french revolution

-UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LEGAL STUDIES-

- FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789- Page 1

UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LEGAL STUDIES,PANJAB UNIVERSITY.

TOPIC:- FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789SUBJECT:- HISTORY.

SUBMITTED TO:- DR. SASHA TANDON SUBMITTED BY: KUNAL KAPOOR ROLL NO. 42/11

7TH SEMESTERB.A. LL.B. (HONS.)

UILSPANJAB UNIVERSITY



ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Dr. Sasha Tandon who

gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic French Revolution

of 1789, which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many

new things. I am really thankful to her. I would also like to thank my parents and friends who

helped me a lot in finishing this project within the limited time.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------ 4

2. CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION -------------------------------------- 5

- POLITICAL CAUSES ----------------------------------- 5

- SOCIAL CAUSES --------------------------------------- 7

- INTELLECTUAL CAUSES ---------------------------- 10

- FINANCIAL CAUSES --------------------------------- 12

3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ---------------------------- 14

4. BIBLIOGRAPHY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17



INTRODUCTION

The French Revolution was a movement which, in the last decade of the eighteenth century,

reconstructed the Government and society of France. It was an incident of that movement that

the greater part of Western Europe was temporarily occupied by French armies, and the

distribution of its ideas was effected alike by the provisional Government and by the

spectacle of revolutionary France.

A mighty upheaval like the French revolution was a composite movement caused by the

interaction of various forces, which had long been at work. They came to a head in the reign

of Louis XVI and burst into a terrific explosion. The revolution roused fervent hopes in the

heart of millions within and without France.

In the words of Lefebvre,

"No event except the Bolshevik revolution of Russia had so much

inspired men of modern times as the French revolution."

Due to the French revolution Europe relapsed into twenty-five years of great disorder and

upheaval which shattered its existing political structure. The revolution affected the continent

of Europe and Peoples began to say, when

"France catches cold, entire Europe sneezes."



CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION

POLITICAL CAUSESDESPOTIC MONARCHY 1. DIVINE RIGHT THEORY OF KINGSHIP - France was the most advanced and modern

of all the continental countries in the second half of the eighteenth century. Yet, the French

monarchy was still based on the idea of absolutism and "Divine right theory of kingship."

Henry IV was the founder of the Bourbon dynasty and under him France acquired

supremacy.

2. LOUIS-XIV - During the second half of the seventeenth century, over Europe. Louis XIV

had ruled over France with great glory. Under Louis XIV, the French monarchy became

absolutist and bureaucratic. Under him the power of the crown reached such a height that he

could claim, "The State, it is myself." Like his royal - contemporaries he believed with all his

heart in the Divine sanction of his absolutism. He was known as the Sun King. The king

made the law, he levied the taxes, he spent them as he saw fit, he declared wars, made peace,

contracted alliances according to his own inclination. He builds the famous palace of

Versailles.

3. LOUIS-XV - The Grand monarch was succeeded by his great grandson, Louis XV, who

was only five years of age when his predecessor died. He was known as the Butterfly King.

He was weak and frivolous, enjoying the sweets of the royal office, while sharing the

responsibilities attached to it. A disastrous foreign policy, culminating in the humiliation of

the seven years war, a capricious Government controlled by royal mistresses, a reckless

prodigality of Court expenditureall these developments opened the gates to the deluge that

swept over France. The king did nothing to satiate the discontent of the people. He had said

after me the deluge.

4. LOUIS-XVI & MARIE ANTOINETTE - Under Louis XVI a prodigal anarchy reigned

in France and the king stood a helpless spectator to it. He was good, well intentioned; he had

a high standard of morality and duty, a genuine desire to serve his people. He sincerely

wanted to introduce necessary reforms but failed because he had not the grit to overcome the

obstinate resistance of the privileged classes whose vested interests were threatened by any



scheme of reforms. Above all, he was too much under the influence of his young and

beautiful queen, the Austrian .Princess, Marie Antoinette, who was intently y hated b the

French people because she was a foreigner. She had a great deal of influence over her

husband. Unfortunately the queen, though gracious and sympathetic to certain obvious types

of suffering, had no political experience. She was gracious and vivacious, and she had a

strong will. While France was passing through a serious financial crisis and was faced with

the problem of food, she was lavishly spending money on her pleasure and was absolutely

unconcerned about the miseries of the people. Unfortunately, she did not understand the

temperament of the French people or the spirit of the times. She was staunch to friends, who

deceived her, and sympathies made her the innocent tool of ambitious factions and Court

intrigues, she was proud, frivolous, impatient of all restraint and fond of pleasure. The

inefficient king was a mere tool in her hands and could not over-rule her.

