French Revolution
Events
The Death of Louis XVI

Louis asked Elisabeth, his sister, to be his children mother.
To Antoinette, Louis wrote, "I beg my wife to forgive me for all the ills she is suffering for me, and the grieves I may have
caused her during our marriage, just as she may be sure that I keep nothing against her should she think she has anything for
which to blame herself."
Louis gave his children his blessing, kissed them for the last time. He slept soundly that night.

Before he died, he addressed to the crowd, "I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I pardon those who have
occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are now going to shed may never be visited on France; and you,
unfortunate people…"
The rest of the speech was unheard due to the drum of beat.
Because Louis XVI’s neck was so fat, instead of slicing through, the knife penetrated comparatively slowly, and a scream was
heard.

People cried, "long live the republic".

The King’s body was taken to the cemetery of the Madeleine and placed in a pauper’s coffin, head between the legs.
On December 11, 1792 King Louis XVI was brought to trial in front of the National Convention, which acted
as the jury. The King was charged with conspiring against the nation. His attorney was his former minister of
affairs and a philosopher, Malsherbes. But with the convincing arguments of the Girondins, Jacobins and the
Montagnards, and the unveiling of Louis's secret safe ,which held his secret papers about bribing the city
officals, the people's case was more then rock solid. With all of this evidence against him, the convention
agreed that Louis XVI, King of France, was guilty of conspiring against the people of France and sentenced
him to death by guillotine on January 21,1793.

Louis XVI's morning started off when Santerre of the National Guard and two representatives from the
Commune showed up at 8:00 a.m. to the Place de la Revolution. He rode in a coach through the heavily
guarded streets. The Commune hired thousands of armed men to make sure that no one tried to free the king.
He arrived to the place of execution at ten in the morning. With his hands tied behind his back, he went up
the stairs of the scaffold holding the guillotine, and he got up there and started speaking: "I die innocent. I
pardon my enemies and I hope that my blood will be useful to the French, that it will appease God's
anger...."1 His words were cut off by the roll of drums. Then Charles Sanson, the executioner, strapped him
down and pulled the rope. Louis' head head fell off into a basket. Sanson's son picked up the head to the
shouts coming from the crowd of "Vive la Nation! Vive la R?publique!"2 The execution was over, and
afterwards the people tried to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood of the deceased King.

After the execution of King Louis XVI, the French nation continued to struggle. In January, 1793 the
revolutionary government declared war on Britain, a war for world dominion which would continue for
another twenty years. Meanwhile a counterrevolution in France erupted, and the Paris Commune continued to
pressure the new government for more radical change. The French Revolution was not over.

About Louis XVI
When Louis XVI became King of France in 1774, he was only 20 years old. As the years passed, he learned how to rule
better. Then he began to make changes. He abolished the age old practice of feudalism. The calling of the Estates-General
was another change in the French government which he introduced. When the monarchy was abolished, he saw it as
something that would help his country. All of Louis actions were attempts to achieve one goal. Louis XVI tried to please
the French people and prevent the French Revolution.

For many centuries, a feudal system had been in use in France. The peasants and serfs were at the bottom of this system.
They made up 75% of the population. The National Assembly (formerly the Estates-General) voted to abolish feudalism
in 1789. The National Assembly declared their law "entirely abolishes the feudal system". Earlier, Louis XVI had set the
precedent for this event. In 1779, he abolished feudalism on his Crown lands. He also allowed serfs to pass on their land
to anyone they chose to. Previously, the land had to be passed on to their children. Abolition of feudalism gave the
peasants in France more freedom. The actions of Louis XVI and the National Assembly were done to please the majority
of the French people: the peasants and serfs.

Having the ideas of the French people in the French government would make the government closer to the people. A
system with representatives from all the provinces of France would accomplish that deed. Louis XVI achieved this by
calling the Estates-General into the government in May 1789. This was a group of peers and deputies from towns and
provinces across France. They had not been used in the government since 1614. They were originally put on an equal
level with the King. The King had to approve all the laws that were to be passed. The commoners had one of the three
votes in the Estates-General, so they had their say. Laws were passed by the Estates-General and National Assembly,
including removing the nobles rights over the serfs and peasants. Another law reduced the power of the church by not
allowing the church to own farming land. The National Assembly was the name they used when the third estate broke
away and gave themselves power, but that is a different story. By giving the Estates-General power, Louis XVI got the
people? ideas into the French government.

One of the wants of the insurgents in France was the removal of the monarchy altogether. To satisfy the wants of the
revolutionaries, Louis XVI stepped down from the throne. He actually did this because of a measure taken by the
National Assembly on August 10, 1792, which abolished the monarchy. Louis declared, "let us (him, his family, and
cabinet) go and make this last sacrifice to the Nation." Yet Louis still had to make one last sacrifice to his country. The
National Assembly voted by a one vote margin to put Louis XVI to death. Immediately before his death, he spoke to the
people saying, "I hope that the shedding of my blood will contribute to the happiness of France and you . . ." Then his
head was cut off in a guillotine. What Louis XVI said at the time of the end of the monarchy and his death shows he was
in favor of improving France and satisfying the people.

Louis XVI's job as the King during and before the French Revolution was not an easy one. With a betraying wife and bad
ministers, Louis still managed to make the best of a bad situation. The calling of the Estates-General was a major change
for the better. The abolition of feudalism was also a much needed alteration. Then came the fall of the monarchy and
eventually the death of the Louis. It turned out that more than the ideas of Louis would've been necessary to stop the
bloodshed of the French Revolution. Still, Louis XVI's deeds were ones of good intention for France, all in hopes no
blood would be shed.