Do You Hear the People Sing?

While American delegates were gathered at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the seeds of another revolution were being planted across the Atlantic Ocean. Like the American Revolution, the French Revolution was inspired by Enlightenment philosophers and a dedication to the ideals of liberty and equality.

Exorbitantly high taxes, national debt, and a mostly apathetic monarch pushed the French working class and peasantry to demand changes. When these demands were not met, radicals chose instead to dissolve the government and form an entirely new one. The French Revolution was a radical assault on France's traditional institutions—the monarchy, the Church, feudalism—and thoroughly transformed French society.

How did the French Revolution end the blood reign of kings in France and lay the foundation for a new republican system of government?