Against the Monarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in the French Revolution

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The French Revolution was a civil revolt that broke out in France against the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church, which lasted from 1789-1799. This resulted in the establishment of France as a republic, democratic government and caused the Roman Catholic Church’s necessity, as well as its power to be questioned. The French Revolution ended the thousand-year rule of the monarchy in France and began when King Louis XVI gathered representatives from the 3 social groups called the Clergy, the Nobilities and the Commoners to solve a great national debt and economic crisis France was experiencing.

The American Revolution is believed to have greatly influenced the French, and may have inspired the French Revolution. As the French had a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War, and funded the Americans in their revolution, revolutionary ideas of freedom and independence were spread amongst the two nations, inspiring the French to start their own Revolution.

The French Revolution was also influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, a movement that promoted reason and science rather than traditions. The Enlightenment gave rise to ideas of equality and liberty of an individual, democracy in governments, nationalism, citizenship and freedom of speech. The Enlightenment also challenged the Catholic Church’s power and the rights of the nobles.

The unfair ways of how common people were treated compared to royalty and nobility formed the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity, leading to the French Revolution. Unfair taxes that were only directed to the commoners, high society positions that were only to be obtained by nobles, food scarcity that only affected the poor and the royals having power over all caused the c...

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...nd the Nation Party.

Likewise, the National Assembly also made changes to the Catholic Church. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was issued and caused the Church to become a state organization and the clergy to become employees of the state. The Clergy also had to swear an oath of loyalty to the nation and the property of the church was given to the state.

In 1791, France was made a constitutional monarchy due to the publication of a new constitution. This new constitution made citizens equal, marriage a civil contract and nobility titles to end. This caused conflict to rise between the three different estates and a counter-revolution to form.

King Louis XVI and his family attempted to flee from France along with some other nobles and clergy to join the counter-revolution, but failed. Caught by forces from the National Guard, the King was returned to Paris

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