Assertion-Reason of Chapter 1 The French Revolution Class 9 History
Important Questions1
Directions
Answer
In the following questions, a statement of Assertion (A) is followed by a statement of Reason (R). Mark the correct choice as:
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false and R is true.
2
Assertion (A): Women in France were active participants in the events leading to important changes in society during the French Revolution.
Reason (R): Women formed their own political clubs and newspapers to voice their interests and demands.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.From the very beginning women were active participants in the events which brought about so many important changes in French society. They hoped that their involvement would pressurise the revolutionary government to introduce measures to improve their lives. In order to discuss and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and newspapers. About sixty women’s clubs came up in different French cities. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them.
3
Assertion (A): Women in France gained the right to vote in 1946.
Reason (R): The fight for women's suffrage continued internationally during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Answer
(b) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.Women’s movements for voting rights and equal wages continued through the next two hundred years in many countries of the world. The fight for the vote was carried out through an international suffrage movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.
4
Assertion (A): In the French Society of Estates, peasants made up to about 40% of the population.
Reason (R): Only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated.
Answer
(d) A is false and R is true.In the French Society of Estates, peasants made up to 90% of the population. However, only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated. About 60% of the land was owned by richer members of the Third Estate, Clergy and Nobles.
5
Assertion (A): Tithe was a tax levied by the Church.
Reason (R): It comprised one-tenth of the agricultural produce.
Answer
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.The Church too extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the peasants. A direct tax, called taille, and a number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco. The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the third estate alone.
6
Assertion (A): Philosophers like John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau proposed ideas that influenced the French Revolution.
Reason (R): Locke refuted the divine right of kings, and Rousseau proposed a government based on a social contract.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch. Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
7
Assertion (A): The Third Estate had more representatives in the Estates General than the First and Second Estates combined.
Reason (R): The Third Estate was represented by its more prosperous and educated members.
Answer
(c) A is true but R is false.On 5 May 1789, Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estates General to pass proposals for new taxes. The first and second estates sent 300 representatives each, who were seated in rows facing each other on two sides, while the 600 members of the third estate had to stand at the back. The third estate was represented by its more prosperous and educated members.
8
Assertion (A): The Third Estate demanded that voting in the Estates General be conducted by the assembly as a whole, with each member having one vote.
Reason (R): This demand was inspired by the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote. This time too Louis XVI was determined to continue the same practice. But members of the third estate demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote. This was one of the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau in his book The Social Contract.
9
Assertion (A): In France of Old Regime the Monarch had to call a meeting of the Estates General which would then pass his proposals for new taxes.
Reason (R): However, the Monarch alone could decide when to call a meeting of this body.
Answer
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.In France of the Old Regime the monarch did not have the power to impose taxes according to his will alone. Rather he had to call a meeting of the Estates General which would then pass his proposals for new taxes. The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their representatives. However, the monarch alone could decide when to call a meeting of this body. The last time it was done was in 1614.
10
Assertion (A): Louis XVI had the power to impose taxes according to his will alone in France of the Old Regime.
Reason (R): The Estates General was a political body to which the three estates sent their representatives, and only the monarch could decide when to call a meeting of this body.
Answer
(d) A is false but R is true.11
Assertion (A): The government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres by confiscating lands owned by the Church.
Reason (R): The Assembly forced members of the clergy to give up their privileges and abolished tithes.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes. Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes were abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated. As a result, the government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres.
12
Assertion (A): Abbé Sieyès wrote an influential pamphlet called "What is the Third Estate?".
Reason (R): Abbé Sieyès was originally a priest.
Answer
(b) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.Abbé Sieyès, originally a priest, wrote an influential pamphlet called ‘What is the Third Estate’? The reason is true because Abbé Sieyès was indeed originally a priest. However, his being a priest does not explain why he wrote the pamphlet; it explains his background but not the reason for the pamphlet's influence.
13
Assertion (A): The storming of the Bastille on 14 July was a significant event during the French Revolution.
Reason (R): The storming of the Bastille was a reaction to the king ordering troops to move into Paris.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.The storming of the Bastille was a significant event in the French Revolution and was directly triggered by the king's decision to send troops to Paris, which increased the fear and agitation among the populace.
14
Assertion (A): The peasants looted hoarded grain and burnt documents containing records of manorial dues due to rumours of brigands destroying crops.
Reason (R): The rumours spread fear among the peasants, prompting them to take drastic actions against the nobles.
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.After 14 July, 1789, in the countryside rumours spread from village to village that the lords of the manor had hired bands of brigands who were on their way to destroy the ripe crops. Caught in a frenzy of fear, peasants in several districts seized hoes and pitchforks and attacked chateaux. They looted hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records of manorial dues. A large number of nobles fled from their homes, many of them migrating to neighbouring countries.
15
Assertion (A): The National Assembly held long debates about whether the rights of man should be extended to all French subjects including those in the colonies.
Reason (R): Throughout the eighteenth century there was criticism of slavery in France.
Answer
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.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. It was finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French overseas possessions.
16
Assertion (A): Freedom of the press meant that only supportive views of the revolution could be published.
Reason (R): The abolition of censorship allowed for opposing views of events to be expressed.
Answer
(d) A is false but R is true.The freedom of the press allowed for all views, including opposing ones, to be published. The reason is true because the abolition of censorship indeed permitted the expression of diverse opinions, fostering a more open and dynamic public discourse.