5. PALACE OF VERSAILLES - Kings have generally been inclined to be builders, to leave

imposing memorials of their reigns in works of architecture, but no king of France ever built

so much as Louis XIV. His remarkable achievement was the creation of the palace of

Versailles, which was the most monumental royal palace in Europe. The royal court at

Versailles under the Bourbon became a place for merry making and all sorts of low pleasures.

Luxury was everywhere the prevailing note.

6. CENTRALISATION OF GOVERNMENT - The administration had been highly

centralised in the 17th century and continued to be so in the 18th century. Everything in the

State was decided by the council at Versailles, which had hardly anything to devote to the

affairs of the State. The development of the central administrative system went back to the

remote days of the medieval monarch. Too much centralisation had deprived the local

officials of all initiative and unnecessary delay was caused by references to the Central

Government even over trivial matters.

7. THE INTENDANCE - The only large administrative units of any, significance in France

in the century preceding the revolution were the generalities, or intendancies. These

intendancies were appointed by the king to carry on the Royal Government, each in his own

district, upon them depended in large measure the happiness or the misery of the provinces.

They had the right to administer justice in all royal courts. They verified the accounts of their

subordinate financial administrators and they had a large control over the movement of the



military, calling out recruits for the regular army, and directing the activities of municipal

police. The power held by the intendance and their subordinates led all thinking men of the

eighteenth century to denounce the thirty tyrants of France. The weaknesses of the

governmental system lay not with individual intendance, nor even with the intendance as a

class of administrator. It lay first with the theory of Government and secondly due to the

incompetence of Louis XVL

8. LACK OF UNIFORMITY IN LAW, WEIGHT & MEASUREMENTS - According to

absolutist theory all justice in France emanated from the monarch, whose officials

administered it in his name in the royal courts of justice that were established throughout the

entire country. The main reason for the existence of many hundred Courts of regular

jurisdiction is to be found in the procedure of selling public offices during the old regime.

France had no single code of law either for civil or criminal cases, and no attempt was made

to codify the laws. Besides, measures had different names and di weights and an differ values

as one moved from province to province. This lack of uniformity was the primary cause of

confusion.

9. ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT - The uncertainty concerning interpretation of the law

and the competence of individual courts made the administration of justice not only dilatory,

but also expensive. The king would also issue writs, called "letters de cachet" (Arbitrary

imprisonment without trial) by virtue of which he could imprison any subject without inquiry

and trial, so long as it pleased the royal will.

SOCIAL CAUSESIn the pre-Revolutionary period, the society was divided into two classes-the privileged and

non-privileged. The privileged class included the nobility and the higher clergy and the

unprivileged class included the bourgeoisie or middle class citizens, the labourers and the

peasants. The privileged class enjoyed a total or partial exemption from taxation and had a

monopoly of honours and emoluments.

The clergy were called the first estate i.e., the first class. The clergy constituted only one

percent of the population of the country but they were owners of one-fifth of the landed

properties in France. On the other hand, they did not pay any tax to the State, rather they

enjoy the right themselves to tax, the clergy through its right to tithes, the nobility through its



right to exact feudal dues. Practically, the third estates bore the whole burden of taxation and

were at the same time excluded from all places of authority. The unprivileged classes had no

rights but were saddled with galling obligations. Thus, in a period when more and more

people were talking about the equality and the natural rights of all men, the class structure in

France showed glaring inequality and a wide variation in rights.

THE CLERGY

UPPER CLERGY - The clergy made up the first class or estate of France, and the Church,

that is, the corporation of the clergy, was the most influential corporate body in the kingdom.

It exercised an extraordinary influence in governmental administration, and held a dominant

position in the life of the nation. But the first estate or clergy was itself characterised by

inequality. The high Churchmen-archbishops, bishops, abbots often enjoyed great wealth

drawn from church landholdings and from tithes (A kind of religious tax). They lived with

pomp and ceremony. The higher clergy monopolised all the lucrative church offices but were

quite indifferent to their spiritual duties. The Church was a state within a state.

LOWER CLERGY - The lower clergy, who did the real work of spiritual consolation and

instruction, were wretchedly recompensed, with low income of a few hundred Francs, and

they had difficulty in keeping body and soul together. Relations between the upper and lower

clergy were an exchange of arrogance on the one part and open or suppressed hostility on the

other. The lower clergy formed a discontented class ready to join hands with the common

people against the abuses of favouritism and absolutism.

