4263636
Origins of the French
Revolution
- Ancien
Régime
- King= 'Divine Right'
Chosen by God
- Absolute monarchical status
- Role difficult to challenge
- Absolute monarchical status
- King was an executive
- Law maker
- Chose own ministers
- Could imprison without trial by
means of lettre de cachet
- Could override ministers to pass laws
by means of a lit de justice
- Law maker
- General
expectation that
the King rule fairly
+treat his people in
a way that God
would desire
- 13 Parlements-
approval necessary to
formally register +
pass laws
- SIGNIFICANCE
- System unfair
and corrupt
- No choice of King- too
much power to act
without any accountability
- Economically
flawed
- System unfair
and corrupt
- King= 'Divine Right'
Chosen by God
- Social
structure
- First Estate
- Plurality- bishop of more than one diocese
- Absenteeism-
many didn't
even visit
them
- Absenteeism-
many didn't
even visit
them
- Tithes
- Church=largest
single land owner
in France-10%
- Charged paid to Church each year by
landowners- provided Church with 50
millions livres per year
- Much went into
pockets of
bishops+abbots
- Church=largest
single land owner
in France-10%
- Exemption from taxes
- Instead of paying
tax-Church agreed to
make annual payment
(don gratuit)
- Under 5% of
Church's income
- Instead of paying
tax-Church agreed to
make annual payment
(don gratuit)
- Power over the people
- Censorship
- Ministry of Information
- Censorship
- Plurality- bishop of more than one diocese
- Second Estate
- Source of income=land
- Privileges
- Examples in notes
- Examples in notes
- Joining nobility
- inheritance
- direct appointment from King
- buying certain offices
that carried hereditary
titles- venal offices
- inheritance
- In theory- not
allowed to take
part in industrial
or commercial
activities
- in reality-many did- rule
not rigidly enforced
- in reality-many did- rule
not rigidly enforced
- Source of income=land
- Third Estate
- Bourgeoisie
- Merchants and
traders- made vast
fortunes out of
overseas trade
- Financiers, landowners,
doctors, writers,
lawyers, civil servants
- Many venal office-holders
- Felt power + wealth should be
reflected in political system-
long term cause of Rev
- Merchants and
traders- made vast
fortunes out of
overseas trade
- Peasantry
- 85% of population
- Farmers,
sharecroppers,
landless
labours, serfs,
vagrants
- 85% of population
- Grievances
- Taxes- corvée, champart, lods et
ventes, taille, capitation, gabelle
- Tax took
took between
5%-10% of
peasants'
income
- Taxes- corvée, champart, lods et
ventes, taille, capitation, gabelle
- Urban workers
- small property
owners+artisans
in Paris were
known as
sans-culottes
- worsening
economic
situation +
living conditions
led to
resentment
- small property
owners+artisans
in Paris were
known as
sans-culottes
- Bourgeoisie
- First Estate
- The
Enlightment
- The Encyclopaedia
- Philosophes=writers
- Rousseau
- Montesquieu
- Voltaire
- Rousseau
- Analysis based
on reason +
rational thought
not superstition
+ tradition
- Ideas attacked all
assumptions on
which the Ancien
Régime was based
- Questioned + challenged views + ideas
- Religion
- Nature
- Absolute monarchy
- Religion
- Ideas attacked all
assumptions on
which the Ancien
Régime was based
- AIMS
- More in favour
of liberty in press,
speech, trade +
freedom of
arbitrary arrest
than equality
- Attacked
Church +
despotic gov.
- Claimed Church was
wealthy, corrupt + intolerant
- Claimed Church was
wealthy, corrupt + intolerant
- Did not accept literal
interpretation of
Bible + rejected
anything that
couldn't be explained
by reason
- Not revolutionary
- Not entirely opposed to
Ancien Régime
- More in favour
of liberty in press,
speech, trade +
freedom of
arbitrary arrest
than equality
- The Encyclopaedia
- Foreign
Policy
- Seven Years' War
- 1756-63
- Much of France's overseas
empire was lost in 1763
- 1756-63
- American War of Independence
- 1776-83
- France
provided
financial +
military
support for
rebels
- Treaty of
Versailles
did satisfy
French
honour
- Cost great deal of money
- Worsened already weak
financial situation of the
Crown
- Worsened already weak
financial situation of the
Crown
- French soldiers exposed
to ideas such as liberty
and democracy- many
returned + demanded
similar rights for the
people of France
- 1776-83
- Seven Years' War
- Financial
Crisis
- Gov. building
upon huge
deficit
- 20th August 1786-
Calonne,
Controller-General,
told Louis XVI that
gov. was on verge
of bankruptcy
- War
- Cost of helping
American colonists
to defeat British
gov. was approx.
1066 million livres
- Jacques Necker, finance
minister, financed war
by raising loans-popular
- Cost of helping
American colonists
to defeat British
gov. was approx.
1066 million livres
- Tax
- Crown not receiving
much of the tax revenue
+ until it recovered
control of its finances
no basic reforms could
occur
- Privileged classes- income of property
increased- untapped source of revenue
that Crown urgently needed to access-
would be powerful resistance to any
change in taxation system
- Crown not receiving
much of the tax revenue
+ until it recovered
control of its finances
no basic reforms could
occur
- War
- Reform
- Necker's dismissal in 1781
- Joly de Fleury +
Calonne undid much
of his work by
resuming selling
offices + borrowing
money more heavily
- Joly de Fleury +
Calonne undid much
of his work by
resuming selling
offices + borrowing
money more heavily
- 1786-Calonne forced to reform tax system
- Replace the capitation +
vingtième on landed
property by single land tax
- Proposed abandoning
controls on the grain
trade + abolishing internal
customs barriers-
prevented movement of
grain
- Achieve some
display of
national unity +
consensus
- Replace the capitation +
vingtième on landed
property by single land tax
- Necker's dismissal in 1781
- Failure of reform process
- Estates-General-
unpredictable-opted
for Assembly of
Noteables
- Estates-General-
unpredictable-opted
for Assembly of
Noteables
- Gov. building
upon huge
deficit
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