HISTORY 10 FRENCH REVOLUTION Part I

FRENCH SOCIETY Late 1700’s Population 24,700,000

THE KING Louis XVI (16 th ) Believed that his authority to rule came from God. The King’s decisions had to be obeyed, but they had to reflect the traditions and laws of France The monarchy was needed to prevent chaos and bloodshed. A strong Monarch was needed as people did not know how to lead nations

THE FIRST ESTATE Christian clergy and Religious elite 100,000 Monks, Nuns, priests, abbots and bishops The church had tremendous wealth and paid no taxes. Owned 10% of land in France

POWER AND THE FIRST ESTATE Had a cozy “I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine,” relationship with the monarchy The Church collected 8-10% of a persons’ income in taxes (tithes) Clergy wants to preserve the Monarchy; they are wealthy and influential with the Monarchy as it is. If the Monarchy falls the Church will lose much of its power

THE SECOND ESTATE Nobles (upper class) 400,000 Owned about 20% of the land. They paid few taxes and they had the right to tax people

THE NOBILITY Nobility occupied many of the important positions in Government and Army The Nobles had a growing drive to become like Britain and America They saw the King as a good person but he was also in the way of their power and authority Nobility wanted a Constitutional Monarchy, where the King still existed but the people had the power

THE THIRD ESTATE 98% of the population 7 million beggars Wealthy merchants and land owners all the way to the poorest peasants and beggars Had little political power/say

A GROWING MIDDLE CLASS They were looked down upon by the Nobles because they were not as educated and worked manually for their living They only owned 40% of the land in France but paid nearly all the taxes The middle class was growing and they were quickly coming to despise the Monarchy, the Church as well as the Nobles

TAXES Wages of farm workers rose 12% in 8 years but the price of goods rose 65% meaning that the standard of living was drastically decreasing Supporting the colonists in the American Revolution had drained the national treasury As France approached unmanageable debt their solution remained the same…….tax the Third Estate It was becoming clear that change was needed

VERSAILLES The Palace of Versailles was the lavish court of the King where he had extravagant meetings with the wealthy nobility Rarely did the King and Queen venture out of the Palace of Versailles to interact with the people, so they could not realize the dire situation that their population was in

CONTEMPT FOR THE ROYAL COURT The king had proved himself incapable of taking strong stances against himself, his wife, the Nobles close to him and the Church to fix the debt problems of France As his young, immature wife quickly became a symbol of hatred and contempt to French citizens, the nobles saw their chance to use the people of France to get the political power out of the Kings hands and into the nobilities

THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE The Kings and clergy of France in the 16 th and 1700’s have seen the revolution in England. They know that the English King, Charles had his head cut off in 1649 The English revolution happened because the King tried to control the country by himself and not by the will of the people

ABSOLUTE MONARCHY In France, the Kings had tried to keep a tight grip on control of the parliaments in France France was divided into 32 sections The King placed one Intendent to control each of the 32 regions of France Each of these regions also had publicly elected Parliaments but they had little to no power

MONARCHS AND BUREAUCRATS The Intendent was responsible only to the King and had to make sure the wealthy landowners and politicians of their region had little power The Intendent was given the right to collect taxes, recruit soldiers, preside over law and regulate business…all in the name of the King

DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS French Monarchs for years had convinced the people of the Divine Right of Kings and the parliaments (elected by the people) were wrong and in opposition to Gods will French clergy had also done their best to deny and censor the ideas of the enlightenment which challenged organized religion

CHANGING TIMES More than any other country in Europe, France tried to squash the ideas of the enlightenment and ensure the King kept ABSOLUTE POWER However, by the 1780’s times were changing The Parliaments of France and educated citizens began calling for power in government

ENLIGHTENED IDEAS They felt that France should become a CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY where the king still existed, but the Parliaments had the real power It would lead to a violent Revolution which would change the world in 1789