FRENCH REVOLUTION

OBJECTIVES  You will be able to…  Describe the political and socio-economic structure of France prior to the revolution.  Summarize the causes of the French Revolution

FRENCH SOCIETY  France’s society was built on a three order system; The First Estate, the Second Estate, and the Third Estate.  France in 1750 had a population of 22 million.  No more than 2 to 3 percent belonged to what are often called the privileged orders- Aristocracy and the Clergy.

The First estate included priests, bishops, and anyone who was a part of the church. Numbered around 130,000 Owned about 10 percent of the land, collected tithes, and paid no direct taxes to the state. FIRST ESTATE- CLERGY

FIRST ESTATE  Provided some social services- Ran schools, hospitals, and orphanages.  Upper ranks of the first estate almost came exclusively from the nobility.  Middle and lower ranks came from Bourgeoisie and the peasantry.

 Hereditary Nobility  Numbered around 300,000  Court aristocracy claimed the position of being the elite of elites, just below the royal family. SECOND ESTATE- NOBILITY

SECOND ESTATE  During feudalism, Nobles defended their land from foreign invaders. In the 1600s, Richelieu and Louis XIV had centralized France and took away their military might.  Were given top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church.  Nobles received a royal pension, while enjoying life at Versailles, where they spent there time with pleasures.

Only the notables of the aristocracy lived at court, most of the lesser nobles remained on their estates. The Nobles made sure to stand up for their privileges, which included exemption from taxes. SECOND ESTATE

 Remaining percent of Frenchmen were the Third Estate.  Consisted of the Bourgeoisie, peasant workers, and urban workers.  Bourgeoisie- the “middle class” THIRD ESTATE

THE BOURGEOISIE  Industrial/Commercial  Financiers  Bureaucrats  Shopkeepers  Artisans  Goal of the Bourgeoisie- Gain social status to increases special privilege. To “live nobly” like the aristocracy.

3 RD ESTATE  There were opportunities to rise available to the ambitious.  Bourgeoisie could:  Buy offices that gave you noble status  Marry daughter to an aristocrat  Purchase of minor middle-rank church post  Opportunities in the past had been enough to keep the bourgeoisie satisfied with the system.

 Most peasants were tenants, sharecroppers, or day laborers on estates owned by the privileged orders or the bourgeoisie.  Well off peasants-  Owned of at least a bit of land  Had a herd of stock  Were able to hire field hands PEASANTS

POOR PEASANTS  The peasants with less money lived at a basic subsistence level.  They would often supplement their own crops with working part-time on a large estate, or taking employment in the rural textile industry.  The life of the poor French peasant often included mud-floored huts, ragged clothing, undernourishment, and frequent famine.

URBAN WORKER  Most urban workers were skilled artisans or handicraftsmen who worked in small shops.  Some were able to cross the line into bourgeoisie by opening up their own shops.  On the bottom of the urban worker class, were men in the category of unskilled labor.  Many urban workers relied on charity in times of economic stress.  Early in 1790, one Parisian in five receiving some kind of relief, either public or private.

Deficit Spending- Spending more money then a government takes in The Burden of Debt- War debts- Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution half of tax income went just to pay interest on it’s debt. ECONOMIC TROUBLE

OPTIONS  They can either increase taxes, reduce expenses, or both.  Nobles and Clergy resisted an end to their exemption.

POOR HARVESTS  Poor harvests in 1787 and 1788 produced effects more rapid and severe then in previous year.  Grain prices doubled in a year; textile production was reduced by half; a wave of bankruptcies occurred; unemployment among wage earners reached 50 percent.  People found it easy to blame the government.

 Louis XV- did not seriously consider reform; put pleasure before business.  Louis XVI- Weak and indecisive  Louis placed Jacques Necker as his main financial adviser.  Necker proposed- Urged to reduce court spending, reform government, abolishing internal tariffs, and taxing the first and second estates. FAILURES OF REFORM

First and Second estates forced Louis XVI to dismiss Necker. The First and Second estates demanded that the king summon the Estates General, which had not been summoned in 175 years. Estates General- meeting of the three estates run by the king REACTION

CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION…  Economic troubles enhanced by corrupt and incompetent government:  No taxation of the upper two classes  Food shortages  Deficient spending  Paying off war debts  Poor harvests