THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

LOUIS XVI WAS THE GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDSON OF THE SUN KING, LOUIS XIV. LIKE LOUIS XIV, HE RULED AS AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH BY DIVINE RIGHT. BUT HE WAS MORE INTERESTED IN HE PLEASURES OF VERSAILLES THAN THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT.

LOUIS XVI WAS A BOURBON KING, BUT HIS WIFE, MARIE ANTOINETTE, WAS AN AUSTRIAN HAPSBURG. SHE WAS VERY UNPOPULAR WITH THE FRENCH PEOPLE AND HAD A REPUTATION FOR BEING SELF-ABSORBED, VAIN AND FRIVOLOUS.

FRANCE WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE CLASSES CALLED ESTATES. THE FIRST ESTATE WAS MADE UP OF THE PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CLERGY. THE SECOND ESTATE WAS THE KNIGHTS AND LORDS OF THE FRENCH NOBILITY. THE THIRD ESTATE WAS EVERYONE ELSE – THE PEASANTS, THE TOWNSPEOPLE, AND THE MERCHANTS, CALLED THE BOURGEOISE.

BUT THE THREE ESTATES WERE NOT EQUAL. THE FIRST AND SECOND ESTATES WERE ONLY 3% OF THE POPULATION, BUT THEY OWNED MOST OF THE LAND IN FRANCE. THEY WERE ALSO EXEMPT FROM PAYING TAXES AND ENTITLED TO THE BEST GOVERNMENT JOBS.

THE THIRD ESTATE PAYED MOST OF THE TAXES, ESPECIALLY THE PEASANTS. PEASANTS HAD TO PAY DUES TO THEIR FEUDAL LORDS AND TAXES TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE LANDS THEY FARMED. THEY ALSO HAD TO TITHE MONEY TO THE CHURCH, AND WORK FOR FREE ON ROADS AND BRIDGES.

BY THE 1700’S, MANY FRENCH PEOPLE WERE TIRED OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY BY THE 1700’S, MANY FRENCH PEOPLE WERE TIRED OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. THEY SAW ENGLAND’S CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY AND WANTED LOUIS XVI TO FOLLOW RULES AND LAWS LIKE WILLIAM OF ORANGE.

PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED ENLIGHTENMENT IDEALS WERE CALLED PHILOSOPHES IN FRANCE. ONE PHILOSOPHE, A BOURGEOIS WRITER NAMED VOLTAIRE WHO HAD SPENT TIME IN IN ENGLAND, SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS IN FRANCE. HE ESPECIALLY THOUGHT THAT THE KING SHOULDN’T HAVE THE POWER TO CENSOR WHAT PEOPLE WROTE. HE FAMOUSLY SAID, “I MAY DISAPPROVE OF WHAT YOU SAY, BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.”

IN 1728, THE BARON DE MONTESQUIEU WROTE A BOOK CALLED “THE SPIRIT OF LAWS” – WHICH CALLED FOR A SEPARATION OF GOVERNMENT POWERS. THIS FRENCH NOBLE SAID THAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE THREE BRANCHES: LEGISLATIVE, JUDICIAL AND EXECUTIVE – SO THAT ONE PERSON COULD NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH POWER.

A POOR TRAVELER NAMED JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU WROTE ABOUT PEOPLE’S NATURAL RIGHTS IN A BOOK CALLED “THE SOCIAL CONTRACT.” HE SAID THAT A GOVERNMENT THAT FAILS TO CARRY OUT THE GENERAL WILL OF THE PEOPLE DESERVES TO BE OVERTHROWN.

THE FRENCH PEOPLE ALSO WATCHED LOUIS XVI HELP THE BRITISH COLONISTS OVERTHROW THEIR OWN KING IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. FAMOUS FRENCH GENERALS LIKE THE MARQUIS D’LAFAYETTE FOUGHT ALONGSIDE GEORGE WASHINGTON IN 1776.

THE FRENCH PEOPLE WATCHED THE AMERICANS OVERTHROW THEIR OWN KING WHEN HE BECAME A TYRANT, YET THEY HAD AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH AT HOME. FAMOUS AMERICANS LIKE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THOMAS JEFFERSON LIVED IN PARIS, AND SPREAD THE IDEAS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION TO FRANCE

LOUIS XVI MANAGED TO BEAT HIS ENGLISH ENEMY, KING GEORGE III, BUT HE BANKRUPTED FRANCE IN THE PROCESS

EVEN THOUGH THE TREASURY WAS BANKRUPT, LOUIS XVI CONTINUED TO LIVE A LUXURIOUS LIFESTYLE IN HIS PALACE AT VERSAILLES.

HIS FINANCE MINISTERS, TURGOT AND NECKER, BEGGED HIM TO STOP SPENDING MONEY AND TO START TAXING THE NOBLES IN THE SECOND ESTATE. BUT LOUIS XVI REFUSED TO CHANGE ANYTHING, AND HE FIRED BOTH OF THEM.

FINALLY, IN 1789, LOUIS XVI HAD TO DO SOMETHING THAT AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH CANNOT STAND – ASK THE PEOPLE FOR ADVICE. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 175 YEARS, A FRENCH KING CALLED THE THREE ESTATES TOGETHER FOR A MEETING OF THE ESTATES GENERAL TO SOLVE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS.

THE ESTATES GENERAL HAD 300 MEMBERS OF THE FIRST ESTATE, 300 MEMBERS OF THE SECOND ESTATE, AND 600 MEMBERS OF THE THIRD ESTATE. SO EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE ONLY 3% OF THE POPULATION, THE FIRST AND SECOND ESTATES HAD HALF OF THE REPRESENTATIVES AT THE MEETING.

EVEN WORSE, EACH ESTATE GOT ONE VOTE IN THE ESTATES GENERAL, SO THE FIRST AND SECOND ESTATES COULD ALWAYS OUTVOTE THE THIRD – EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE 97% OF THE POPULATION!

EVERYTHING. NOTHING. TO BECOME SOMETHING.” THE ABBE SIEYES, A FRENCH PRIEST, WROTE THE FOLLOWING PAMPHLET IN 1789: “WHAT IS THE THIRD ESTATE? EVERYTHING. WHAT HAS IT BEEN IN THE POLITICAL ORDER UP TO NOW? NOTHING. WHAT IS IT ASKING FOR? TO BECOME SOMETHING.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED?