A few hundred years ago in a country called France, the common people were not happy with their country's leaders as they were being treated unfairly compared to richer people and more powerful people. The common people tried to tell the more powerful people that this was happening in a meeting which is known as the Estates General. The Estates General was a governmental system with 3 levels of power where the people who had the most power were important religious people, and the people in the 2nd level were the king and queen's family and helpers, the 3rd level had people who worked regular jobs and didn't have any special power. But King Louis XVI didn't like them trying to gain equality so he made all the people in the 3rd level pay unnecessary amounts of money to the government for no reason. This made the people in the 3rd level want to fight and speak out against King Louis XVI. But they weren't sure where to start so they looked at how America fought off Britain and used the ideas from that, along with ideas from a period in time where many smart thinkers came up with ideas that showed how all humans should be treated equally.
שקופית: 2
William Cooper was a soldier when America was fighting for its independence from Britain. After he helped America win the war, he started to gain popularity with the people. This led him to become a leader in the new American government, called a congressman. Now that he was an important leader, he gained wealth, which allowed him to travel to France. He did this because he wanted to share his ideas and help the people of the 3rd level in their fight against the unfair leaders of France
שקופית: 3
“Hello good sir, my name is William Cooper. I enjoyed listening to your talk as I am a congressman from The United States of America and I share your ideas”
“Well good to meet you, Mr. Cooper, I am Charles Jean Phillip”
שקופית: 4
One day while in France, William Cooper was walking around the town square of Versailles when he saw a man speaking out to people about their rights and freedoms. He waited until this man was done speaking until he decided to talk with him.
שקופית: 5
“I would love to sit down with you sometime and we can talk about our similar ideas”
“How about you come to the Estates General meeting with me as a part of the 3rd Estate"
שקופית: 6
Later that day, everyone gathered outside the meeting of the Estates General. When they are ready to go in they find the door locked. So they decided to find somewhere else to create their own meeting.
שקופית: 7
Everyone, let's make a promise to not separate this group until we have made a new constitution for France!
Lets call our new meeting the National Assembly
The only building that they found available was an indoor tennis court. The group swore an oath to not disband until they made a new constitution. This was later known as the Tennis Court Oath
שקופית: 8
“How about we take over the great prison fortress, the Bastille? We can free the prisoners and they can join us”
William, Charles, and other people are meeting together and thinking about how they have to strengthen their small militia to withstand the army.
שקופית: 9
“Free the prisoners!”
“Grab all the supplies”
Everyone is gathered at the fortress and storming it, William is in the back of the mob
שקופית: 10
“This document talks about all of the rights that all men should have. We are making this declaration the start of our constitution!”
“Welcome everyone, today I present to you the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen!”
National Convention
שקופית: 11
Please fix the bread prices!
We want equality for all women!
Not long later, in the marketplaces of Paris, thousands of women are protesting many issues, like the prices of bread and the rights that they do not have. William Cooper decided to tag along with them.
שקופית: 12
“Hey Mr Cooper, did you hear that King Louis tried to flee France?
“What, that's crazy, did he actually leave France successfully?”
“Fortunately not, someone in town luckily recognized him and he was immediately escorted back”
King Louis XVI was put in jail for attempting to flee France, he would be later put on trial for treason.
שקופית: 13
“Mr Cooper, good to see you. I have big news, a friend of mine who is a delegate in the 3rd estate is holding a convention that will hopefully create a new form of government for France.”.
The National Convention was created during the French Revolution. It was a group of people chosen by the French citizens to help decide the future of France. This happened after the king was overthrown because people were angry about unfair treatment and wanted change. During the meeting there were 2 groups of people, Jacobins and Girondins.