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”