How Enlightenment ideas shaped the American and French revolutions

Grade 10 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A. Declaration of Independence (approved July 4, 1776), National Archives transcript: “…that all men are created equal…”, “…that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”, “…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”. Card B. Rights in practice, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site): Protestants were given civil rights in 1787. Jews gained full rights on September 27, 1791. Women continued to be denied political rights. In May 1791 rights were granted to some free Black men and men of mixed descent in the colony of Saint-Domingue, then taken back. The Convention abolished slavery in all French colonies on February 4, 1794. Card C. Slavery after 1794, in our words: In 1802 Napoleon reestablished slavery in the colonies still under French control. A decree of the provisional government of April 27, 1848 abolished slavery in the French colonies. In the United States the 13th Amendment, ratified on December 6, 1865, ended slavery across the country.

2. 1.

   A student writes: “France ended slavery more than half a century before the United States did.” Test it against the dated cards, Ari asks.

   • It fails the other way: the United States acted first, since 1776 said all men are created equal
   • It holds: 1794 is 71 years before 1865, and in 1794 the Convention abolished slavery in all the colonies
   • It holds on the 1848 decree, since 1848 is 17 years before 1865 and the long reversal of 1802 had ended by then
   • It holds only if 1794 counts: slavery returned in 1802 and ended again by the decree of 1848, 17 years before 1865

3. Use this

   Card A. Timeline, in our words: Locke’s Two Treatises of Government appeared in 1689, Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws in 1748 and Rousseau’s Social Contract in 1762. Fighting between colonists and British troops began at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and the Constitution of 1787 divided power among three branches. In France the Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789; on June 17, 1789 the Third Estate declared that it alone represented the nation; the Declaration of the Rights of Man was approved on August 26, 1789. Card B. Fiscal crisis, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site, George Mason University and CUNY): Long wars in the 1700s meant France spent more than its yearly revenue and usually borrowed the difference. Reform proposals on taxes in 1787 drew objections that called for the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. Facing imminent bankruptcy, Louis XVI called it in the fall of 1788. Bread prices were the highest of the century, and many saw the nobles’ privileges as unfair. Card C. Declaration of Independence (approved July 4, 1776), National Archives transcript: among the grievances, “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”; also “…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”. Card D. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), as printed by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translator not named), Article 3: “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.”

4. 2.

   Both revolutions drew on the same thinkers. Comparing the two dated chains, what work did the ideas do in each, Bo asks?

   • In France they forced the summons of 1788, and in America they shaped the fighting of 1775, so the chains match
   • In America they played no role, since fighting came first, and in France no role either, since money forced the meeting of the Estates
   • In America they justified a break begun by fighting over a year earlier; in France they shaped claims of an assembly forced to meet
   • In both they started the break: the colonists and the Third Estate each acted because of the books they had read and cited

5. Use this

   Card A. Declaration of Independence (approved July 4, 1776), National Archives transcript: “…that all men are created equal…”, “…that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”, “…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”. Card B. Saint-Domingue and after, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site; US Department of State, Office of the Historian): Enslaved people of Saint-Domingue rose up on August 22, 1791. French agents abolished slavery in the colony in August to October 1793, and the Convention abolished it in all French colonies on February 4, 1794. In 1802 Napoleon reestablished slavery in colonies still under French control, and his forces captured Toussaint L’Ouverture, once enslaved and now the leading general, and sent him to prison in France. In 1804 the former slaves established the independent republic of Haiti, the second independent country in the Americas. US leaders, many of them slaveowners, reacted with ambivalence; the United States did not recognize Haiti until 1862.

6. 3.

   Haiti’s republic of 1804 grew from an uprising against slavery. Compare how the United States and France treated the principle of equal rights, using the dates, Esme asks.

   • France applied it steadily, since the Convention abolished slavery in 1794 and the republic of Haiti grew from that act of abolition
   • The United States applied it steadily, since its leaders recognized a republic founded on equal rights soon after 1804
   • Neither was steady: France abolished slavery in 1794 and reversed it in 1802; the United States recognized Haiti only in 1862
   • Both were hostile to Haiti throughout, since France sent forces against it and the United States withheld recognition

7. Use this

   Card A. Reading X (invented for this sheet): “The Revolution came from ideas. Writers had taught the French to speak of rights and of the nation, and when the Estates-General met, the Third Estate had the words ready.” Reading Y (invented for this sheet): “The Revolution came from a fiscal crisis. A bankrupt state had to call the Estates-General, and bread prices and hated privileges did the rest.” Card B. Fiscal crisis, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site, George Mason University and CUNY): Long wars in the 1700s meant France spent more than its yearly revenue and usually borrowed the difference. Reform proposals on taxes in 1787 drew objections that called for the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. Facing imminent bankruptcy, Louis XVI called it in the fall of 1788. Bread prices were the highest of the century, and many saw the nobles’ privileges as unfair. Card C. Timeline, in our words: Locke’s Two Treatises of Government appeared in 1689, Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws in 1748 and Rousseau’s Social Contract in 1762. Fighting between colonists and British troops began at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and the Constitution of 1787 divided power among three branches. In France the Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789; on June 17, 1789 the Third Estate declared that it alone represented the nation; the Declaration of the Rights of Man was approved on August 26, 1789.

