French Revolution

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French Revolution
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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

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French Society

• Frances 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.

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First Estate- 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.

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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.

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Second Estate- Nobility

• Hereditary Nobility
• Numbered around 300,000
• Court aristocracy claimed the position of being
  the elite of elites, just below the royal family.
  

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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.

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Second Estate

• 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.

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Third Estate

• Remaining 97-98 percent of Frenchmen were the
  Third Estate.
• Consisted of the Bourgeoisie, peasant workers,
  and urban workers.
• Bourgeoisie- the middle class

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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.

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3rd 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.

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Peasants

• 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

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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.

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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.

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Economic Trouble

• Deficit Spending- Spending more money then a
  government takes in
• The Burden of Debt- War debts- Seven Years War
  and the American Revolution
• 1789- half of tax income went just to pay
  interest on its debt.

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Options

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

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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.

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Failures of Reform

• 1715-1774- 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.

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Reaction

• 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

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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