Claire+Leroy

**Entry III:**

 * Using your text (pp. 229-230 //"Napoleon Seizes Power")// and the sources above write an entry describing this period. Be sure that you answer the following: Did the revolution serve the interests of your character? Explain and defend in your entry. **
 * This is your final entry. Be sure to show that this is the end of your entries for the French Revolution.**
 * N.B. Be sure to collaborate with another member of class in editing diary.**

January 1805

Dear Journal,

Well....this is unexpected. It seems...that monarchy is exactly what our broken nation needed after all. Throwing out King Louis was obviously something necessary, however, in our corrupt state, it seems that Napoleon has rebuilt France more than all the of the Assembly has done in years. I personally, do not care whether my government is a republic or a monarchy; however, it must satisfy my needs and rights. Though I thought that the removing the king from his absolute power and having the peoples' say is the best way for a government to satisfy me. However, with a national debt and two raging parties corrupting the nation, it seemed almost impossible to have anything done productively.

It is quite interesting how Napoleon, a fairly poor soldier, was able to rise to power through military command so quickly. Back in 1799, he overtook the Directory, and assumed the powers of a dictator, with the help of two other consuls. This coup d’état was sudden and unexpected. However, Napoleon’s first act as dictator was to make peach with Britain, Austria, and Russia. Though war would come back, it was avoided...at least until all the reformations were made.

My needs as a Third Class Bourgeois is that Napoleon, as our leader, must protect my wealth and influence and make me equal in privileges to those (First and Second Estate). Our new ruler has done so working to rebuild the economy. By destroying feudalism, he made us bourgeoisie the new class of privilege and status. A middle class is born from this, also. I have risen to the peak of the social ladder, but not by family name, but by earning my wealth and status. He stimulated the economy and served the interests of the bourgeoisie by setting up a national bank system and a more efficient method of tax collection. And to encourage equality among the estates, Napoleon set up school for those male students looking to become government officials. Because these schools were open to all, government titles can be focused on merit rather than family name. This means that more from my own estate will have a say in representation as a government official. My group is now at the top of society. Within a matter of months, I have changed my viewpoints on how society should be entirely. I'll admit, I do not want things to change anymore, for the changes that Napoleon made has benefited me the most.

The corruptions between the political parties was settled when Napoleon gave a universal set of laws for the people to follow, calling it the Napoleonic Code. These laws protected man's inalienable rights. When an elimination of many injustices occur, society can stop being corrupt and move forward.

Finally, just last month actually, he donned his royal purple robe and became crowned as emperor. The public openly supported him, thanks to his reformations being such a great success. While I was spectating his crowning at the Notre Dame Cathedral, I admired his confidence when he took the crown from the pope and placed it on his own head. Something tells me that this new ruler is unlike any other.

Sincerly,

**Entry II:**
**Using your text (Chapter 7 Section 2) and the sources above write an entry describing one of the important events mentioned during this radical phase of the French Revolution. Again, you are writing from the perspective of your character. As well, you might also consider if your character would become a Jacobite or Girondin.**


 * N.B. Be sure to intersect with another person in the class. That person should NOT be one of your table mates**

April 24, 1792

Dear Journal, It has been awhile since my last entry, and much has happened since then. The National Assembly has adopted a new statement of revolutionary ideals, called the Declaration of Man and Citizen. They guarantee the equal rights that every man in born with, including liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. Many of these ideals come from Enlightenment philosophy. Though this does sound very appealing to me that my government should protect these rights, I would rather have my representatives protect it for me, through a democracy. The king and his wife recently tried to escape their house arrest here in France, to try and become an emigrate. His radical enemies (+me) are almost sure of his nearing fate. Sure enough, he was executed by guillotine soon after, but not before we, the National Assembly, presented him with their //Parliamentary// constitution, which he reluctantly signed, last year around September 1791. The document gives most power to the legislative branch, giving ordinary people like those of my class to make and protect laws that benefit everyone, not just the fat and wealthy.

