THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Page 1

14 July 1789- king ordered troops to move into the city

People formed militia

Broke into govt. buildings in search of arms

Marched till bastille

Killed Governor DeLaunay

Released all 7 prisoners

Demolished bastille

Sold fragments in the market as souvenirs of destruction

Old Regime- Society & institutions of France before 1789.

Livre- French currency discontinued in 1794.

1774- Louis 16 of the bourbon family ascended

20 y/o

Married to Austrian princess Marie Antoinette

Found empty treasury

Long years of war drained financial resources

Cost of maintaining extravagant palace at Versailles

Helped 13 American colonies gain independence from Britain

War added debt more than about 2 billion livres

Lenders began charging 10% interest

Obliged to spend more money on interest payments

Forced to increase taxes

Only the third estate paid taxes

Page 2

FRANCE

Monarch (king’s family)

Clergy (church people)

Nobility (king’s ministers)

Third estate

Big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers

Peasants and artisans

Small peasants, landless labour, servants

90% population- peasants

Only a small number owned land

60% land owned by nobles, church and rich third estate

Clergy and nobility enjoyed privileges by birth

Exemption from paying taxes

Nobles enjoyed feudal privileges

Feudal dues extracted from peasants

Peasants were obliged to work in houses and fields, serve in the army or build roads

Church extracted tithes (10% of total produce) from peasants

All members of the third estate paid taxes to the state

A direct tax called taille

Indirect taxes on salt and tobacco

The population rose from 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789

A rapid increase in demand for food grains

Production could not keep pace with demands

The price of bread (staple diet of the majority) increased

Most workers had fixed wages

Wages did not put up with prices

The gap between rich and poor widened

Things worsened during drought or hail

This led to subsistence crisis (frequent occurrence during Old Regime)

Page 3

Peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing taxes and food scarcity

Lacked means and programs to carry out full-scale measures

Could not bring change in the social and economic order

Left to prosperous and educated groups of the third estate

In the 18th century- the middle class emerged

Earned wealth through

Overseas trade

Manufacture of woollen and silk textiles

The third estate included lawyers and administrative officials

Educated and denied the idea of getting privileges by birth

A person’s social position must depend on merit

These ideas were put forward by philosophers like

John Locke (Two Treatises of Government)

Refuted the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Social Contract)

Proposed government based on a social contract b/w people and representatives

Charles Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws)

Division of power within the govt b/w legislative, executive and judiciary

These ideas were discussed in salons and coffee houses

Spread among people through books and newspapers

Estates-General- A political body to which all the three estates sent their representatives.

Read aloud in groups for the ones who could not read and write

Louis 16 planned to impose further taxes

Angered the people

Gave rise to protests against the system of privileges

Subsistence Crisis- An extreme situation where basic means of livelihood are endangered.

Page 4

Read aloud in groups for the ones who could not read and write

Louis 16 planned to impose further taxes

Angered the people

Gave rise to protests against the system of privileges

Estates-General- A political body to which all the three estates sent their representatives.

In the Old Regime, the monarch did not have the power to increase taxes according to his will

Had to call a meeting of the Estates-General which would pass his proposals

Only the monarch decided when to call the meeting (last time in 1614)

The Estates-General had

300 representatives from the clergy

300 representatives from nobility

600 representatives from the third estate (only educated men; artisans and women banned)

Louis 16 called a meeting to pass a proposal for increasing taxes on 5 May 1789

Representatives from the first two estates were seated in rows facing each other on two sides

The third estate stood at the back

Each estate had one vote

The third estate was outvoted

Wanted to adopt a new system, where everyone had one vote (based on Social Contract)

Denied by Louis 16

The third estate walked out in protest

Drafted new constitution to limit powers of the king, led by

Mirabeau (noble, convinced with the need to do away with feudal privileges)

Page 5