World History French Revolution Day One Chapter 12

The Roots of Revolution France was the largest and most powerful nation in Europe. For more than one hundred years, it had been ruled by an absolute monarch. The time before the French Revolution in 1789 was known as the Old Regime.

The Estates French society was divided into three classes called estates. The First Estate was made up of the clergy— Roman Catholic Church—and was less than 1% of the population. The Second Estate was made up of the nobles, which made up less than 2 percent of the population. The Third Estate was the rest of the population, about 97 percent of the population. At the top was the bourgeoisie, the urban middle class.

The Estates Continued The Third Estate was diverse. It had several groups that made up the bottom 90 percent of French society. These included city workers, artisans, and rural peasants. Peasants were still forced to pay feudal dues and high taxes as well as rent for the land they worked. In addition, they were forced to pay a tithe, one tenth of their income to the church. Even though this group was the vast majority of the French population, they had no voice in government.

Growing Discontent France was undergoing several major crisis simultaneously. Rapid growth of the population Peasants pressed for more rent Prices were going up and wages were not The peasants blamed the king and were angry the upper classes did not have to pay taxes The upper two estates fought hard to protect their most important privilege—exemption from taxation

Growing Discontent The bourgeoisie wanted greater political freedom to go along with their newfound economic gains. The bourgeoisie and peasants had little in common economically but each wanted “liberty” and “equality” as their natural rights. To different people this meant something different.

The Financial Crisis Due to massive debts incurred during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, France was facing a financial crisis. In 1774, Louis XVI ascended the throne. He married Marie Antoinette, the daughter of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa. Remember the Pragmatic Sanction back in Absolutism? The French people soon came to dispise the new queen for her Austrian connections, her involvement in French politics, and her spending habits and lifestyle.

The Financial Crisis Continued France’s debts continued to grow under Louis XVI. Much of this was due to France’s support of the United States during the American Revolution. Things got so bad that Louis had to call the Estates General, France’s parliament into session for the first time in 175 years. The meeting was meant for him to gain approval for new taxes.

The Meeting of the Estates General In the past the estates, representing each of France’s three social classes, met separately and each estate had one vote each. The Third Estate had as many representatives as the other two combined. The Estates General met on May 5, 1789 at Versailles and were instructed to vote as they had always done when they met. The Third Estate refused to do so and claimed that the Estates General represented the people and not the social classes.

The Meeting of the Estates General Louis XVI failed to respond to the demands of the Third Estate, it declared itself the National Assembly. The Third Estate was locked out of the meeting with the other two estates and met in a nearby tennis court and swore an oath that it would continue to meet until France had a new constitution. This became known as the Tennis Court Oath.