8. 4.

   Reading X says ideas made the Revolution; Reading Y says the fiscal crisis did. Which finding would count most against X, Jun asks?

   • The deputies’ 1789 instructions asking for tax and bread relief and never mentioning the nation’s sovereignty
   • The Declaration of Independence of 1776, which used the same ideas of consent, since that shows the ideas had spread to the colonists
   • The size of the royal debt in 1788, since a huge debt shows that money mattered to the king
   • A rise in bread prices in 1788 and 1789, since hardship shows people did not need ideas to be angry

9. Use this

   Card A. Timeline, in our words: Locke’s Two Treatises of Government appeared in 1689, Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws in 1748 and Rousseau’s Social Contract in 1762. Fighting between colonists and British troops began at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and the Constitution of 1787 divided power among three branches. In France the Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789; on June 17, 1789 the Third Estate declared that it alone represented the nation; the Declaration of the Rights of Man was approved on August 26, 1789. Card B. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), as printed by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translator not named), Article 3: “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.” Card C. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), as printed by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translator not named), Article 6: “Law is the expression of the general will.” (The article goes on to say that every citizen may take part in making it, in person or through a representative, and that it “must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes.”) Card D. Influence, in our words (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site): Historians write that Montesquieu’s ideas on separating powers had an enormous impact on the framers of the US Constitution, and that Jefferson’s Declaration and the Virginia Bill of Rights had an immediate influence on the French Declaration.

10. 5.

    A historian argues that the Declaration’s Enlightenment wording shows what caused the Revolution. What does its date, August 26, 1789, do to that argument, Kira asks?

    • It came after the Estates met and the June claim, so it shows how the Assembly justified itself, not why events began
    • It shows the ideas came from America, since Jefferson’s text of 1776 is older and had an immediate influence on it
    • It makes the Declaration useless as evidence, since a document written after events cannot tell historians much about the cause
    • It shows the wording was not influenced by thinkers, since the Revolution had already begun before it was written

11. Use this

    Card A. Reading X (invented for this sheet): “The Revolution came from ideas. Writers had taught the French to speak of rights and of the nation, and when the Estates-General met, the Third Estate had the words ready.” Reading Y (invented for this sheet): “The Revolution came from a fiscal crisis. A bankrupt state had to call the Estates-General, and bread prices and hated privileges did the rest.” Card B. Fiscal crisis, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site, George Mason University and CUNY): Long wars in the 1700s meant France spent more than its yearly revenue and usually borrowed the difference. Reform proposals on taxes in 1787 drew objections that called for the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. Facing imminent bankruptcy, Louis XVI called it in the fall of 1788. Bread prices were the highest of the century, and many saw the nobles’ privileges as unfair. Card C. Timeline, in our words: Locke’s Two Treatises of Government appeared in 1689, Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws in 1748 and Rousseau’s Social Contract in 1762. Fighting between colonists and British troops began at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and the Constitution of 1787 divided power among three branches. In France the Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789; on June 17, 1789 the Third Estate declared that it alone represented the nation; the Declaration of the Rights of Man was approved on August 26, 1789.

12. 6.

    Reading X says ideas caused the Revolution; Reading Y says the fiscal crisis did. Which account lets both be partly right, Luz asks?

    • The crisis explains why the Estates met in 1788; the ideas explain what the Third Estate claimed there in 1789
    • They are one cause, since the fiscal crisis was itself produced by Enlightenment ideas about government
    • Whichever reading cites more facts is stronger, and Y cites the debt, the tax plan and the bread prices of 1788
    • Whichever came earlier is the cause, so the ideas of 1748 and 1762 make Y the weaker reading

13. Use this

    Card A. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), chapter II, section 6, Morley’s Universal Library, 1884, pp. 193–194: “The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obliges every one, and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions…” Card B. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), text of Project Gutenberg eBook 7370, chapter VIII, section 95: “Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.” Card C. Declaration of Independence (approved July 4, 1776), National Archives transcript: among the grievances, “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”; also “…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”. Card D. Timeline, in our words: Locke’s Two Treatises of Government appeared in 1689, Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws in 1748 and Rousseau’s Social Contract in 1762. Fighting between colonists and British troops began at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and the Constitution of 1787 divided power among three branches. In France the Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789; on June 17, 1789 the Third Estate declared that it alone represented the nation; the Declaration of the Rights of Man was approved on August 26, 1789.

14. 7.

