Lesson Plan #2

World History 10th Grade

Theme/Topic: French Revolution

Goals: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their

understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning
points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a
variety of perspectives.

Objectives: By the end of the class students should be able to:

1.Describe the events of the Estates General
2.Understand the reasons for the creation of the National Assembly
3. Describe the actions of the National Assembly
4. Understand important vocabulary and people associated with the time :
Estates General, Louis XII, National Assembly, Tennis Court Oath

Skills: Terminology/Vocabulary, Note Taking

Materials needed: White board/Chalk Board

Detailed Plan
The lesson will be a lecture with students taking notes in their notebooks
using the Cornell Method which was taught earlier in the year
Do Now: Before the class starts write on the board the question "What were
the three classes in France and who was in each class?". As the students
enter the room and sit down have them write the answers down in their
notebooks. It shouldn't take them too long to come up with the answers as

the material was taught yesterday. Give the students about two minutes to
write down the answers but if they seem to be done sooner move on to
getting their answers. Have the student that you select to answer the
question come up to the board and have them write the answer for one of
the classes. Do this for the other two classes with two other students. Leave
the answers on the board as the Estates are a key part of the lesson today
and having them on the board will allow students to have a more clear sight
of the groups. This should take about five minutes to complete.
After the do now review some of the material from the last class. Ask the
students what were the major issues the France faced prior to the French
Revolution? The answers should be the new emerging class the bourgeoisie
resented the exclusion from political power and positions of honor in the
government. The failure of the feudal system in the rural parts of France. The
wide access to Enlightenment materials that the common classes took hold
of. Participation in the American Revolution had drove the government to the
brink of bankruptcy. Crop failures in 1788 which capped off a long period of
economic difficulties only compounded the issues the already existed.
Students should be able to give the answers fairly quickly and this should
take no more than five minutes. If the students seem to struggle with the
answers point them in the right direction but do not directly give them the
answers. Tell them to look back through their notes to find the answers. Tell
them that these causes are very important to keep in mind because these
issues are the reason for the Estate General being called which would be the
starting point for the French Revolution.
The next part of the lesson is going over what the Estates General was. The
Estates General was a general assembly of the three estates in France. It
had a separate assembly for each of the three estates which were called and
dismissed by the King. It had no real power, unlike the English parliament,
and functioned primarily as an advisory body to the King, primarily by
presenting petitions from the various estates consulting on fiscal policy. The
Estate General met intermittently from its creation to 1614 where it only met
once more in 1789. As was discussed at the end of last class Louis XVI called
the Estates General together in order to solve the problems that plagued
France. However none of the estates could agree on how to solve the
problems that France faced. The second estate wanted greater power which
was taken away from them under Louis XIV and absolutism. They looked to
return powers to the nobility and have greater control over their own
territory. The first estate looked to reaffirm the traditional power of the

church over both the King and the country that it had in the years prior. The
third estate having been reading Enlightenment text looked to increase their
power and voice in government as they were the largest class in France.
After going over this bring back out the posters from yesterday and see how
close the students were to getting the intentions of each of the estates in the
Estates General. After a five minute discussion of their answers and
explanations continue on into the next part of the lesson.
The next part of the lesson is going to go over the events of the Estate
General and more closely the actions of the Third Estate. During the Estates
General the three estates could not agree on any type of legislation as they
all had different goals that they wanted to accomplish. After the failure to
reconcile the three estates the leaders of the Third Estate completed their
own process of governmental verification and voted a measure most radical.
The Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly, an assembly
not of the estates but of the people. They invited the other estates to join,
but made it clear that they would conduct the nations' affairs with or without
them. As the Third Estate was the largest estate they would be able to
dominate any combined assembly. As we learned previously France was a
place where absolutism flourished under Louis XIV where the king was
absolute in power. The National Assembly was the exact opposite of
Absolutism so the King, Louis XVI, was forced to take action against the
assembly. The King went in and annulled the decrees, command the
separation of the orders, and dictated reforms to be effected by the restored
Estates General. The King also closed the hall where the National Assembly
would meet. However this did not dissuade the National Assembly from
meeting. On the nearby tennis court the famous Tennis Court Oath which the
members swore not to separate until they had settled the constitution of
France. After being removed from their they met in the Church of Saint Louis,
where the majority of the clergy joined them. After this the National
Assembly would turn unto the National Constituent Assembly and a
constitution would be produced. The constitution that was created we will go
over the next class day.
Activity: Split the students up into three groups. The way to do this would be
to count off each student with a number, one, two or three, then have them
get into the groups that way. Ask the students to come up with ideas that
they think would be in a constitution. It is important to remind them that the
French Constitution and the American constitution are similar but are not the
same document. While both were shaped by the Enlightenment one was
much more radical than the other. Leave them with that and have them

come up with the ideas that could be found in the French constitution that
was written. Give the students ten minutes to come up with ideas. Have the
students share their ideas with the class. The students will probably come up
with mostly the same answers but that is okay as it will let them see that the
French constitution that was written is slightly different from what they
expect. In the end this should take about fifteen minutes in total.

Wrap up: Ask the students to describe what each of the estates was looking
to gain through the Estates General that was called. The first estate and
second estate were looking to regain powers they had lost due to Absolutism
while the third estate looked to gain power that they had not traditionally
had. Next ask students to describe the actions of the third estate during the
Estates General. The creation of the National Assembly and the Tennis Court
Oath. It is important to have students think about the creation of the
National Assembly as a major step forward in European history. It is easy to
think that the National Assembly was something that should have been there
forever as democracy is a staple of Europe. It is important to get the
students to know that this was the first major sign of the common classes
attempting exercise political power in Europe. This will have major effects on
the course of European history.