Parisian insurrectionists massacred hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries (people
who were against the revolution), the National Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which
proclaimed the abolition (to get rid of) of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic. 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.

Following the king’s execution, war with various European powers and intense divisions within the
National Convention ushered the French Revolution into its most violent and turbulent phase. In June
1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the Girondins and instituted a series of
radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. They
also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror, a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the
revolution were guillotined by the thousands.

The Work and Reforms of the National Convention (Radicals)

- They wanted to dethrone the king and put him on trial

o This will ultimately lead to the King and Queen being
executed
- The Radicals wanted a new Constitution that would make
France a Republic
o The vote for all adult males
o The right to work
o The right to have assistance when in need
o The right to be educated
o The right to use violence in the interests of defending
the revolution
- They wanted to spread revolution to other European countries
through war
o Needed to make a Revolutionary French Army
- The Radicals wanted to eradicate (get rid of) Christianity
o Changed the French calendar