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What are the direct causes of french revolution
Political causes of the french revolution
Causes of the French Revolution
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Another cause of the French Revolution was the rise of new political ideas. At the time, new ideas were introduced and spread. People began questioning the world, using reason and logic to find a truth. This time era of is now referred to as the Age of Enlightenment. Many of the philosophers from the Age of Enlightenment centralized their ideas on how the political structure of a country should be. According to Article 2 of the Declaration of Rights of Man, “The aim of all political association is to preserve the natural and unalienable rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, and security and resistance to oppression.” The idea of men having natural rights came from an Enlightenment philosopher named John Locke. He spread the belief …show more content…
Under the Old Regime, the people of the Third Estate did not have as much political power as the clergy and nobles. Correspondingly, the First and Second Estates had more social power over the Third Estate. The peasants, for example, were treated inhumanely and had to do all the work while the nobles took advantage of them. In a political cartoon, a peasant is illustrated as an old, weak man carrying a prelate and a noble on his back(Document A). The cartoon clearly demonstrates how unfairly peasants were socially treated in France by the clergy and nobles. Similar to how the peasant was depicted as carrying the other two men, the Third Estate in France had to do all the work for the other two estates. Despite some of the Bourgeoisie being wealthier than the nobles, everyone in the Third Estate was treated as socially weaker. Many of the people in the Third Estate wanted a change in how society treated them and how they were seen as. Many of them felt as if the Third Estate should be more socially powerful because they make up most of France. In the opinion of Abbe Sieyes as seen in his pamphlet What is the Third Estate, the Third Estate is, “Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed”(Document D). Most people in the Third Estate felt socially oppressed and looked down upon, yet they were the most important people in France. The social injustice and …show more content…
The people from the Third Estate were taxed, while the First and Second Estates were untaxed. The rise in the price of bread caused the peasants to realize they had to fight and change the way they lived. The influence of Enlightenment ideas and the American Revolution caused the people in the Third Estate to take action rather than contain their opinions. Finally, the poor social treatment and the oppression of the Third Estate pushed them to fight for freedom. The French Revolution was a result of all the unfair treatments toward the Third Estate, and all the anger built up caused one of the bloodiest revolutions seen in history
News spread throughout the rest of the world that England’s American colony had overthrown their British government with a war. A period called "The Enlightenment" sparked the American Revolution. During this time, philosophers and lawmakers focused on basic human rights and creating a balanced government. Ideas from the Declaration of Independence which came from these philosophers, inspired the people of France to develop a sense of natural rights in French government. Since their current government gave the people very little natural rights, they rebelled.
The dissatisfaction of the nobles and the clergy was another reason why the radical stage occurred. Nobles and clergy were mad because the lost their privileges. Before the revolution, the first two estates enjoyed tax exemptions while the third estate paid for everything. Politically, the first two estates had much more power than they should have had based on their numbers. In the Estates General, each estate was represented equally. This was true even
Specifically, the idea that man is endowed with certain liberties that were granted by God and/or nature was advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers. Many people took aim at arbitrary governments and the “divine right of kings.” John Locke in return offered principles of constructing a constitutional government, a contract between rulers and the ruled. In Document 7, John Locke in The Two Treatises of Government stated that men consent to enter society in order to preserve their natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. The government should protect people's natural rights and if not, then the people can remove their consent because the government derives its power from the consent of the people. John Locke wrote during the time period of the Enlightenment; therefore, his thoughts were based on the emerging idea of individualism furthermore man's inherent rights and powers. Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence (Document 9) that are all men are created equal and that they are endowed with certain natural rights. The Declaration of Independence was written because of England's tyrannical rule over the American colonies thus, the citizens felt that their natural rights were being abused by the English government. Individualism was indeed formed in response to the skepticism of the Church as
Some people like Emmanuel Sieyès, middle-class writer who was taken by the Enlightenment ideas, believed that all of French Society lay on the backs of the third estate. On the contrary, Robespierre, the monarch at the time, believed that the third estate did not have the power to do anything important to society. The third estate had to pay taxes like the Gabelle and Taille while the first and seconds estates did not have to pay any taxes to the king. Also, the third estates had less of a representation in voting. The first and second estate could outvote the third estate every time and this was a huge inequality. The condition of the third estate was horrible but a good portion of this third estate was the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie had some wealth and social class, so they influenced the rest of the third estate about their rights, while also inspiring some lower clergies and provincial nobles and thus led to a group of rebellious people to fight the monarchy. This fight for political representation and political rights was only one cause of the French Revolution. Another causes lies in the French Monarchs: Louis XlV, Louis XV, and Louis XVl. When Louis XlV was ruling, the monarchy had unlimited power and was known as a
During the eighteenth century, a major uprising occurred in France, the French Revolution. During the time, France was divided into 3 major groups: the First, Second, and the Third estate. While the first and second estate owned the majority of the resources, and paying little taxes, the third Estate paid heavy taxes, owning little resources. Sparked by the social inequality faced by the third Estate, the revolution brought about significant changes to France. Initially, the French Revolution advances the Enlightenment ideals by promoting life and equality, corresponding to John Locke’s belief. However, the revolution ultimately betrayed the enlightenment ideals.
