Post on 23-Dec-2015
transcript
Causes of the French Revolution
Resentment of royal absolutism
Commoners resentment of land grants given to nobles & clergy
Rise of Enlightenment ideals
Large national debt
Unequal system of tax collection
Resentment of noble privileges
French Revolution• 1789 France was the largest & most powerful
European nation
• King Louis XIV died in 1643
• New French rulers were elected
• They wrote a constitution & reformed laws
• Period before 1789 = Old Regime
Causes of the French Revolution: The Old Regime
• France was an absolute monarchy
• Its society was organized into THREE ESTATES (classes) – unequal• 1st Estate – Clergy = less than 1% of the population
• 2nd Estate – Nobles = less than 2% of the population
• 3rd Estate – Commoners = 97% of the population
1st Estate - Clergy• Did not pay taxes
• Tried only in church courts
• Owned 1/10 of French land & collected large
amounts of taxes, rent & fees
• Most of the money was in the hands of the
higher clergy – archbishops, bishops
• Became lazy, worldly, & neglected spiritual
duties
1st Estate – Lower Clergy
• Made up of parish priests
• Poorly paid & overworked
• Provided religious guidance, money &
food to the poor and all education
2nd Estate - Nobles
• Did not pay the heaviest taxes
• Collected feudal dues from peasants
• Held highest positions in army &
government
• As a class, the nobility were
thoughtless, irresponsible &
extravagant
3rd Estate – Commoners
• Divided into three sub-groups
• Bourgeoisie = city dwelling middle class
(merchants, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers)
– wealth & education
• Laborers & Artisans = middle group
• Peasants = bottom of the scale, poorest
• Peasants owed feudal dues/services – paid rent
of land they worked, heaviest taxes & church
tithes
Discontentment = Revolution
• Discontentment grows in France during 1700’s
• Factors affecting 3rd Estate Growing population, rising prices, higher rent/taxes
• A & M – wages don’t change
• B – More influence in the government
• Factors affecting 1st and 2nd Estate resented growing power of kings because nobles lost their influence over government
Unifying Ideas• The two main ideas that united all three estates
against the power of the king were expressed
with the words:
“Liberty & Equality”
• These were considered natural rights & came
from Enlightenment thinkers – Voltaire,
Rousseau, and Montesquieu
France in Financial Crisis
• Louis XIV’s war left France in huge debt
• Debt increased when France aided U.S. in the American
Revolution & expensive lifestyle at Versailles
• High taxes could no longer cover the expenses
peasants had highest taxes (can only tax them so
much) & the wealthy NOT taxed at ALL!!
• Louis XV borrowed $$ from bankers Didn’t care what
France’s financial situation would be for the next king
France in Financial Crisis
• Louis XVI takes power in 1774
• Cared more about leisure than running France
• Tried to fix the tax problem by proposing taxes on Estates 1 & 2 nobles rebelled
• By 1787 France is financially finished!
• Louis XVI called for a meeting of the Estates General to meet at Versailles in May 1789 – Hoped to get his tax plan passed
Causes of the French Revolution
Resentment of royal absolutism
Commoners resentment of land grants given to nobles & clergy
Rise of Enlightenment ideals
Large national debt
Unequal system of tax collection
Resentment of noble privileges
King Louis XVI B. 1754, D. 1793
Married Marie Antoinette (Austria) in 1770
Became absolute monarch in 1774 until his death in 1793
Found guilty of treason, and executed marking the end of absolutism in France
Marie Antoinette (Austria)
Born 1755, D. 1793
Archduchess of Austria – Queen of France when she married Louis XVI at age 14
Known for being extravagant in her luxuries
Found guilty of treason & abusing her son, executed
Meeting of Estates–General
May 1789 – Meeting called by Louis XVI is first meeting in 200 years
In past, each Estate met separately & cast one vote each – so clergy & nobles usually outvoted commoners 2-1 this was the 1st meeting where all estates were together What were the rules?? No one was sure!
3rd Estate wanted to reform voting each representative member present from each Estate should vote – this way 3rd Estate could not be outvoted
Meeting of Estates-General
Louis XVI wanted old way of voting
3rd Estate claimed itself a National Assembly on June 17, 1789 1st act of the French Revolution!
Louis XVI locked 3rd Estate out of meeting place, so they met at a nearby tennis court Tennis-Court Oath - June 20, 1789
Representatives pledged they would not adjourn until they wrote a constitution for France & it was adopted
Louis XVI gave in & all three Estates met together
Storming of the Bastille Prison
Louis XVI brought troops to Paris & Versailles – people feared he was trying to drive out Estates-General by force
July 14, 1789 the people of Paris stormed the Bastille Prison in search of weapons Angry because of food shortages,
unemployment, and high prices
Bastille Day is still celebrated in France as its Independence Day
The “Great Fear” The “Great Fear”
Attacks on towns and villages by the peasants
Attacked homes of nobles
Burned, pillaged
Paris becomes the revolutionary center National Guard – moderate group led by
Marquis de Lafayette
Paris Commune – radical group, wanted to end the monarchy
Moderate Reforms End of Privilege: August 4, 1789
Nobles in the National Assembly voted to end special privileges and abolish feudalism
Set up the Enlightenment notion of equality under the law
Declaration of the Rights of Man: Late August 1789 “All men are are born free and remain equal in
rights”
Governments exist to protect the natural rights of citizens
Freedom of Religion
Equality in taxation
Moderate Reforms French Catholic Church put under state control
Ended papal control and disbanded monasteries
This split the revolutionaries in Paris and those in the countryside
Those in the country were devout Catholics
Constitution of 1791 Limited the monarchy
Set up a legislative Assembly, elected
Protected private property
Supported free trade
Radical Stage of the Revolution
Constitution of 1791 – End of the first stage
In the Second Stage: Flight of the monarchs (June 21, 1791)
Death of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (1793)
War with Prussia, Austria, Great Britain, Spain
Jacobins vs. Girondists
Reign of Terror
1792 Abolition of monarchy, 1st Republic
New republic, The Directory (1795-1799)