Justin,+Min,+Vincent,+Philip


 * Charles John Huffam Dickens**
 * Charles was a social critic from the English Victorian era. He was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.
 * As a the second child of eight children, Dickens endured a tough life.
 * He had to go to work at the age of 12 to pay off family debt. He worked at Warren's Shoe Blacking Factory by pasting labels on boxes. He walked to work every day and visited his father on Sundays.
 * His father was sent to a debtors prison.
 * Later on, the rest of his family joined the debtors prison at Marshalsea and Little Dorrit was written portraying the character's father being prisoned. Only Charles didn't go; he had to work.
 * At the warehouse Charles worked in, he often saw children experience unruly conditions of the factory, and yearned to reform labor conditions, which impacted the themes of the books he wrote.
 * His father sent Charles to Wellington House Academy in London from 1824 to 1827.
 * Books such as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield were inspired by Charles Dickens's impoverished childhood.
 * After studying at Mr. Dawson's school in 1827, he wrote for True Son (1830-32), Mirror of Parliament (1832-34) and the Morning Chronicle (1834-36). During the 1830s, Charles supplemented to the Monthly Magazine, and The Evening Chronicle and edited Bentley's Miscellany. In the 1840s, Dickens founded Master Humphrey's Cloak and edited the London Daily News.
 * Later, Dickens's career as a fiction writer began in 1833 when his short stories and essays to were published in his periodical. His Skectches by Boz and The Pickwick Papers were published in 1836.
 * Charles's literary career consisted of books on the attacks on social evils, unjustice, and hypocrisy. Dickens's lively good, bad and comic characters, such as the cruel miser Scrooge, the aspiring novelist David Copperfield, or the trusting and innocent Mr. Pickwick were what his books were about.
 * In 1865, Charles Dickens was involved in a train crash. He had minor physical injuries, but he never recovered from the post-traumatic shock of the accident. This was probably a factor to his death on June 9, 1870 at Gad's Hill, England, which was caused by a cerebral hemorrhage. He is buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, London. His tombstone states, “He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.”

//__WORKS CITED__//: "Brief Biography, A" Charles Dickens Literature. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .

"Charles Dickens - Biography and Works." The Literature Network. Jalic Inc. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .

"Charles Dickens Facts." Basic Charles Dickens Facts. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .

"SparkNotes: A Tale of Two Cities: Context." SparkNotes. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .


 * French Revolution**
 * It began in 1789 and went on until 1799.
 * There are five reasons why the Revolution was bound to being:
 * The wealthy commoners, known as the bourgeoisie and made up of merchants and manufacturers, were tired of being excluded from political power and honorable positions.
 * The peasants knew they were being treated unfairly and refused to further support the feudal system.
 * The philosophes' work that advocated social and political reform were quite popular in France (secularism).
 * France's participation in the America Revolution drove them to the verge of bankruptcy.
 * Crop failures and economic difficulties caused the citizens to lose patience.
 * Taxes increased for the Third Estate and were enforced upon the First and Second Estate to make up for the deficiency of money
 * The Aristocratic Revolt occurred from 1787 to 1789.
 * The controller general of finances, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, had arranged a meeting of the notables and nobles in February 1787.
 * This group proposed reforms that would eliminate budget deficits by placing taxes on the First Estate(royal class) and Second Estate(nobility), which they previously were not obligated to pay
 * As a result, the privileged classes and the aristocrats decided to revolt.
 * Louis XVI eventually had to give in to reforms and started by appointing reform-minded officials to different positions.
 * Also, freedom of the press was granted, no one was excluded from voting, and electors were allowed to draw up their grievances and hopes.
 * Tennis Court Oath
 * The Estates General was called upon to appease the revolt
 * The Third Estate was secluded from this meeting and revolted
 * All members of the Third Estate stayed on the King's indoor tennis court until a promise for a constitution was made
 * The Tennis Court Oath was signed ensuring that the power existed in the people, not the King
 * Afterwords, Louis called upon the Estates General to create a constitution
 * Storming of the Bastille 1789
 * Rumors arose that the Third Estate, consisting of the common people, was going to be overthrown by the aristocracy leading to the Great Fear. These peasants lived in constant anxiety.
 * They sought ammunition which was rumored to be located in the Bastille prison
 * They stormed the Bastille prison, which symbolized the brutality and totalitarian power of absolutism in France
 * All seven prisoners in this alleged prison of torture were rescued and the revolution began
 * Second Phase of The Revolution
 * After the revolutionists had gained a large amount of control, the French king fled Paris to meet up with Austrian forces, hoping that the troops would help him revive the traditional monarchy.
 * He was caught and then executed after a trial on January 21, 1793.
 * With the king gone, a new step in the revolution appeared that focused on social equality and fraternity.
 * Eventually, Maximilian Robespierre, a lawyer, assumed dictatorial control of the country when the National Convention passed the power to a committee that he belonged to.
 * Robespierre tried to rule in the name of the people by regulating the economy and by executing traitors.
 * So much blood was shed during this time that it became known at the "Reign of Terror".
 * Around 50,000 people died, and finally, former political allies decided that they needed to get rid of Robespierre if they wished to keep their own lives.
 * He wound up losing his head to the guillotine some time around 1794.
 * The End of The Revolution
 * With Robespierre dead, the chaos and mayhem eventually died down.
 * Napoleon Bonaparte eventually gained power and became the emperor in 1799.
 * He set up a new regime called the Consulate, which took over the old monarchies and other forms of government.
 * The citizens accepted his leadership and control, thus stopping the French Revolution once and for all.

//__WORKS CITED__//:

"French Revolution (1787-99)." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .

"French Revolution, The" Faculty Web Sites. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .

Smitha, Frank E. "French Revolution." MacroHistory : World History. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .

"Storming of the Bastille,The " Essortment Articles. 2002. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .

"Tennis Court Oath: 1789." Then Again. . . Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .