French Revolution Catholic clergy of the established church. Some historians hold something similar to what Thomas Jefferson proclaimed: that France had "been awakened by our [American] Revolution." Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates General in May 1789. During the first year of the Revolution, members of the Third Estate (commoners) took control, the Bastille was attacked in July, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was passed in August, and a group of women marched on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in
French emigration (1789–1815) In Alsace, minorities such as the Jews and Protestants were pro-revolution, while the Catholic majority was not. Despite these facts, as Zosa Szajkowski states in the text "Jews and the French Revolutions of 1789, 1830, and 1848" it was still a widely held belief that "the Jews wanted to bring about a counter-revolution with all its destruction and death". Thus, the Jews were continuously unfairly suspected of fraud, although rarely ever convicted for it. Also, their correspondence in Hebrew with those living outside France was restricted. August Mauger, the leader of the terror in Nancy, refused to give Jews passports.