Times before and during the French Revolution was not just the bloodiest but it was a

huge milestone in history. The Revolution rewrote the rules and how systems worked by The
Enlightenment period and how it gave freedom for ideas to be spoken, the Abolition of Feudal
Privileges and how the Declaration of Man and Citizen came to be.
First of all, The Enlightenment Period was a time where people could think and express
what they wanted to say freely. This created salons where men could have an intelligent
conversation and debates on important matters. Women were invited to these salons and soon
they were hosting their own salons. This was also a time where women were starting to be seen
as equally intelligent as the men. Well spoken and well known male philosophers who had their
own conversations and views often sat in salons that were hosted by females because they saw
them as equals. They had the freedom to question morals and traditional thinking. When they
saw each other as equals, this showed that men were smarter than females and that females
could not hold an intelligent conversation. Men listened to what the women had to say because
they had the freedom to. The Enlightenment opened up opportunities to speak freely.
Secondly, France had used to same social system for a very long period of time.
They thought having the three estates was still medieval ways and the working class and the
third estate wanted to move on past that because they thought it was not working anymore.
They thought since they lived, worked and dealt with the land they had, that it was theirs to keep
without being taxed by the Lord who actually owned that land. They wanted to get rid of any
nobility and ties to the church because they were capable of supporting themselves without the
royals. So because of this the absolute Monarchy turned into a very unpopular form of
government. The working class and the third estate had absorbed the ideology of equality and
freedom of the individual and the nobles and the aristocrats were in the way of that. This was
finally proved successful after the executions of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. At the
same time, the American Revolution was happening and the communication between America
and France was stronger than most so when the French Revolution started, they would look at

what America had done. America showed France what it was possible that the ideals of an
organized government could be put into practice. The idea for a Revolution was heavily
influenced by America.
Lastly, as the Revolution went on, the citizens had saw that they had freedom in the
salons and saw how well it was going so they wanted to see where else they could put that
freedom. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was written to incorporate basic
ideas of natural and inalienable rights of the individual. This gave the start of basic human rights
to any estate. It was seen as not only for the advancement France needed, but for all of
humanity as well. Even though it said man in the title of the document and in each point that
the document made, it included women, something America had a hard time doing in their own
laws. It had rewritten how women were seen and how they contributed to society. The
Declaration was based on the equality of man and popular sovereignty. When trying to put it into
law, the only problem was that only the wealthy could vote. Until the Declaration was passed,
the women and the poor could not do anything that was written in the document which including
voting.
Old systems that were not working anymore were revised and rewritten by the French
Revolution. The new systems of society were written by the freedom the Enlightenment Period
gave, the Abolition of Feudal Privileges and the writing of the Declaration of Man and Citizen.
Rubric rating submitted on: 11/10/2015, 9:10:13 AM by chris_finnie@googleapps.wrdsb.ca
Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Organization
Level 3

All elements of a
formal essay
found and the
body paragraphs
flow well

All elements of a
formal essay
found

One component of
a formal essay
missing

Formal essay is
missing many
components

Thesis
Level 3

Thesis clearly and

precisely presents
an argument

Thesis presents
an argument

Thesis is present
but does not make
an argument

No thesis present

Context

Context provided

Context is

Some context

Little context

Level 3

is detailed,
thorough and
demonstrates a
clear
understanding of
point discussed

provided for point

discussed

provided for point

discussed

provided for point

discussed

Amount Evidence
Level 4

More than two

points of evidence
provided

Two points of
evidence provided

One point of
evidence provided

No evidence
provided

Quality of
Evidence
Level 2

Evidence is
explained and
demonstrates
precise
understanding

Evidence is clearly
explained

Evidence lacks
clear explanation

Evidence is not
clear and/or is not
understood

Connection
Level 3

Evidence is clearly
and effectively
connected back to
thesis

Evidence is
connected back to
thesis

Evidence is
vaguely connected
back to thesis

Evidence is not
connected back to
thesis

Conclusion
Level 3

Concluding
paragraph
summarizes the
essay well and
complements the
thesis

Concluding
paragraph
summarizes the
essay well

Concluding
paragraph briefly
summarizes the
essay

Concluding
paragraph is very
brief

Comments:
Some good ideas Hannah but it seems like you missed some of the major points of evidence
and context. Please look over the margins to see what I mean. Make sure you add specific
details of evidence to support your points and look at the big picture.