French (or National) Assembly Under the early revolutionary restructuring of government, the National Assembly replaced the former Estates-General, a decision-making body made up of the clergy (the 1st Estate), the nobility (the 2nd Estate), and the much larger collection of peasants, merchant, lawyers, and rising middle class (the 3rd Estate). Especially in the first days of the revolution, the Assembly passed several central pieces of legislation including a series of decrees which abolished some of the feudal dues owed by peasants to their landlords and ended the tax advantages of the clergy and nobles. It also issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a document that guaranteed basic rights to all citizens and established representative government. By 1791, after drafting a constitution which made France a limited monarchy with a one-house legislature, the National Assembly disbanded to make way for the newly elected Legislative Assembly. French Directory In 1795, the French adopted a new constitution forming a government called the Directory. This five-man board along with bicameral legislature governed France from 1795 to 1799, during the last half of the French Revolution. Facing serious economic problems, invasion from Austrian and Prussian armies, and opposition from former monarchists, the Directory was seized by the charismatic general, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Revolution officially "ended." frigate A fast, three-masted, fully rigged ship of the fifth or sixth rate (i.e. carrying anywhere from 20 to 48 guns). At the time of this narrative, frigates served primarily as "scouts" for the main body of the fleet. French Revolution The French Revolution is the name given to what is actually a series of struggles in France lasting roughly from 1789 and 1799. France, however, was rocked nearly continuously by unrest during the last decade of the eighteenth century, through the first decade of the nineteenth century, and until the 1815 defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Though based in a democratic theory and successful in ending supreme monarchical rule, the Revolution failed largely to establish a democracy. Despite what many considered a failure, however, the series of legislatures elected after the July 1789 storming of the Bastille did help to increase the power of the middle class and establish new concepts of freedom. functionary One who holds an office or a trust or performs a particular function; an official. furl, reef These are the verbs which describe the management of the sails. To reef is to reduce the amount of exposed sail by rolling up a part and securing it with the reef points. To furl a sail is to roll up and bind a sail neatly upon the yard or boom. fustian 1. a. A coarse, sturdy cloth made of cotton and flax. b. Any of several thick, twilled cotton fabrics, such as corduroy, having a short nap. 2. Pretentious speech or writing; pompous language. adjective 1. Made of, or as if of, fustian: "[He] disliked the heavy, fustian . . . and brocaded decor of Soviet officialdom" (Frederick Forsyth). 2. Pompous, bombastic, and ranting: "Yossarian was unmoved by the fustian charade of the burial ceremony" (Joseph Heller). |
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