Sydney Rhoads
History 2: T/TH 11-12:15
Instructor:
2/20/16
Unit #2 Essay Question #1 The people of France overthrew the king of France Louis XVI and that is why the French had won the American Revolution. “The French Revolution had reached its pinnacle of violence, the French Revolution had been a point in time where you could re-create everything in a society, through political action. French Revolution had been an important event that had occurred in Western history. It had been an important revolution that upset the most. It had gotten rid of the Catholic church, Christianity, nobility, and even the king. There had been so many things that the French Revolution had gotten rid of. The revolution would bring bread to the poor and
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The middle class during this time had started to become wealthy by; trade, manufacturing, banking, and contracting. The lower class during this time had consisted of people who were tradesmen, laborers, and government officials. Louis during this time had believed that he had ruled by the will of god and by the divine rights of the king. The courts during this time had also been in debt and it had led to Louis to reinstate parliament. The parliaments that Louis had set up were made up of aristocrats. What the parliaments had did was ask Louis to return to France rule to the estates general, and eventually Louis had given in.” “The estates were made up of three different estates; The first estate had consisted of the clergy and had about 130,000 people. The church had owned about ten percent of the land and clergy had been radically divided” (Spielvogel page. 567-568). “The second estate had consisted of the nobility, and had composed of no more than 350,000 people who had owned about 25 to 30 percent of the land. The nobility during this time had played an important role in French society and had held on to …show more content…
The nobles had intended to marry within their own ranks, and making the nobility a closed group” (Spielvogel page 568). The third estate during this time had included people who had been the commoners of society, and they had been the overwhelming majority of the French population. They had been divided by their occupations, level of education, and wealth. The peasants in the third estate had made up 75-80 percent of the total population, owning also about 35 to 40 percent of the land. “The third estate did not just include the commoners of society, but had also included skilled artisans, shopkeepers, and other wage earners in the cities. The third estate had also a struggle for survival and had led them to play an important role in the revolution, especially in the city of Paris” (Spielvogel page 568-569). “Louis had eventually established the estates general and had soon became disappointed, the clergy and the aristocracy can easily vote out the third estate, two to one which they had done repeatedly. The first estate had joined the third estate and when they had joined together the third estate had realized that it had been the only
Beginning in mid-1789, and lasting until late-1799, the French Revolution vastly changed the nation of France throughout its ten years. From the storming of the Bastille, the ousting of the royal family, the Reign of Terror, and all the way to the Napoleonic period, France changed vastly during this time. But, for the better part of the last 200 years, the effects that the French Revolution had on the nation, have been vigorously debated by historian and other experts. Aspects of debate have focused around how much change the revolution really caused, and the type of change, as well as whether the changes that it brought about should be looked at as positive or negative. Furthermore, many debate whether the Revolutions excesses and shortcomings can be justified by the gains that the revolution brought throughout the country. Over time, historians’ views on these questions have changed continually, leading many to question the different interpretations and theories behind the Revolutions effectiveness at shaping France and the rest of the world.
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
Under the King Louis XVI, France was divided into three Estates; majority belonging to the third Estate. This document ended the old rules and made equal rules for every individual, regardless of your Estate, because they felt that ignorance, neglect, or corruption of government is the sole cause of public calamities. (Lualdi; 118) The rights of the men and citizens were: Men are born and will remain free with equal rights, everyone has right of liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression, no individual can practice on the law which has not stated directly from the nation, any individual is free to do anything which is not harmful to other citizens, laws can only prohibit harmful actions, no person should be accused or arrested unless they have been proved of doing something against the law, no criminal should be punished more than the law prohibits, everyone has freedom to state their opinion and have different religious views, public military forces will be responsible for the security of the rights of citizens, and a common contribution is essential for maintenance. (Lualdi; 119-120) After publishing these laws, King Louis XVI was over thrown, because people did not like him. These laws brought peace and liberty for everyone in
In 1774, when Louis XVI had turned into the pioneer of France at only 20 years of age. Numerous saw him as youthful and ailing in fearlessness. What's more, he would frequently disregard his obligations and would give careful consideration to his administration guides and points of interest of representing. Amid the rule time of Louis XVI, the regal treasury ended up unfilled as excessive costs of his better half, Marie Antoinette who would likewise include his powerlessness to make decisions. She would regularly give him misinformation and meddled in essential government issues. Louis likewise acquired a significant obligation from past lords. What's more, he obtained vigorously keeping in mind the end goal to help the American progressives in their war against Great Britain, France's central adversary. This almost multiplied the administration's obligation. In 1786, when brokers declined to loan the administration any more cash, Louis confronted major issues. In the end, Louis was compelled to assemble a conference of the Estates-General a get together of delegates from every one of the three estates. The upper two classes recommended raising taxes on just the Third Estates. This irritated the lower home to the time when they separated from the privileged societies and chose to pass laws and changes under the National Assembly. DBQ 3 would likewise demonstrate the outcome and activities of Louis poor
During the French Revolution, France initial plan was to become a better constitution. Louis XVI wanted to reform France, so he made all the three estates prepare cahiers. Some reforms people wanted were fairer taxes, freedom of the press, and regular meetings of the Estates-General. Cahiers allowed Louis XVI to know the problems that the people wanted to fix. With more knowledge of what the public wanted, there would be a bigger chance that they could be fixed. The Tennis Court Oath showed that the Third Estate wanted the chance to have a say in the government and how taxes should be lowered on ordinary items. As time passed the government did many things, like The Constitution of 1791 which set up a limited monarchy. After some time, France goes through a radical phase and violence breaks out and many people were killed.