THE NOBILITY - The nobility constituted the second estate of the realm. The rank of

nobility was acquired by birth, by military service, by the purchase of patents of nobility, or

by the possession of certain public offices. The noble in France, who constituted, the, second

estate, formed a hereditary caste, and they kept themselves aloof from the commoners and

were very jealous of their rights. The nobility was divided into two sections, nobles by birth

and nobles by office, of course there were two main classes, the nobility of the sword and the

nobility of the robe. The nobility of the sword consisted of the nobles of the court and the

nobles of the provinces. In fact, the great nobles formed a background for the king. They do

not pay any direct tax and were exempted from a number of indirect ones. Rather they levied

their dues on the peasantry living on their estates and claimed exclusive hunting, shooting



and fishing rights. In real influence, the nobility of robe, which included the Magistrates of

the Parliaments and other sovereign courts, easily outranked the more ornamental and

wasteful nobles at court. There were large number of lesser or Provincial nobles who lived on

their estate, patched up their crumbing mansion, and showed pride in their coats of arms, their

horses, and their dogs. Many of them had small incomes, and they could cut no figure in the

world of society and they had few chances to increase their prosperity.

THE THIRD ESTATE (BOURGEOISIE) - Below the Privileged orders, was the vast

majority of population called the third estate. But it was not a homogeneous body. It

comprised the bourgeoisie or the upper middle class, the artisans and the peasants. The most

powerful element of the third estate was bourgeoisiethe merchants, bankers, businessmen,

manufactures, and professional men who lived in towns or cities. They formed the well to do

intelligent and the energetic section of the community.

Even the bourgeoisie section of the third estate was superior to the clergy and nobility in

education, initiative and even in wealth, but although superior to the upper classes on all

counts, the bourgeoisie was not entitled to enjoy any privilege, but they had to bear the

burden of the tax. They wanted abolition of state control over trade, commerce and industries.

They nourished a strong grievance against the Government for the restrictions imposed on

their trade. Further, this, class was not in favour of the French monarchy, which was being

controlled by the nobility. Their pride and self-respect were wounded by the social

discrimination and the deliberate snubs administered by the nobility. They demanded a voice

in the Government. In 1788-89 their role in undermining the old regime was particularly

prominent.

Their mood was brilliantly expressed by a pamphlet written by Abbe Sieyes, which circulated

on the eve of the revolution.

"What is the third estate? Everything, what was it been in politics until

now? "Nothing" "What does it desire? To become something"

THE ARTISANS - The artisans and labourers, although belonging to the third estate, were

much worse off than the bourgeoisie.



THE PEASANTS - If there was cause for discontent, the peasantry had more reason to be

restive than the bourgeoisie. France was still a predominantly agricultural country, and it was

nil the backs of the peasantry that the other classes were borne. The condition of the

peasantry, who formed by far the largest section of the population, was deplorable in the

extreme. The peasants had to pay rent to his feudal lord, tithes to the church and taxes to the

king. The king claimed both direct and indirect taxes. The direct taxes comprised the Taille or

the land tax, a poll tax per head, and income tax which amounted to one-twentieth of the

peasants income. The indirect taxes comprised salt tax or gabelle, customs and excise duties

and corveeor forced labour on the roads. The bulk of the kings income was derived from the

masses. Three principal causes determined the steady decline in fortune of the French

peasantry:

(1) Sharp and continuous growth in population;

(2) A marked upward movement of prices,

(3) The influence of the physiocrats in stimulating agrarian reforms. The peasants required

only a signal to breakout in revolt and it was their active participation that made the

revolutionary movement of 1789 a success.

INTELLECTUAL CAUSES - THE INFLUENCE OF THE FRENCH PHILOSOPHERS

As France was moving towards revolution due to the desperate political, social and economic

conditions during the 18th century, there was also going on a mental preparation for

revolution. The spirit of rationalism that was influencing the thought and outlook of the

Europeans during the second half of the 19th century had directly contributed top repare the

French nation for the revolution of 1789.

The 18th century was an age of Reason and witnessed a good deal of intellectual activity. It

was an age of enlightenment and its characteristics were scepticism, Rationalism, Humanism

and Deism. The writings of the philosophers had a tremendous influence on the minds of the

people and created a revolutionary awakening in their minds and formed the intellectual

creed of the French revolution. The philosophers contributed a lot to the rise of intellectual

revolution by their satirical writings and infused a new spirit of revolution in the people's

heart.



MONTESQUIEU - The true intellectual revolution in. France started with Montesquieu

(1689- 1755). He belonged to an aristocratic family. He was only too well aware of the perils

of the censorship and realised that his criticism would have to be indirect to win the approval

of the wide public in the capital.

