Many of the absolute monarchs limited the rights of the social classes within their societies. One of the rulers who did this, King Louis XIV of France, angered the lower class by deciding to not administer taxation fees among each social class. They didn’t think that it was fair that the much richer nobles and the church didn't have to pay the king's high taxes, but the poor did. Because Louis exempted two of the three social classes from paying, he opted to increase the tax fee to make up for the nobles and church. This took away what little money the lower class had left, and had a negative impact on the country’s people as the lower class’s rights were restricted when Louis did not uphold equal taxation. While draining the lower class’s funding, Louis’s taxation rules also made it much more difficult for the lower class to survive, as they lost the few rights and privileges they had left. …show more content…
Catherine gave nobles assured privileges and declared them a separate estate in Russian society to win their favor, but in result she lowered the rights of serfs. Through her later laws concerning serfs, the nobles were able to enforce stricter rules against their serfs and could even send them away to work in Siberia if they so desired. With these rules, serfs were treated almost as badly as slaves and lacked almost all rights that other classes had by birth. Through attempting to win the noble’s favor, Catherine impacted the serfs as she gave more power to the nobles and took away their rights. This led the serfs to be very unhappy with the conditions that they lived and worked in, much as the lower class was angry with Louis for his unfair
During the reigns of King Louis XIV of France and King Peter I of Russia, also known as Peter the Great, the nobility was under strict control to limit its power and status in society and government. Both autocrats, or absolute rulers, put the nobles in an area separate from the rest of society to keep them under close watch. The kings’ opinion in religion also impacted the status and power of the nobility because most of them were skilled Protestants. This would prove itself as a problem in the long run for Louis XIV. Overall, Peter the Great and Louis XIV despised the nobility and their power in the government and went to many measures to subdue them.
Before the presence of equality came into play, some laws favored the rich over all others, and some only affected the poor; however, the growing middle class ended up being caught in the crosshairs of the two. During the Revolution, leaders went to protest this inequality, and in doing so went on to draw inspiration from the very ideas brought upon by Enlightenment thinkers, which in turn were the very building blocks of France’s 1789 Declaration of the Rights of
The French Code Noir, also known as The Black Code, was a decree originally passed by King Louis XIV of France in 1685. The decree was a document that established the main points for slavery policies, including not only the treatment of the slaves but the life, death, purchase, and religion of the slaves. These policies were to be followed by the masters of the slaves in all French Colonies. Slavery was a huge issue and has shaped history in a way that nothing else has. Slavery has brought many social, political, and ethical issues to the world.
Louis XIII and Richelieu were both ambitious for France and fearful for her position within Europe with powerful forces sharing large borders with her. These borders were dominated by the Habsburgs, the family who ruled the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Throne. Habsburg is the name of the family which sprang the Dukes and archdukes of Austria after 1282. They became kings of Hungary and Bohemia after 1526, and emperors of Austria after 1804. They were Holy Roman Emperors from 1430 to 1806 and kings of Spain from 1516 to 1700, and held many other titles. In the time of Louis XIII and cardinal Richelieu Ferdinand II (1578-1637) and Ferdinand III(1608-1657) as holy Roman emperor and Philip IX(1605-1665) in Spain. Louis XIII was from the Valois-Bourbon linage in France who had been rivals of the Habsburgs for generations. (EN Brit Vol 11 p 59)
Serfdom was put to an end after it was evident that it contributed to Russia’s lagging behind of the wider European shift to the industrial and commercial ages. This was attributed to Russia’s remaining socially and economically behind because they perceived of the western changes as “unacceptable” ideologies. It was later in the decade that Russia realized that serfdom was responsible for its civil disorders, industrial poverty, overpopulation, food inadequacy, and military incompetence. It was for these reasons that tsar Alexander II called to an abolishment of the act as a means of strengthening Russia. This was, for instance pushed by the need to have a stronger and larger army to fight in the Crimean War unlike the previous one which only had serfs as military men .
There were many negative comments and many positive comments about Louis XIV and his court. In Louis XIV’s court, the closer a person was to the king, or the more he did for a person, the more that person likes him. The more distant you were from the king, the more you disliked him.
There were a major divided on the status of classes and the Aristocrats Revolt. Louis XVI puts the French into debt and tried to submit a package reform to the Assembly of Notables and they denied the request. When Louis XVI suggested more uniform land tax the nobility refused and became heroes to the people. Marquis de Lafayette wrote, “The Representatives of the people of France, formed into a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt of human rights, are the sole causes of public misfortunes and corruptions of Government…”
Life from the Bottom Lower classes have always been treated the worst of any other class. I, being a peasant farmer during the French Revolution, experienced this maltreatment of mankind. We are the largest group within the Third Estate. We were forced to do things that were out of our control. The peasants, such as me, did not like being under the rule of Louis XVI and his spouse Marie Antoinette.
