1. Causes of the French Revolution

2. The Enlightenment Financial Difficulties The American Revolution Absolute Monarchy Mother Nature

3. Enlightenment Challenged the Absolute Right to Rule Appealed to bourgeoisie grievances Led to the questioning of “everything”

4. The Estates General First Estate – The Church/clergy Second Estate – Nobility 3% of the population Special rights and privileges Third Estate – Everyone else – 97% of the population Poverty-stricken peasants (75% to 80%) Wealthy, educated bourgeoisie (8%) Skilled craftsmen (12% to 17%) Medieval obligations still pertained

5. Financial Difficulties Large Debts –High Interest Rates –Spending on Wars –Extravagant Spending at Court Attempts at Reform –Assembly of Notables (1787) Need For Tax Reform The nobility didn’t want to give up its tax exemptions The Third Estate resented paying most of the taxes Uneven distribution of wealth

6. American Revolution Added to the French Debt Ideas –Taking up arms against tyranny –Political freedoms for all men –No taxation without representation

7. Absolute Monarchy Louis XVI –Preferred personal interests to court interests –Had a difficult time making decisions Vocabulary –Ancien Regime (Old Regime) French political and social system prior to the Revolution

8. Mother Nature Harsh Winters –Failed Harvests –Increased the price of flour (bread) ¾ of the diet – 1/3 to ½ the income The poor “should eat grass, like my horses.” Foulon

9. Bastille Day -- Rush Ooh, there’s no bread, Let ‘em eat cake There’s no end to what they’ll take Flaunt the fruits of noble birth Wash the salt into the earth But they’re marching to Bastille Day. La guillotine will claim her bloody prize. Free the dungeons of the innocent The king will kneel And let his kingdom rise Ooh, there’s stained velvet, dirty lace, Naked fear on every face See them bow their heads to die As we would bow as they rode by And we’re marching to Bastille Day La guillotine will claim her bloody prize Sing, oh choirs of cacophony The king has kneeled To let his kingdom rise Lessons taught but never learned All around us anger burns Guide the future by the past Long ago the mould was cast For they marched up to Bastille Day La guillotine claimed her bloody prize Hear the echoes of the centuries Power isn’t all that money buys.