Key Terms and Figures of the French Revolution
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- Third Estate: A three-estate system used until the French Revolution, comprising the clergy, nobility, peasants, and bourgeoisie.
- Estates General: The assembly of 1789 represented the three estates of the kingdom: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. It was the final meeting of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France.
- National Assembly: A revolutionary assembly formed by the representatives of the Third Estate of the Estates General.
- Constitution: The supreme law of a sovereign state.
- Universal Suffrage: The right to vote for all citizens of a state.
- Census Suffrage: An electoral system that grants the vote only to individuals meeting a specific level of wealth.
- Constitutional Monarchy: A form of government in which the sovereign exercises authority in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution.
- Republic: A form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter," rather than the private concern or property of the rulers.
- Girondins: Members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution.
- Jacobins: The most influential political club during the French Revolution of 1789 and the years that followed.
- Dictatorship: An authoritarian form of government characterized by a single leader or group of leaders, with little or no tolerance for political pluralism, independent programs, or free media.
- Robespierre: A prominent leader of the French Revolution and a member of the Jacobins.
- Olympe de Gouges: A playwright and feminist activist who played an active role in the French Revolution. She wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen in 1791.
- Napoleon: A general during the French Revolution. With the support of the bourgeoisie, he led a coup d'état that ended the Directory and established the Consulate.
- Restoration: The reinstatement of absolutism carried out by the powers that defeated Napoleon. They restored the monarchs deposed by Napoleon and created the Holy Alliance, a treaty of mutual assistance among European monarchs against any threat of liberal revolution.
- Nationalism: A political ideology that supports the right of peoples to self-determination and the defense of their sovereignty.