Causes of the French Revolution
Voltaire
Cultural Causes
Montesquieu
Cultural Causes
• Influence of the Enlightenment:
-18th century philosophes like Rousseau,
Voltaire, Montesquieu, & Diderot
-Drew attention to the political & social
problems
-Urban centers-educated middle class began
to criticize the social class system known as
the Estates
Cultural Causes: The Enlightenment
Period of time when world’s greatest thinkers/“philosophers” were
sharing ideas and changing the way ordinary people viewed world.
Examples:
CHURCH
• Should church be rich?
•Must do everything priest says?
NOBILITY
-Share power/privilege!
-Abuse of position
GOVERNMENT
•Should kings have complete control?
•Are kings directly associated with God?
Example of a quote by one of these famous enlightened philosophers, Voltaire:
“The art of government consists of
taking as much money as possible
from one class of citizens to give to another.”
As these new thoughts and teachings spread, the poor
peasant class realize that perhaps it’s time for a change...
Cultural Causes
• Warned of the dangers of tyranny &
religious intolerance
• Questioned the relationship between
the people & their king
• Thought all men had certain rights like
freedom of speech, press, & right to fair
trial
Baron de Montesquieu
• Critical of absolute monarchy
• Member of French nobility who supported a
constitutional monarchy
• Did not support a constitutional republic
• Wanted a government headed by a king who had the right
to veto acts of the legislature
• Wanted separation of power between three branches of
government
• His ideas appealed to the Second Estate who argued at
the Meeting of the Estates-General that the traditional
rights and privileges of the nobility should be protected
from an abusive absolute monarch
Voltaire
• Spent much of this career fighting for religious
toleration and a system of justice where all citizens
are treated equally under the law
• Critical of the unfair Estates System---”You do not
hear in England of one kind of justice for the
higher class, a second for the middle, and a third
for the lowest.”
• Saw his pen as a weapon in the fight for justice
• “I have no sceptre, but I have a pen.”
Rousseau
• Popularized the ideas of the Social Contract in France
• He wrote much of the evils of civilization and not its
benefits.
• He spelled out the institutions necessary to correct the
injustices brought about by civilization.
• Spoke of virtue in a republic
• This virtue requires citizen patriotism and reasoned
devotion to the national community.
• Profound influence on Robespierre---”The soul of the
republic is virtue, love of country, the generous devotion
that fuses all interests into the general will.”
Cultural Causes: Political Pamphlet by
Rousseau
“The
people should have power, 1775.
Man is born free. No man has any
natural authority over others; force does
not give anyone that right. The power to
make laws belongs to the people and
only to the people.”
(a pamphlet, banned by the French
government in 1775, Jean Jacques
Rousseau.)
Cultural: Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes
• A reform-minded clergymen who was elected as a
representative of the Third Estate to the Meeting of the
Estates-General
• Wrote the famous pamphlet called “What is the Third
Estate?”
• As a commoner, Sieyes could not rise to a bishop position.
• His frustrations may have contributed to his violent
animosity towards the aristocracy.
• His pamphlet made him an oracle of the French Revolution.
• In his eyes, the Third Estate was the nation, and he, more
than any other, led the Third Estate in the early weeks of
the Estates-General.
Cultural Causes: What is the Third Estate?
Cultural Causes
• Political pamphlets circulated in
the cafes & homes of the
bourgeoisie.
• Gathered in salons to discuss the
new ideas & the recent American
Revolution.
Cultural Causes
• During Louis XVI's reign, the press was
censored.
• No criticism of the King's policies was allowed.
• At the onset of the French Revolution, the
press was given complete freedom, and
introduced harsh critiques of the government.
• Refer to the Political Causes Section: AntiMarie Antoinette Propaganda
Cultural Causes: American Revolution
• Served as a model of rebellion against a
monarchy
• Used Declaration of Independence and
Constitution as models
• Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and
Thomas Paine corresponded with the leaders
of the French Revolution and/or visited France
to advise them
•The Phrygian cap
also appears in
ancient Rome as the
cap of the freedman
(liberty cap) and is
associated with the
winter holiday
Saturnalia.
• Much later, French
Revolutionaries
adopted the
Phrygian cap to
stand for freedom.
