Estate System

 A social class system consisting of the clergy (Catholic priests), nobility, and commoners; with interlocking legal rights and obligations.​

Bourgeoisie

A defined social class, equivalent to the middle or upper-middle class. Consisted of mostly business owners.

The Bastille

A fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine.

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Guillotine

An apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading.

Tennis Court Oath​

An oath taken on June 20, 1789, by the members of the French Estates-General for the Third Estate who had begun to call themselves the National Assembly, vowing “not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established.”

Reign of Terror​

A period of state-sanctioned violence and mass executions during the French Revolution.​

Revolution

A forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system.

Absolute Monarchy

A form of monarchy in which the monarch is the only one to decide and therefore rules on his own.​

Coup d’etat

The violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group

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Democracy

A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.​

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Boycott

Withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest.​

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Militia

A military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.​

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Napoleon Bonaparte

A French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804.

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Simon Bolivar

A Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire.​

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Toussaint l’Ouverture

A Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution.

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Nationalism

Identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.

Declaration of Independence

The formal proclamation that the colonies would now be an independent country separate from Great Britain​

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