However, one good did good did come out of this making of this document, in fact. Leopold the II, the ruler of Austria (and the Holy Roman Empire), was growing nervous of the idea of a representational government. With the help of the ruler of Prussia, King Fredrick William II, they made a quite useful document to us radicals, the Declaration of Pillinitz. This ridiculous monarchy claimed that it could restore our nation’s monarchy... as if it was in their control. Ha! Nevertheless, this document did radicalize the revolution even further, helping us Jacobins reach more support. And just in time, too, for at the Estates meeting, I met Antoine de Bosc,a nobleman who, though his ethics were good, disrespected those of the lower class. His loathing towards the king made me assume that he was a Third Estate!

Though I am a part of it, I find it quite amusing how the National Assembly //still// cannot seem to make any changes toward our most immediate problem: our national debt (and hunger!) Years of arguing and negotiating to protect mankind...when mankind is suffering from the most basic form of poverty: starvation! I am quite fortunate to be one of those in my class to not have to worry about not being able to afford bread...but as a merchant, this means that I must increase the prices of my bread, making me uncompetitive in markets and not being able to profit myself. Even more upsetting is the fact that when they do finally address this problem, they decide to go to war, //again//, with Austria to address the short-term issue of food shortage. However, the result of this war will be an even greater debt, making the problem worse on a long-term basis. And just when things look like they’re starting to get better.....

More later,

Entry I:
=== Using information from the text (Ch. 7, Sect 1) and the [|eyewitness accounts] from Thomas Jefferson - who happened to be in Paris when this was all beginning - write a 1-2 page entry about your involvement in or thoughts on __one__ __of the early events__ in the Revolution. __Reference to something in Jefferson's accounts is MANDATORY!__ ALSO, please remember that you are writing from the PERSPECTIVE of your character NOT NECESSARILY YOURS! What would they have thought or done AND why? ===

July 18, 1789 Dear Journal,

King Louis XIV has reluctantly called a Estates General meeting, which I attended, at the king's home, the Palace of Versailles. Many others of my estate, the Third, have come to express their distress. Times have become dire, to a point where some people (of the Third Estate, of course) are starting to starve. As a merchant, I am forced to increase the prices of the my imported grain. My close friend, Véronique Bonnet, has begged me to give some discount. Whether out of pity or our friendship, I reluctantly agreed and sold it to her at nearly half price---the price it should've have been, if not for France's national debt.

Though I considered part of the underprivileged, I think that is an incorrect name for my status, for as a bourgeoisie, I am better off than some in my district. I feel that I should not have as much difference in privileges than those of the First and Second, because of our similarities in wealth. The only difference I have between these people is that I was not born into this wealth, I had earned it.

The Third Estate is outraged that 98% of the people are living life diligently yet having the underprivileged life. Bourgeoisies, like myself, also feel we deserve the same standards as the clergy and the nobles, because they are similar in wealth to them. The Third Estate demands some representation, after all, they do make up most of the population, and created a "National Assembly". Most are refusing to move forward with the First and Seconds, though they will listen to their deliberations. His Royal Highness does not like the idea of a peoples' rebellion, and tried to disband us on June 20.

And while I was at this assembly, I met a woman by the name of Jacqueline-Adelle Cartier. She was of the Third Class as well, but it seemed she was at the bottom of the bottom. She was a peasant who could barely earn enough to feed herself, though working all day in the fields. Though in her weak state, she fiercely expressed her dissatisfaction with this economic hierarchy, and her unfair place at the bottom of the pyramid.

Tensions continued to rise, along with the growing price of grain, our staple and source diet. People are forcibly rebelling now, especially down in Bastille. An American minister, Thomas Jefferson, watched how the we French people attacked our own. Guards, too, are joining this mob, ridding any form of law enforcement. He observes how people (myself included) joined in the sieges for food and weapons, and when the king came to visit Paris, 60,000 armed men and women were waiting, waiting for their sovereign to make changes in their favor.

And if these changes are not made, then it seems inevitable that more violence will occur until there are changes.

Sincerely,

Claire Leroy