The French Revolution in 1789 marked an important turn in European history. It indicated the end of Absolutism and the implementation of the ideas of the Enlightenment based on liberty, equality, and personal freedom. The Declaration of the Rights of Man played an important role in meeting the people’s needs. During the year following the French Revolution, Maximelian Robespierre reigned France through blood and terror. However, it quickly ended when Napoleon staged a coup d’etet and took control of France. The French Revolution led to increased stability all around the world because the Declaration of the Rights of Man helped give certain rights to the people that made society more stable and Napoleon helped prevent a war between France and America. The French Revolution was successful in increasing stability in France because the Declaration of the Rights of Man created during the Revolution helped to empower the people afterwards. Louis XVI, the absolute monarch of France during the 1700s, allowed for the Estates General, a meeting between all the Estates, to convene. The Three Estates was a really unfair taxation system. The Three Estates were divided into three tax groups based on the social hierarchy: The First Estate, Second Estate, and the Third Estate. During the meeting, the Third Estate gave themselves the name the National Assembly because they stated that they represented the majority of France. At one point, representatives of the Third Estate were no longer able to attend the meeting and they made the decision to write up a constitution, combining most of the ideas of the Enlightenment that allowed for equality among all men to exist. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries which focused on reason. This is when people of France started to take action in changing the government of France. As stated in the constiution written by the National Assembly, “Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the excersize of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which
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After the rule of Robespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte came to power with the positive support of the French people. Napoleon was a military leader who crowned himself emperor of France in the early 1800s. He created the Napoleonic Code, which included many of the same concepts as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, excluding the right to free speech and press. He created many public schools for the people which put France at the forefront of all European educational achievement. He won many wars and took over a great amount of land. As one of his strategies, Napoleon negotiated the sale of land to the United States, “Wehn Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory, the French avoided war with the United States over its inevitable expansion westward, and Napoleon used the 80 million francs to rebuilt France, especially its army.” The military move of selling land to the U.S. prevented a war from happening later on and this resulted in less instability in France. The money Napoleon made from the purchase was used to support France for the better. The money was not used for personal luxuries like Marie and Louis XVI did previously. The people clearly saw Napoleon as a good leader that could effieciently rule over them; they trusted
After the rule of Robespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte came to power with the positive support of the French people. Napoleon was a military leader who crowned himself emperor of France in the early 1800s. He created the Napoleonic Code, which included many of the same concepts as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, excluding the right to free speech and press. He created many public schools for the people which put France at the forefront of all European educational achievement. He won many wars and took over a great amount of land. As one of his strategies, Napoleon negotiated the sale of land to the United States, “Wehn Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory, the French avoided war with the United States over its inevitable expansion westward, and Napoleon used the 80 million francs to rebuilt France, especially its army.” The military move of selling land to the U.S. prevented a war from happening later on and this resulted in less instability in France. The money Napoleon made from the purchase was used to support France for the better. The money was not used for personal luxuries like Marie and Louis XVI did previously. The people clearly saw Napoleon as a good leader that could effieciently rule over them; they trusted