Post on 24-Feb-2016
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1789-1799
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE THREE ESTATES• First Estate
• Clergy Collect taxes, operated schools and hospitals
• Less than one percent of population
• Owned 10 percent of land
• Second Estate
• Nobility
• Born into rights and privileges
• Tax exempt
• Less than two percent of population
• Owned 20-25 percent of land
• Both hated enlightenment ideas
THIRD ESTATE
• Rest of society
• Mostly peasants
• Paid ALL taxes
• 97 percent of population
• Bourgeoisie
• Owned means of production
• Lawyers, doctors, etc.
• Exploited by clergy and nobility
LIFE OF A PEASANT
• No food
• Starvation
• Few privileges
• Servants = skilled and unskilled
• Laborers
• Responsible for taxes
• Wars, palaces, used to support wealthy
LOUIS XVI AND MARIE ANTOINETTE
• King and Queen of France 1774-1792
• Supported American Revolution, 1776
• Represented absolute monarchy
• Inherited debt
• Bad spending habits
• Palace of Versailles
LONG TERM CAUSES
• Corrupt & inconsistent leadership
• Massive debt
• Absolute monarch
• Resentment of 3rd Estate privileges
• Paid largest sum of taxes
• No voice in government
• First and Second Estate would overrule Third Estate
• Each estate had one vote
• Enlightenment Philosophy
• “Freedom of the Individual”
• Voltaire, Diderot, Turgot
• Saw effects of American Revolution
SHORT TERM CAUSES
• Government debt
• Did not tax upper class
• War debt, tax evasion
• Poor harvest
• Bad weather in 1780s led to crop failure
• Increase in the price of bread
• Rejection of financial reforms
• Attempted to force nobles to pay taxes, failed
ESTATES GENERAL• One vote per estate
• Clergy and nobility joined to outvote Third Estate
• Versailles May 1789
• First meeting since 1614
• Third Estate formed National Assembly
• Sign of revolution
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
• Third Estate established own government
• 1789
• Inspired by Abbe Sieyes
• French Roman Catholic
“THE THIRD ESTATE AWAKENS”
CONFRONTATION WITH KING
• Louis XVI locked Third Estate out of National Assembly’s meeting hall
• Moved to nearby tennis courts for meetings
• Tennis Court Oath
• Vowed not to leave
• King reversed position
• Ordered first two estates to join National Assembly
• Called French troops to Paris
STORMING OF THE BASTILLE
• Rioting in Paris, early July
• Louis fired Necker
• Lowered Third Estate taxes
• Paris mobs seized weapons from armory
• Attacked Bastille
• Prison and armory: symbol of oppression
• Soldiers refused to stop attack
• Bastille destroyed
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND CITIZEN
• Adopted by National Assembly, 1789
• Enlightenment ideas
• Outlined basic freedoms held by all
• Asserted sovereignty of the people
• “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”