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How social inequality contributed to the french revolution
French Revolution social inequality
Economic problems faced by the third estate during the french revolution
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Throughout the 18th century, France had a plethora of problems, all of which stemmed from the formation of the estates. The Third Estate was populated with middle class and the lesser. These citizens were heavily taxed, alienated of food supply, and dealt directly with fixed controlled prices. All of this coupled with economic depression from ongoing wars and lavishness by the Royal Family resulted in several movements that lead to the enlightenment, which ultimately spurred the revolution.
It is crucial to know what the Third Estate consisted of in order for one to truly comprehend the hardships for which the citizens faced. The people of the Third Estate made up the middle class down through the Sans-Culottes. Most of these members had little education but managed to get by, even with outrageous taxation, some even owned land and had a significant role in society known as Bourgeoisie; however, even the highest of the Third Estate were still not well off.
Peasants and Sans-Culottes formed the bottom of French society in that they owned little to no land and had little to nothing to lose. While the Peasants had no education, they were talented when it came to land and growing food for their families, positioning them just above the worst role in France. The San-Culottes predominantly lived in large cities such as Paris, where they could beg for food and sell their wife into prostitution, obtaining their position at the lowest of society.
“The personal service of the clergy is to fulfill all the functions relating to the education and religious observance and to contribute to the relief of the unfortunate through its alms. The noble dedicates his blood to the defense of the state and assists the sovereign with his cou...
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... revolution meant.”
A combination of economic events, mistakes by the Royal Family, and taxation abuse coupled with the structure of the estates made revolution inevitable. Unbearable taxes insured hardships; crop failures applied a universal stress among the country, and depression from the war left French society in a state of depression that King Louis XVI was incapable of reconstructing. After several attempts by intelligent philosophers and those alike, revolution was the only foolproof way to reform France as a whole.
Works Cited
Keith Michael Baker, The Old Regime and the French Revolution (Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1987),
William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002),
Jeremy D. Popkin, A Short History of the French Revolution (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2010)
Bibliography D. M. G. Sutherland, France 1789-1815 Revolution and Counterrevolution (London 1985). Tom Holmberg, “Napoleon and the French Revolution”, 1998, www.napoleonbonaparte.nl/html/body_nap_and_revolution.html. www.chesco.com/artman/napoleonbonaparte.html (Quotes by Napoleon Bonaparte). George Orwell, Animal Farm, Middlesex, England 1945. Colin Jones, The Longman Companion to the French Revolution, (New York, 1988).
Cobban, Alfred . "Historians and the Causes of the French Revolution." Aspects of the French Revolution. New York: George Braziller, 1968.
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
Ed. John Hardman. French Revolution Documents 1792–95, vol. 2. “Père Duchesne, no. 313”. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1973.
Furet, Francois ‘Napoleon Bonaparte’ in G, Kates(ed.) The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies Clarendon Press, Oxford (1997)
The Real Cause of the French Revolution For hundreds of years historians have tried to find out the real cause
The French Revolution was a period of political upheaval that occurred in France during the latter half of the 18th century. This revolution marked an end to the system of feudalism and the monarchy in France and a rise to democracy and new Enlightenment ideas. By 1789, when the revolution began, France was in a deep financial crisis due to the debt they had obtained over many years of reckless spending and France was nearly bankrupt. These financial issues fell almost completely on the bottom social class or the Third Estate which made up a majority of the country. Because of this financial trouble the common people were heavily taxed leaving many of them in poverty. In addition to the economic issues, France also held an Estate System that led to heavy
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
New York: Barnes & Noble, 1969. Print. The. Kreis, Steven. A. A. "Lecture 12: The French Revolution - Moderate Stage, 1789-1792.
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.
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).
[7] Hunt, Lynn. Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution. Berkeley: U of California, 1984. Print.
Nardo, Don. A. The French Revolution. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1999. Print.
Hunt, Lynn, ed.. The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History. Boston, New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1996.
France consisted of three estates: the First Estate(the nobility), the Second Estate(the clergy), and finally the Third Estate(the commoners or everyone else). Before the French Revolution, the people of the First Estate suffered the most because of the burdens such as heavy taxes only put for the Third Estate. Many of them grew very tired of living in fear, hunger, and discrimination. These people thought and used the ideas of enlightenment such as the idea of equality, the right to rebel, and the natural rights by John Locke. John Locke and the people he influenced in the French Revolution believed that every man was the same and should be treated likewise. These people who were influenced by Locke despised this unfairness and used the idea of the right to rebel to overthrow the nobility and the government for taking away their “natural rights” (the rights to life, liberty, and property) which the government was actually supposed to protect for the people.