Page 26 - Understanding NCERT Histroy 09th

l They started their own political clubs and newspapers in order to voice their interests.
l They demanded the right to vote to be elected to the Assembly and hold political office.
l They did not have access to education or job training. Only daughter of wealthier
members of the Third Estate could stay at convent.
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
l Working women had also to take care of their families. Their wages were lower than
those of men.

5. Who was Maximilian Robespierre? Describe any four steps taken by him to bring equality.
Ans. Maximilian Robespierre was the leader of Jacobin Club.
l The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of Terror. Robespierre followed
a policy of severe control and punishment.
l All those whom he saw as being ‘enemies’ of the republic-ex-nobles and clergy,
members of other political parties, even members of his own party who did not agree
with his methods were arrested, imprisoned and then tried by a revolutionary tribunal.
If the court found them ‘guilty1 they were guillotined.
l Robespierre’s government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices.
Meat and bread were rationed. Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities
and sell it at prices fixed by the government.
Churches were shut down and their buildings converted into barracks or offices.

6. Describe any five features of the Constitution of 1791 framed by the National Assembly in
France.
Ans. Features of the Constitution of 1791 :
l It declared France a constitutional monarchy.
l Powers of the king separated and assigned to the executive, the legislature and the
judiciary.
l Laws to be made by the National Assembly.
l Only men above 25 years of age, who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer’s
wage, were entitled to vote.
l To qualify as an elector and as member of the Assembly, a man had to belong to highest
bracket of taxpayers.

7. How was slavery abolished in France?
Ans. l One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition
of slavery from the French colonies.
l Throughout the eighteenth century there was little criticism of slavery in France.
The National Assembly held long debates about whether the rights of man should be
extended to all French subjects including those in the colonies. But it did not pass any
laws, fearing opposition from businessmen whose incomes depended on the slave trade.
l It was finally the Convention that in 1794 passed legislation to free all slaves in the
French overseas possessions.
l This, however, turned out to be a short term measure because after ten years Napoleon
reintroduced slavery in France.
l Plantation owners understood their freedom as including the right to enslave African
Negroes in pursuit of their economic interests. Slavery was finally abolished in French
colonies in 1848, when France has declared as republic.

H-24 History Class IX