Studio Aletheia · World Builders Academy
6.4.COSC 6th Grade World Civilizations
Bread, Debt, and a Broken System
Lesson 5.15 · The French Revolution, Causes and the Declaration of Rights
France's monarchy spent itself into crisis while ordinary people struggled to afford bread, and the Enlightenment gave them the language to demand something better.
Learning Targets and Success Criteria
Build the vocabulary and evidence needed to meet standard 6.4.CO.
What I will learn
- I can explain at least two causes of the French Revolution.
- I can describe France's three estates and the inequality between them.
- I can explain what the Declaration of the Rights of Man claimed.
- I can compare an early cause of the French Revolution to a cause of the American Revolution.
What success looks like
- I explain at least two specific causes, such as debt, food shortages, or inequality.
- I describe the three estates and identify which one held the least power.
- I explain at least one specific right claimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
- My exit ticket compares one cause of the French Revolution to one cause of the American Revolution.
Compare the political revolutions, which resulted from the Enlightenment.
Pulling twenty-four lessons into one argument.
These terms will be used throughout the mini-lesson, evidence lab, hands-on activity, journal, and exit challenge.
Estate
One of three legal classes in pre-revolutionary France: the clergy, the nobility, and the common people.
Declaration of the Rights of Man
A 1789 French document, influenced by the Enlightenment, declaring that all men are born free and equal in rights.
National Assembly
The body formed by representatives of France's Third Estate in 1789 to demand political reform.
Deficit
A shortage that occurs when a government spends more money than it collects, often through debt.
Where this shows up in the real world.
History is not just something that happened. It is training for how you will read evidence, weigh sources, and make decisions in a career.
Debt and Political Collapse
Economists study how government debt, like France's before 1789, can destabilize an entire political system.
Declaring Universal Rights
Human rights lawyers trace the language of universal rights directly back to documents like the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
A Kingdom Out of Money
France's monarchy spent itself deep into debt, while ordinary people struggled to afford bread. The Enlightenment gave them the words to demand something better.
France's massive government debt, worsened by supporting the American Revolution, combined with poor harvests and food shortages to create a genuine crisis. Deep inequality made it worse: the Third Estate of common people paid nearly all taxes, despite holding the least political power of France's three estates.
In 1789, representatives of the Third Estate formed the National Assembly, demanding political reform. Growing unrest culminated in dramatic public action, including the storming of the Bastille, a symbol of revolt against royal authority.
The National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man, directly echoing Locke and Rousseau by declaring all men free and equal in rights. Its language closely resembles the American Declaration of Independence, though it arose from a far more extreme economic crisis.
Adapted from Studio Aletheia's World Builders Academy curriculum library, synthesizing French Revolution history resources on the estates system and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Materials for the revolution comparison lab.
- A. Your continue your revolution profile materials, provided
- B. Highlighters, 2 colors minimum
- C. Notebook or chart paper
- D. A pencil for annotating
- E. Your Evidence Log for this unit
Every session this unit: identify the evidence, cite where it came from, connect it to the day's vocabulary, write a one-paragraph explanation.
Compare Revolutions in Progress
Practice comparing causes of the French Revolution to causes of the American Revolution.
Continue Your Revolution Profile
Add the French Revolution to your Revolution Comparison Chart.
Evidence Log
Accountability Checklist
Exit Challenge
In two to three sentences, explain one cause of the French Revolution and compare it to a cause of the American Revolution.
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