The French Revolution
It’s the 1770’s in France
• At this time, France’s citizens are divided up into three
different estates
• First Estate
• This was the clergy of the Roman Catholic
Church.
• They made up less than 1% of the population,
but owned 10% of the land and paid about 2% of
their income to the state.
• Second Estate
• This was the nobles.
• 2% of the population, but owned 20% of the
land. Oh, and they didn’t pay taxes.
• Third Estate
• The other 98% of the population.
• They too were divided into three different groups.
1. The bourgeoisie were usually merchants and
artisans. They could be rich but had to pay
taxes and didn’t get the privileges of the
nobles.
2. The city workers were poor wage-earners.
3. The peasants made up about 80% of the
overall population and paid out nearly half
their income to various entities.
• So 2% of the population owns 30% of the land and
pays almost nothing in taxes while the other 98% is
largely poor, disaffected, heavily taxed, shut out of the
political process, and is being influenced by
Enlightenment ideals of democracy, social contracts,
and overthrow of sovereigns.
• Not to mention the successful revolution in USA. It just
needs a spark.
Another part of the problem was the royal family.
• The king, Louis XVI, while reasonably popular, was
terribly indecisive. Modern scholars think he may have
suffered from clinical depression.
• During his bouts of depression, his queen, Marie
Antoinette, took control.
• Marie was very unpopular. She was Austrian,
flaunted extravagance, and resisted French social
etiquette to the point of shocking the elite.
• In her defense, however, Marie was married at
age 14 just hours after meeting Louis for the first
time (Louis was just 16, painfully shy, ate a lot,
and their marriage was reportedly not
consummated for seven years) and the French
etiquette in the royal court always had the royals
on display.
• Overspending
• Crumbling economy
• Like most kings, Louis 16th was spending a lot on
wars, including helping out American patriots
• Louis and Marie were also spending a lot on their
own personal luxuries
• The system of taxation, while unfair, was also
inefficient and unbalanced.
• One finance minister even proposed further spending to
inspire confidence in the state’s finances
Estates-General
• This was an assembly of representatives of all three
estates.
• Each estate met separately and submitted one vote
each on proposals. The first and second estates, with
similar interests, could defeat the third estate.
• This didn’t sit well with the third estate. Especially,
since they thought they had won a victory by
getting double representation.
• So the third estate demanded to meet as one body
with each deputy having one vote
• One of their leaders was the Abbe Sieyes who
released a pamphlet asking, “What is the Third
Estate? Everything. What has it been up to now in the
political order? Nothing. What does it demand? To
become something herein.”
Sieyes
- Would like to
become
something
herein.
• The third estate thus forms itself into the National
Assembly, with the power to pass laws for the people.
• This was pretty radical in itself and the Assembly
declared itself the power in France.
• They got locked out of their chamber, barged into an
indoor tennis court and took what has become
known as the Tennis Court Oath.
• The oath: We swear never to separate ourselves
from the National Assembly, and to reassemble
wherever circumstances require, until the
constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed
upon solid foundations.
• Again, revolutionary in that they were declaring
power derived from the people and not the king.
Louis appeases the National Assembly and even orders
the other two estates to join them.
• He’s also getting paranoid and distrusts his guards and
starts using mercenaries who the people distrusted.
• Unrest and distrust grows. Marie Antoinette has Austria
invade France
• Eventually the Bastille is stormed.
• The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the
ancien regime. It was also a weapons depot and
the mob wanted the weapons and gun powder.
• It wasn’t much of an active prison at this point
and was slated for closure. At the time, it had
only seven prisoners: four forgers, two
lunatics, and a pedophile.