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The economic causes of the french revolution
Social, political, philosophical and economic causes of the French revolution
Cause of the french revolution
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Zhang 1
Selcon Zhang
Mr.Key
WCH
21 March 2017
Causes of the French Revolution
The nation’s debt is the main cause of the French Revolution because it led to King Louis XVI taxing the clergy and nobility, egalitarian philosophies, and rise of food prices. These things caused many rebellions and the execution of their king and queen via guillotine. Unlike the American Revolution the French Revolution was a huge bloody mess ,and did not change its authoritative regime in the end. However its ideas changed human history and gave us the idea of equality with the declaration of rights of man and citizen,which laid out a system of rights that applied for every person.
Before France became broke they were huge world power however due to the 7 years
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France was in a tough spot.The 7 years war had drained their resources and made them lose land. King Louis XVI had decided to start to tax the clergy and nobility. The clergy in particular because they had lots of wealth and owned a huge portion of land in France. Some Clergy did not respond well to this however some swore the oath and stiffed the relationship of the state and the …show more content…
His works included:“The Doctrine of right” (A book filled with many short summaries of the basis and role of the state), and his answer to the basic question “What is the enlightenment?”. These works changed the views of many people during this time creating more philosophies against religion and the government. Immanuel Kant got most of his ideas from Natural Law created by John Locke and Social Contract created by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Food was very scarce at this time. In correlation with the war a hailstorm had happened and this furthermore slowed down food production. Unlike the poor the rich we're still being feed and still had extra. The poor saw this and started a revolt fighting for equality and reform.
In 1789 the national constituent Assembly abolished feudalism. This made lords lose money and produce due to the lack of workers. The church was subdue to pay taxes and many clergy didn't like this. Many people refusing led to the legislation against the clergy,forcing them to go into exile and even executing them.
The legislative assembly was established in 1791. This assembly shared power with the King of France however the king still had his “royal veto” and he could select ministers. This assembly however turned into chaos and was concluded in 1911. This assembly left behind an empty treasury and a very undisciplined
By 1791 their had been a constitutional monarchy with the revolutions mission complete, now major changes would have to be made to ensure that the country benefited from this change, but this would be hard, the church had already been abolished and its funds taken to resolve the spiralling debt problems. A lot of groups had been set up to fight the revolutionary committee including the Monarchiens and the Noirs. The main opposition came from ...
The American Revolution began due to problems within the British economy. The most prevalent issue of the time was "taxation without representation". Unlike the leaders of America, the leaders of the French did not turn out to be as positive for the country. In fact, some of these leaders have caused much more harm than good.
In addition to this, the cost of running a government in general had gone up and the country needed more money. Because the king didn't have as much power to tax as he pleases, the government could make a firm and accurate taxation of the people. In France, the price of government had also gone up.
During the period between medieval to the western modern there were many different areas addressed at this time. Each time period had a variety of systems to benefit their population. The church was weakened by internal conflicts as well as by disagreements between church and state. The rising of the bourgeois class, and secular ideals succeeded in the growing towns and gave support to the expanding monarchies. However, there are many parts to each area of social, political and religious.
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
In the book Travels in France by Arthur Young, he states that “There is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay. Lands held by the nobility are taxed very little. Lands held by commoners are taxed heavily…”. This line is important because yes, it is easy to see that only the middle class but Arthur is English, not French. From the website Encyclopedia Britannica they state he is an “English writer on agriculture, politics, and economics. Besides his books on agricultural subjects, he was the author of the famous Travels in France. The book is especially valued for its vivid descriptions of the French Revolution and of the conditions that produced it”. If an English man can see that French have a financial crisis because the king is in debt, then there is a financial crisis. The clergy and the nobles were not being taxed even though they had lots of money. Even the nobility went against their own people, the website Bastille Day and The French Revolution state that “Faced with all these problems, Louis XVI needed more funds to govern is country. His financial advisers, inspired by Turgot, decided to turn to the nobility and tried to pass a law that would make them pay more taxes. The nobility opposed the king 's decision. By a clever game of persuasion, they even rallied part of the third estates at their side to denounce the power of the King”. As can be seen taxes were
Furthermore, there was no universal law at the time, there were only laws that varied by region, this type of law was enforced by parlement and religious groups rather than a national force. Furthermore, the king was powerless on any royal decree that would affect any local regions in France, any decisions on this had to be approved by parlement, additionally, any loans also had to be approved by parlement, this gave them some political influence, but not a
By 1789, France was still paying off debts incurred by the wars of Louis XIV, that is, wars of the late 17th and early 18th century. Furthermore, a number of social groups and institutions did not pay taxes of any kind.
An immediate cause of the French Revolution was the rising price of bread. The grain harvest had been low the previous year, so the price of bread rose. Bread was usually the only thing that the poor ate, and raising prices would make them starve
France was about to collapse due to imbalance, bankruptcy, and a new way of thinking. In France, feudalism was still practiced where the nobles and clergy had exceptional benefits over the commoners and lower class. For example, the nobles and clergy did not have to pay taxes; they owned most of the land, and they had the most political power in France. However, the ...
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.
The starting point in the history of the Assembly’s actions to change France can be seen in the 4th August ‘ August Decrees.’ The Assembly had drawn up this set of principles after the pressure created by the Great Fear had forced action to be taken for the safety of French society. The assembly had wanted to calm down the peasant rising in the country and at the time this meant abolishing the feudal system, a system that hung around the shoulders of the peasantry mass. This action would provide the country with a freedom from personal servitude along with the removal of the dues that restricted the peasantry from day to day.
land, were using their ancient rights to plunder most of the profits that were made by the lower classes. This meant that the; ìProsperity came only to those who held fairly large estates, who exercised feudal rights, or who could manipulate farm rents.î1 The only people who fell under these categories were the Nobles of the robe and the clergy. So in order to get the prosperity equally divided in society and thus profit themselves, the bourgeoisie had to get rid of the privileged classes ancient rights. To do this they had to revolt against the government, that supported the privileged classes and which was reluctant to make the necessary reforms. It is seen here that it was the Bourgeoisie were struggling against the Privileged class ...
...ry to go into great debt, which did not settle well with the middle and lower class. In 1789 the Bastille was stormed during riots in Pairs, beginning the French Revolution, but they did this because they were influenced by their king, and began to doubt his actions. The citizen’s doubt in the king caused them to change their beliefs in government, no longer approving an absolute monarch.