In his Persian letters he ridiculed the corruption of the country condemned the

"privilege, financial administration and denounced the vices of

fanaticism and intolerance. In his spirit of laws,"

He openly attacked the absolute monarchy of France. The "spirit of laws" was largely

influenced by the English Constitution. He praised a limited Government, machinery of

checks and balances, and admired in the English practice what he called the "separation of

powers." He stressed in the "spirit of laws" that power of executive, Legislature and judiciary

should be separated completely.

VOLTAIRE The foremost champion of reason and tolerance during the 18th century and

perhaps of all time was Voltaire; a master of biting satire enjoyed almost autocratic authority

by reason of his powerful writing. He was born in 1694 AD in a middle class family. Voltaire

was a philosopher, historian, poet, dramatist and satirist of his age. He was a prolific writer.

In 1733, his observations about the Englishmen were published in a volume entitled "Letters

on the English." He denounced the abuses of the State, but directed his attack against the

bigotry and intolerance of the Church. His ideal of Government was a benevolent despotism.

He said it is better to be ruled by a lion then hundred rats. In his "philosophical dictionary,"

he denounced the Church as an infamous thing. His writings had a tremendous effect on

millions of people not only in France but also in the whole of Europe.

ROUSSEAU - Rousseau has been rightly called the prophet of the revolution. He was the son

of a Genevan watchmaker. From earliest boyhood he was virtually alone in the world,

indiscipline, untaught, and left to grow up without guidance. When he was sixteen years old,

he ran away from his native city of Geneva, where he had apprenticed to an engraver. He was

a homeless wanderer. His private life was miserable and in the books that he wrote in rapid

succession"the origin of inequality," the new Heloise, "Emile," "the social contact," he

preached a gospel of spiritual revolution. He held a supreme position among all the

philosophers and he influenced the society more than anybody else.

In his book "Discourse on the origin of inequality," he has analysed the inequality,

dishonesty, fraud and exploitation of the modern civilisation. The political influence of



Rousseau's "social contract" was incalculable, not only in France, but also in Europe. He said,

"man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains," he believed that the sovereignty of the

state depended on the will of the people. Laws should be the expression of the "General will."

The collective will of the people, called the "General will" was the sovereign power.

Rousseau contributed to the popular notion of Liberty, modern democracy and gave the

French revolutionaries their famous slogan of "Equality and Fraternity."

FINANCIAL CAUSESThe finances of France were in a deplorable state. Almost half of the interest on the national

debt and expenditure were always larger than receipts. The rulers regarded the national

income as their personal income. The French Government spent beyond its means in

profitless war: The royal household was guile of extravagant expenses in feasts and keeping

vast number of jobless servants.

1. The Bourbon's love for war, mismanagement, and mal-administration also affected the

royal treasury otherwise; and the national debts of France had gone quite high.

2. The debt steadily grew and to meet the chronic deficit the Government was forced to resort

to the sale of offices, new loans etc. On the eve of the outbreak of french revolution. France

was under the teeth of a severe inflation. The new monarch Louis XVI was well meaning, but

lacking in decision. The common people bore the brunt of taxation. They paid both direct and

indirect taxes. Nearly fifty per cent of their income was snatched away in taxation.

3. The policy of taxation was full of anomaly. Those who were the wealthiest and therefore

best able to support the state were the very ones who paid the least. Further, the internal and

local customs hampered free circulation of goods from one part of the country to the other.

The imposition of local customs not only harassed trade but also multiplied the price of

goods.

4. The taxation system was shockingly unjust and scandalously oppressive. Besides the

method of realizing the revenue was also faulty. The revenue collector used to realize more

than that was due from the farmers but deposited in royal treasury only a part of it and thus,

appropriated a good amount for their own use.

5 On the one hand, the expenses of the state on wars and luxuries went on mounting, on the

other its resources were limited and had already been completely drained. When Louis XVI

ascended the throne, France was on the verge of bankruptcy. But in spite of that France



joined the war of American independence. French participation in the war of American

independence up-set the finances of the country, without a change in the fiscal system the

government could not pay its way, for the noble would not pay, while the commons could not

pay.

6. On the other hand, the French Government persistently followed a policy of meeting the

deficit by raising public loans at a high rate of interest. The only way to cure these ills was to

increase direct tax on the people who enjoyed immunity from payment of taxation. Both the

king and the nobles failed to appreciate the gravity of the financial crisis and did not realize

that if the ship of state foundered on the rock of financial bankruptcy, the nobles would also

sink along with the king. The nobles remained adamant, and the king continued to vacillate.