    A student writes: “Locke caused the American Revolution, because the Declaration of Independence uses his ideas.” Test it against the cards, Milo asks.

    • The claim holds, because the grievance of taxes without consent is Locke’s argument about property put into a complaint
    • The claim holds, since “consent of the governed” matches Locke’s “without his own consent” and a single idea can start a revolution
    • The claim fails, since Locke wrote in 1689 and the colonists acted in 1775, too long afterward for his ideas to matter to them
    • It echoes Locke in different words, and it came over a year after fighting began, so it shows justification more than cause

15. Use this

    Card A. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), as printed by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translator not named), Article 6: “Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation.” Card B. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762), G. D. H. Cole’s translation, Everyman’s Library, 1913, Book I, chapter 6: “Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.” Card C. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762), G. D. H. Cole’s translation, Everyman’s Library, 1913, Book II, chapter 1: “…the Sovereign, who is no less than a collective being, cannot be represented except by himself: the power indeed may be transmitted, but not the will.” Card D. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762), G. D. H. Cole’s translation, Everyman’s Library, 1913, Book III, chapter 15: “The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing.”

16. 8.

    A student says “Article 6 simply follows Rousseau,” since the general will is in the clause. Test the claim against Rousseau’s other lines, Noah asks.

    • It follows him on the ground of law, the general will, but departs from him by letting citizens act through representatives
    • It follows him fully, since the clause uses his term general will and that term is the whole of his theory
    • It follows Locke instead, since representatives are how a legislature holds a trust for the people, as Locke describes
    • It does not follow him, since Rousseau says a sovereign people cannot be represented and the clause allows representatives

17. Use this

    Card A. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), as printed by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translator not named), Article 1: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Card B. Rights in practice, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site): Protestants were given civil rights in 1787. Jews gained full rights on September 27, 1791. Women continued to be denied political rights. In May 1791 rights were granted to some free Black men and men of mixed descent in the colony of Saint-Domingue, then taken back. The Convention abolished slavery in all French colonies on February 4, 1794. Card C. Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (September 1791), Article 1, our translation of the French: “Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights.” Card D. Slavery after 1794, in our words: In 1802 Napoleon reestablished slavery in the colonies still under French control. A decree of the provisional government of April 27, 1848 abolished slavery in the French colonies. In the United States the 13th Amendment, ratified on December 6, 1865, ended slavery across the country. Card E. France, in our words: an ordinance of April 21, 1944 gave women the vote, and they first voted in the municipal elections of April 29, 1945. Until then women had been denied political rights.

18. 9.

    A student’s note reads: “1789: men free and equal. 1791: Jews equal. 1794: slavery abolished. So by 1794 equality was complete.” Which rewrite fixes it, Tala asks?

    • 1789: men free and equal. 1791: Jews gain full rights. 1794: slavery abolished. The 1789 text then reached women, since Article 6 lets citizens take part
    • 1789: men free and equal. 1791: de Gouges writes the rights of woman, so women are equal. 1794: slavery abolished, and equality is complete
    • 1789: men free and equal. 1791: Jews gain full rights. 1794: slavery abolished for good. Women still lack political rights, the one gap left
    • 1789: men free and equal. 1791: Jews gain full rights. 1794: slavery abolished, restored 1802, ended again 1848. Women lack political rights until 1944

19. Use this

    Card A. Timeline, in our words: Locke’s Two Treatises of Government appeared in 1689, Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws in 1748 and Rousseau’s Social Contract in 1762. Fighting between colonists and British troops began at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and the Constitution of 1787 divided power among three branches. In France the Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789; on June 17, 1789 the Third Estate declared that it alone represented the nation; the Declaration of the Rights of Man was approved on August 26, 1789. Card B. Fiscal crisis, in our words (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity site, George Mason University and CUNY): Long wars in the 1700s meant France spent more than its yearly revenue and usually borrowed the difference. Reform proposals on taxes in 1787 drew objections that called for the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. Facing imminent bankruptcy, Louis XVI called it in the fall of 1788. Bread prices were the highest of the century, and many saw the nobles’ privileges as unfair. Card C. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), as printed by the Avalon Project, Yale Law School (translator not named), Article 3: “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.” Card D. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762), G. D. H. Cole’s translation, Everyman’s Library, 1913, Book I, chapter 6: “Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.”

20. 10.

    A student’s note reads: “Bankruptcy forced the Estates-General in 1788, so ideas did not matter in 1789.” Which rewrite fixes it, Zee asks?

    • Bankruptcy forced the 1788 call; afterward the nation claim of June 17 and Article 3 rest on ideas of sovereignty
    • Ideas mattered in 1789, since Article 3 uses them, so the note is wrong to mention bankruptcy in its account
    • Bankruptcy forced the 1788 call and bread prices turned it into revolution, so money alone explains the events of 1789
    • Ideas forced the 1788 call, and then bankruptcy made the Third Estate claim the nation in 1789