Class Notes NCERT Solutions for CBSE Students
Question: Why were Political Clubs formed?
Answer: Large sections of the population were convinced that the revolution had to be carried further, as the Constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to the richer sections of society. Political clubs were formed by people who wished to discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action. The most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins, which got its name from the former convent of St Jacob in Paris.
Question: Describe the status of women of the 3rd estate in France.
Answer: Most women of the third estate had to work for a living. They worked as seamstresses or laundresses, sold flowers, fruits and vegetables at the market, or were employed as domestic servants in the houses of prosperous people. Most women did not have access to education or job training. Only daughters wealthier members of the third estate could study at a convent, after which their families arranged a marriage for them. Working women had also to care for their families, cook, fetch water, queue up for bread and look after the children. Their wages were lower than those of men.
Question: Why did women start their own Political Clubs?
Answer: Women started their own political clubs in order to discuss and voice their interests. About sixty women’s clubs came up in different French cities. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them. One of their main demands was that women enjoy the same political rights as men.
Question: Write a short note on Olympe de Gouges.
Answer: Olympe de Gouges was one of the most important of the politically active women in revolutionary France. She protested against the Constitution and the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen as they excluded women from basic rights that each human being was entitled to. In 1791, she wrote a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen, which she addressed to the Queen and to the members of the National Assembly, demanding that they act upon it. In 1793, Olympe de Gouges criticised the Jacobin government for forcibly closing down women’s clubs. She was tried by the National Convention, which charged her with treason. Soon after this she was executed
Question: Which was the one important law that changed the lives of men , women and children after the Revolution?
Answer: One important law that came into effect soon after the Revolution was the abolition of censorship. In the Old Regime all written material and cultural activities – books, newspapers, plays – could be published or performed only after they had been approved by the censors of the king. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right.
Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed pictures flooded the towns of France from where they travelled rapidly into the countryside. Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large numbers of people. This was one way they could grasp and identify with ideas such as liberty or justice.
