2. The French RevolutionThe French Revolution  French society changed little since medieval times  FEUDALISM  Laws gave clergy and wealthy landowners special status

3. France’s Three EstatesFrance’s Three Estates  Status groups = estates  France had Three Estates  1 st Estate —clergy  130,000 out of 27 million  10% of land  Wide divisions  Cardinals, bishops, heads of monasteries came from noble families  Parish priests came from commoners

4. France’s Three Estates (con’t)  2 nd Estate —nobles  350,000/27 million  25-30% of land  Controlled gov’t, military, courts, and influenced Church  3 rd Estate —everyone else  Included everyone from wealthy merchants to peasants  Despite controlling the wealth, the First and Second Estates didn’t have to pay the tallie (France’s main tax)

5. Third EstateThird Estate  Contained the largest range of people  Occupation, education, and wealth  75-80% were peasants and owned 35% of the land. Middle class owned the rest  ½ of all peasants had little or no land to live on  Peasants had to pay a fee to nobles  Based off old feudal ideas  Craftspeople, shopkeepers, workers—price of goods increased faster than wages

6. Bourgeoisie  Middle class  8% of pop/2.3 million  Merchants, bankers, industrialists, lawyers, public officials, doctors, writers  Some bourgeoisie managed to become nobles  6500 new nobles during 1700s

7. Nobles and bourgeoisieNobles and bourgeoisie  Nobles and bourgeoisie both drawn to Enlightenment ideas and didn’t like monarchial system resting on privileges and old rigid social order  Monarch: Louis XVI

8. Financial CrisisFinancial Crisis  1787—bad harvests  1788—slow down in manufacturing  Food shortages  Rising food prices  Unemployment  French king and ministers spent a lot of money on court luxuries  Marie Antoinette (Queen)—known for extravagance  Money spent to help Am Rev

9. Financial CrisisFinancial Crisis  Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates- General to deal with the financial crisis  Meeting of reps from the 3 Estates  Called in order to discuss raising taxes