7. To a Bishop or a noble it seemed ridiculous to pay taxes like a merchant or a peasant. The

privileged classes were so entrenched in the courts, the church, and the government. And s

well defended by law, tradition and precedent, that they were able to block any attempt to

alter the existing system. Thus, at his succession Louis XVI was faced with a serious

financial situation. The king entrusted the management of the finance to a man of rare ability

and he was none else than Turgot.



SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION1. The French revolution spread like waves all over Europe and no country were immune

from its influence. Certainly, in history of Europe, the French revolution was of great

inspirational value. The revolution released dynamic and explosive of the old established

order in politics, economics, social life, diplomacy and war. In England democrats welcomed

that the established absolutist monarchy was at last yielding to the need for constitutional

reforms. The revolutionaries feel that they were conducting a revolution on behalf of

mankind.

2. It swept away the evils and anomalies of the old regime and thereby freed the people from

the tyranny of the king, the nobles and the Church. Monarchical absolutism was a thing of the

past. The relics of feudalism were buried. Autocratic monarchy, arbitrary arrests, aristocratic

privileges became a thing of the past. The Church had been subordinated to the state.

3. A uniform and efficient system of administration had been introduced, and laws had been

codified. Taxation was shared by all and it was fairly distributed on all sections of society.

Feudalism was dead and the emergence of a free land owning peasantry was a permanent

result of the revolution.

4. Right to vote, right to assemble, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, which was

advocated in the writings of the philosophers, were all accepted. The opposition to the slave

trade and the attempts to reform the condition of prisons illustrate the stimulus given to

humanitarianism by the revolution. The ideal of political democracy deeply impressed the

Frenchmen.

5. The revolution burst the boundaries of France carrying with it new ideas of social and

political organisation and thus in the long run helped to refashion Europe on new principles.

6. England was also receptive to the revolutionary ideas. Leaders like Tom Paine, Thomas

Hardy, welcome the revolution as the greatest event since the American war of independence.

Even moderate Tory government, led by Pitt, the younger, had sought to introduce many

financial and administrative reforms. The ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity spread a

lasting impression among the masses of the conquered states.



7. Equality, liberty and fraternity, the three ideals of the revolution, entered in to the

consciousness of the French people and received permanency. The revolution brought the

ideal of legal equality, social equality and career upon to talents, uniformity of law and

justice, Freedom of speech, freedom of thought and rule of law. The Revolution was equally

responsible for the rise of Napolean Bonaparte to power.

8. In the society, the privileges as well as the predominance of the clergy and the 'nobility

were abolished and equality of all persons was established. The cardinal idea was that of

liberty, an idea which found expression in the famous Declaration of right. Liberty, personal

and political, became a universal creed. Personal liberty implied the abolition of serfdom.

Political liberty implied the abolition of exclusive political privileges. Napoleon Bonaparte

became the messenger of the French Revolutionary ideas. He declared himself as the son of

the revolution. Further, the example set by the French revolution in establishing social

equality was infectious.

9. The influences of democracy and nationalism in the modern history were the results of the

revolution. It was the urge of national patriotism that for a time made the French invincible in

Europe. This was destined to act as a most important force in reshaping the boundaries of

Europe.

10. The uprising of the German people in their war of liberation was a manifestation of

nationalism. The history of Europe in the 19th century is the story of the triumph of

nationalism Belgium, Italy, Germany and the Balkan Peninsula. As a result of the revolution

the people of Europe acquired an experience which opened before the thinkers of later days,

new lines of thinking. Administration of law and justice became more uniform.

11. By a series of radical measures the revolution established a sound economic system based

upon social and economic justice became more uniform.

12. An era of religious liberty and equality was established as a result of changes in the

French Church leading to the subordination of the Church to the State.

13. Thousands of people suffered at the hands of the revolutionaries but ultimately it proved a

blessing in disguise for the whole humanity. It helped in the growth of the spirit of fraternity



and social welfare. Serfdom was abolished. The French Revolution spread the ideal of a

welfare state.

14. Despotism come to an end giving way to democracy and the world witnessed the

regeneration of human society on the basis of the principle of the revolution.

15. Above all, the French became the spokesman of the human race and the idea of liberty

became the watchword and character of all the reformers and revolutionaries. Liberty became

a universal creed.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Nanda, S.P., History of the World, 2nd ed. Delhi: Dominant Publishers &

Distributors Pvt. Ltd. (2011).

2. Palmer, R.A., History of the Modern World, 10th ed. McGraw (2006).

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