The beginning of the French Revolution had many causes that began with the frustrations of the bourgeoisie. The irritation was a result from being treated very poorly by King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette. The bourgeoisie carried a huge weight on their shoulders because they were demanded to pay the most taxes. However they were the largest population that made up France. A variety of reasons contributed to the rebellion of the third estate, they understood their human rights and were not going to tolerate this absurd behavior from the monarchy any longer.
The Real Cause of the French Revolution For hundreds of years historians have tried to find out the real cause
This oppression of the Third Estate along with the financial problems that fell on the common people would lead to the French Revolution. Overall, the people of France revolted against the monarchy because of the unsuccessful estate system and the inequality it led to, because of the new enlightenment ideas that inspired them, and because of the failures of the monarchy.
Historian Albert Mathiez states that “The middle class… was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The revolution came from them- the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” The middle class were not able to have a class on their own; they were still considered peasants. In the illustration it showed how much people and land each estate held, the Clergy was one percent of the population which owned ten percent of the land. Nobles were two percent of the people that owned thirty-five percent of the land. The middle class, peasants, and city workers were ninety-seven of the people owned fifty-five percent of the land. This means that if the third estate were to riot, this would cause havoc. There was a lot during that time; the website Macrohistory and World Timeline shows that “The population of France had grown to between 24 and 26 million, up from 19 million in 1700 without a concomitant growth in food production. Farmers around Paris consumed over 80 percent of what they grew, so if a harvest fell by around 10 percent, which was common, people went hungry. There was insufficient government planning and storage of grain for emergency shortages”. If there were approximately 26 million people, there would be 25,220,000 people in the third estate, 520,000 people in the second estate, and 260,000
The third estate consisted of the remaining 23.5 million French people who were 90% peasants. The third estate was the only estate that paid taxes. Their taxes ensured the financial well-being of the clergy, state, and nobles (French Revolution Overview 6). The Enlightenment was a major influence of the French Revolution. The Enlightenment caused the revolution in three ways.
Cause of the French Revolution The essential cause of the French revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges”. This statement is very accurate, to some extent. Although the collision between the two groups was probably the main cause of the revolution, there were two other things that also contributed to the insanity during the French revolution – the debt that France was in as well as the famine. Therefore, it was the juxtaposing of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy as well as the debt and famine France was in that influenced the French Revolution. Many people were making a case for a new concept of society, in which commoners, especially the educated middle classes (bourgeoisie), had.
The first underlying cause of the French Revolution was the Old Regime. The people of France were divided into three estates. The first estate was composed of the highest church officials. They held about ten percent of all the land in France. They paid no direct taxes to the royal government. The second estate was made up of nobles. They were only two percent of France’s population, but owned twenty percent of the land. They paid no taxes (Krieger 483). The third estate accounted for ninety-eight percent of France’s population. The third estate was divided into three groups; the middle class, known as the bourgeoisie, the urban lower classes, and the peasant farmers. The third estate lost about half their income in taxes. They paid feudal dues, royal taxes, and also owed the corvee, a form of tax paid with work (Krieger 484).
Revolution broke out in France as a result of a weak monarch, operating an unfair system that did not account for the majority of his people. The influence of the revolutionaries and the thinkers during the Age of Enlightenment gave the people new ideas and made them question the Church and absolute monarchy as well as the Ancien Regime. The increasing financial difficulties and the high rise in the price of flour made the Third Estate desperate for food, and the high taxes placed on them in order to fix the financial difficulties prevented the Third Estate from having enough money to feed themselves.
Causes and Effects of the French Revolution The Revolution. The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism.
“Revolutions never go backwards.”-Wendell Phillips. It is true that revolutions never go backwards; an example of this would be the French Revolution. Before 1789, France was ruled by a monarchy. Before the France revolution, the monarch was King Louis XVI. His family had ruled France for many years, however King Louis XVI, was an ill-suited leader who lost his country to the National Assembly. During the French revolution, France went through countless reforms by switching back and forth from republics to dictatorships. France eventually thrived under the rule of Napoleon, who was a dictator chosen by the people. Because of the sacking of King Louis XVI and the monarchy, France had become a better nation. Therefore, the citizens for France were justified in overthrowing King Louis XVI because King Louis XVI was not a competent leader, he treated the third estate poorly and King Louis XVI let Marie Antoinette have an impact in political affairs.