As early as 1649, Russian landowners were granted complete control over the peasant serfs living in their land. Overtime serfdom had become a rising controversy in Russia, taking the blame for many of her problems. This led to Tsar Alexander II’s establishment of the Emancipation Reform of 1861. Although we see benefits since the Emancipation Reform of 1861, these benefits are connected to oppression, proven by many sources containing evidence of peasant land being mistreated, as well as evidence that they were still fighting for freedom from oppression.
Looking at Catherine the Great’s legacy, she had many accomplishments one being the fact that she was immediately proclaimed Empress of Russia upon her husband’s death (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 544). Catherine knew that Russia needed reforms, but had to make virtue out of necessity with some of the reforms she created (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 545). “In 1785. Catherine issued the Charter of the Nobility, which guaranteed nobles many rights and privileges” (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 545). Favor had to be shown to the nobles because they could make sure she didn’t keep the throne (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 545). She slowly started to reform the government, and westernize Russia as well with those reforms (Gilligan and Linder, 1). She established the first Assignation Bank for Russia, an orphanage for children, and Smolny Institute and school for girls (Young, 1). Catherine also expanded Russia’s borders by taking over Southern Ukraine and the Crimea, as well as winning many wars with the Ottoman Empire (Gilligan and Linder, 1). “Military success, combined with shrewd diplomacy, saw Russia gain recognition as one of Europe’s Great Powers” (Young, 1). Catherine tried to follow her heart and do what she felt was right for her people and her country while trying to keep the nobles happy enough that they would allow her to keep the
The social classes consisted of the upper class, which included aristocrats and wealthy landowners, the middle class, which was made up of traders, public workers, shop owners, and members of the social work force. Finally, the lower class consisted of farmers and slaves. The differences between each class were quite noticeable, and the reason behind this was the way that the government regulated the flow of the money (Lemann). The upper class, which held most of the power, greatly influenced the creation of laws and the collection of taxes. This led to excessive taxes for the middle and lower class, which then went to the “government” or the upper class. Consecutively, the upper class paid little to no taxes, allowing their wealth to greatly increase (Thacker). Hence, while the middle and lower classes kept on losing money and becoming poorer, the upper class gained more money and exponentially increased their
When Louis the XIV began his rule in 1643, his actions immediately began to suggest and absolute dictatorship. Because of the misery he had previously suffered, one of the first things he did was to decrease the power of the nobility. He withdrew himself from the rich upper class, doing everything secretly. The wealth had no connection to Louis, and therefore all power they previously had was gone. He had complete control over the nobles, spying, going through mail, and a secret police force made sure that Louis had absolute power. Louis appointed all of his officials, middle class men who served him without wanting any power. Louis wanted it clear that none of his power would be shared. He wanted "people to know by the rank of the men who served him that he had no intention of sharing power with them." If Louis XIV appointed advisors from the upper classes, they would expect to gain power, and Louis was not willing to give it to them. The way Louis XIV ruled, the sole powerful leader, made him an absolute ruler. He had divine rule, and did not want to give any power to anyone other than himself. These beliefs made him an absolute ruler.
It is often debated whether or not the reign of King Louis XIV had a positive or negative effect on France. Although there were improvements during his reign in transportation, culture, and national defense, there were far more negative aspects. He depleted the national treasury with his liberal spending on personal luxuries and massive monuments. His extreme fear of the loss of power led to poor decision making, which caused the court to be of lower quality. King Louis XIV’s disastrous rule brought about a series of effects that influenced the French Revolution in the following century.
Populations can endure a lot from others and become used to it as Michel Foucault said “there are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible-the new normal”. As long as there is something that is offered to them in exchange for the oppression, many will be willing to go along and make the sacrifices necessary. Oppression is more than believing one person is less than another. It is using fear of acceptance and the loss of their own life against someone to get them to agree to something. This can be seen in during many points in history. In the Palace of Versailles, those who were oppressed financially were promised to be accepted into Louis XIV’s daily life. The Indigenous of Canada were promised education for their children in the residential schools, but they instead were forced to
The social differences in France were very unreasonable. People openly argued that “social differences should not be defined by law, as they were in the old regimes order” (2). In France, much of the inequality came from the social class system. It led to angry peasants and tons of revolting. This could have been avoided if France maintained equality for all estates, as it would have been rational. In addition, the clergy and nobles were given many rights which “included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church” (109). This was very biased as they were able to get the highest jobs, not because they earned it, but because of their social stature. Meanwhile, commoners or bourgeoisie, were not granted those jobs even if they had the ability to do them. This caused much of the third estate to become mad which led to uncivilized manner in France. If the government had just given equal rights and granted jobs by merit opposed to social class rankings, there would have been less drama between the estates and everything would have been