The French Revolution of 1789 is an extraordinarily complicated and complex time period. The country was having financial, social and political problems all of which contributed to the outbreak of the war. France, had two Kings each of whom ruled the country in different ways but both were effected tremendously by the people. When an absolute monarch is in control the king is supposed to have complete control over the country and therefore in order to be a successful or well-liked King he must be able to connect to the people.
Under the rule of Louis XVI, the people of France were divided into three main social classes or estates as they are called. The First Estate featured wealthy members of the Church such as Bishops and Priests who held great political power due to their influence on government affairs. The Second Estate was a class comprised of the wealthy nobles and political officials who held all power in government affairs.
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.
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.
The smallest and most superior group was the nobility, consisting of hierarchically powerful men given the right to bear arms and exemption from paying taille, or land tax; there were only about 300,000 men in this category. Following is the three million classified as bourgeoisie, a French term meaning "those who live in the borough.” This class consisted of merchants, judges, legal officials, and small factory workers (“The French Revolution” 2). The most oppressed and large in numbers were the peasants, making up more than twenty-million of the population and owning little more than a farmhouse. “They endured the indirect taxes on items such as salt, but perhaps worst of all, they paid the dreaded manorial dues to the lords of the land” (Lefebvre 133).
At the time, France was made up of three estates, you didn't get the option to choose which estate you belonged to- you were born into it. The first estate was the clergy, which made up less than one percent of the population. You didn’t need to be born into the clergy, however you did need to have access to education, money and their connections.The second estate were the Nobles, which consisted of two kinds; one being passed down through old
The Third Estate consisted of everyone else, the pheasants, farmers, landless labourers, serfs and the emerging middle class called the bourgeois. 80% of the population was rural and were very highly taxed by the king, like the rest of the Third Estate.... ... middle of paper ... ... Overall, the weakness and indecisive actions of France's monarch, King Louis XVI, did not make those serving him respect or be loyal to him and his choices.
The Privileges of the First and Second Estates in France in the 1780's Under the Ancien Régime, the French people were divided, according to their status, into ‘estates’ or social groups. These groups were very unequal in size and power. It is difficult to give exact figures for this period, but it is estimated that the First Estate, the clergy, had around 170,000 members, the Second Estate, the nobility, had 300,000-400,000 members, while the remaining Third Estate made up the rest of the population. Louis XVI was an absolute monarch and under his regime, the people of France had to pay taxes, which went towards the army, the public officials and the luxurious life that the royal family led at the Palace of Versailles. Even though the Third Estate was the poorest overall, the unfair Ancien Régime meant that the huge burden of taxes fell mainly upon them.
The third estate (made up ninety-eight percent of the population) was the people who wanted to be equal to the nobles and clergy. The clergy and nobles made up the First and Second Estate. They first two estates had overruling power in the government than the Third Estate. This was one of the reasons of the Storm of Bastille. They were knowledgeable of the ‘existing conditions.’ The social class was the main thing separating the people of France. There was a lack of social mobility also, causing people to be based on lineage, rather than wealth.