As an opener for A Tale of Two Cities to provide context.

1. The French Revolution
Causes and Effects

2. So what really caused the
French Revolution?
An unfair social order
A weak and extravagant king
Financial Problems
New Ideas about society

3. The Social Order…
In 1789, France’s population was divided into
three groups: the clergy, the aristocrats, and
the commoners.

4. The Aristocracy:
The aristocrats were the supporters of the
King and controlled all the land.

5. The Clergy:
France has one state religion, Roman
Catholicism. The clergy was made up of
second-born sons of aristocrats. They ran
the churches and collected high fees called
tithes.

6. The commoners (everyone else)

7. The unfair social order…
The aristocrats and clergy controlled
most of the land
The commoners paid all the taxes
The King was an absolute monarch so
made all the laws
The army did what the King and the
aristocrats told them to do

8. The clergy and aristocrats lived on the
backs of the commoners.

9. 3% of the population
controlled the other
97% !!!

10. All the land was owned by the King. He gave
large pieces of land to the aristocrats to
manage in return for their loyalty. These
pieces of land were called estates.

11. Each estate had a chateau, a church, and a
village. In the village lived commoners
(tradesmen and peasants) who belonged to
the land. If land was given to another
aristocrat, the commoners went with it.

12. The laws were different for
aristocrats and commoners.
Commoners were little more
than slaves…

13. Primogeniture…
When the King or an aristocrat died, his nearest male relative
inherited his land rights and title.

14. Droit du Seigneur…
Meaning “rights of the lord,” this gave the aristocrats the right
to take the virginity of any of his tenants’ daughters or wives.

15. Lettre du Cachet…
If an aristocrat felt like it, he could write a letter to the King
and have you put in prison for any reason.
No trial.
No warning.

16. Tradesmen performed duties for the estate
like woodcutting, road mending, weaving, and
blacksmithing. Peasants worked in the
chateau or in the fields.

17. The imbalance of this social order
Commoners paid high taxes to the
aristocrats and a large tithe to the
clergy.
The aristocrats and the clergy paid
no taxes.
Commoners were afraid and angry

18. A Weak King…
France had a King, but he was weak. Louis XVI
paid attention to personal interests and
ignored the growing
anger of his people.

19. He was strongly influenced by his wife…
Queen Marie Antoinette loved to dress up, give
parties, and eat expensive foods…

20. They lived in a big luxurious
chateau called Versailles…

21. They dressed and slept in luxury.
They spent, and spent, and spent…

22. They had many aristocratic friends who
lived as well as they did...

23. Financial Troubles:
The French government had many debts
from the King’s living expenses, loans to the
American colonies, and ambitious wars.
The commoners were unhappy because they
had to pay more and more taxes.
There was no way for anyone to change the
laws (Louis XVI was an absolute monarch).
The aristocrats and clergy said “no way” to
taxes on themselves…and Louis listened.

24. Meanwhile, the commoners worked
hard and paid, and paid, and paid…

25. New Ideas…
During this time, a lot of new ideas about how
governments should act and how citizens
should be treated were circulating.
These ideas, called The Enlightenment, really
appealed to the miserable commoners.
The aristocrats and the King pretty much
ignored the new ideas and thought life would
go on forever just as it was.

26. The Enlightenment:
 People should make up their own minds about things
rather than be told what to think by Kings or a
church.
 Truth comes from science and evidence rather
than superstition, faith, or blind obedience.
 Humans are all created equal, can reason, and
deserve freedom and choices.
 Religion and politics should be separated. There
should be no state religion.
 People are capable of ruling themselves through
democracy…one man, one vote…not by absolute
monarchs who are born to rule.

27. The American colonies had stood up
to England’s King George III in 1776
and won…

28. The French Revolution was
inevitable…

29. In 1789, after an extremely hot summer and
very cold winter, the wheat crop failed…
There was no bread, the main food of the
commoners. This was “the last straw.”

30. On July 14, 1789, the revolutionary patriots
stormed the Bastille prison in Paris…

31. The French Revolution had lasting
effects…
 Equality under the law
 Universal suffrage…everyone votes for their government
 Everyone pays taxes
 Religious freedom
 Right to an attorney and a speedy trial by jury

32. The idea of privilege based on birth
was never to return.
Any individual could find their way to
the top of society.

33. The French Revolution changed the whole
world for the better…
A Tale of Two Cities is a book about people
who lived at the time of the French
Revolution.
They lived in Paris, France and London,
England…two cities, 280 miles apart.
They struggled with the same issues as the
French commoners
What causes an out-of-balance society to
finally correct itself? Is it actions, words,
or ideas whose time has come?

34. Guiding Questions:
As we read, ask yourself these questions:
• What contradictions exist in all cities?
• What are the dangers of poverty and
oppression?
• What literary tools (devices) does Charles
Dickens use to create a real picture of life
before and during the French Revolution?
• How well does fiction teach history and the
human experience?

35. Let’s read to answer the questions…