Social Causes
The Estates System
THE FRENCH CITIZENS
Estates
General
1ST
(1%)Catholic Clergy
(2%)Nobility
2ND
(97%)Everyone Else
3RD
Social Causes: The Three Estates
Varied widely in what they contributed in terms of work and taxes
First Estate
Second Estate
• Roman Catholic clergy
• Nobility
• One percent of the
population
• Less than 2 percent of
the population
• Exempt from taxes
• Paid few taxes
• Owned 10 percent of
the land
– Collected rents and
fees
– Bishops and other
clergy grew wealthy
• Controlled much wealth
• Held key positions
– Government
– Military
• Lived on country
estates
Third Estate
• Largest group—97% of
the population
• Bourgeoisie—citydwelling merchants,
factory owners, and
professionals
• Sans culottes—
artisans and workers
• Peasants—poor with
little hope, paid rents
and fees
Three Estates
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Clergy
Nobility
Commoners
Land
Ownership
Taxation
Population
King Louis XVI (16th)
Estates
Determine rights,
obligations,
status.
Difficult to move up
(Absolute Monarch - Right to rule by God)
The 3 Estates
First Estate
Third Estate
Second Estate
•Bourgeoisie
CLERGY
NOBILITY
(0.004%)
(0.02 %)
•Sans Culottes
•Owned land
•PEASANTS
•Very wealthy.
•Paid no taxes.
•Owned land
(98%)
•Very wealthy
•Few owned land
•Paid no taxes
•Paid a LOT of taxes. (1/2 $)
•Most extremely poor.
•Charged “tithes”
Add the numbers.
•Not allowed to hunt
1 Extremely wealthy king with great power
1 Group of rich clergy members
+
1 Group of rich nobles, doing as they wish
1 Huge group of poor, frustrated, starving
peasants/workers
1 REVOLUTION WAITING TO HAPPEN :-(
Social Causes: Estates
System
• First Estate:
– 100,000 to 130, 000 members of the clergy; 10,000 were
upper clergy; 1% of the population
– Huge wealth & great influence over local & national
government = 80 to 120 million livres
– Highest clergymen like cardinal, bishops, archbishops, &
abbots came from the nobility; could be paid up to
400,000 livres a year
– Lower clergy like parish priests & monks came from the
lower classes; were poor, uneducated, and lived like the
peasants---60,000 parish priests & 60,000 monks and nuns
– Owned 10% of the land in France; collected taxes &
produce from the land
Social Causes: First Estate
• Consisted of members of the clergy---priests,
bishops, monks, and nuns
• The upper clergy of bishops and cardinals
came from rich noble families and behaved in
the corrupt manner of the Medieval and
Renaissance clergy.
Social Causes: First Estate
-Clergy did not pay taxes
-Church controlled schools, hospitals, and press
-Had separate courts system
-Supported divine right
-Provided social services to the poor
-Clergy divided; upper clergy arrogant, acted like
nobles, & looked down on the parish priests
-Parish priests wanted to reform the church & society;
identified with the Third Estate
Social Causes: Second Estate
• Made up of the nobility: dukes, counts, &
marquises
• Many lived on huge estates; lived off the
income from their lands
• Held the highest jobs in army, navy, church,
court, king’s ministers, & diplomats
• 400, 000 members; 50,000 noble families; 2 to
5% of the population
• Owned 20% of the land in France
Social Causes: Second Estate
• Consisted of the nobles/aristocracy
• Owned most of the land in France
• Were the courtiers who lived at Versailles and
did not work
• On their own lands, they have powers similar
to a king
• Most French peasants were virtually slaves to
the lords who owned the land on which they
worked and taxed them on everything
Social Causes: Second Estate
• Politically conservative & determined to oppose any
reforms that would take away their privileges.
• Some nobles born into position-known as Nobles of
the Sword; others bought their title from the Kingknown as Nobles of the Robe
• There was a hierarchy among the nobles-? Noble
blood
• Exempt from taxes (Taille)
• Exclusive hunting rights
• Own courts system
Social Causes: Second Estate
• The court nobles lived a life of debauchery-partying,
gambling, affairs, low morals,…part of Marie
Antoinette’s crew---rumors and scandals developed
• Nobles of the Robe held posts in Parlement and
courts; outranked the court nobles; but arranged
marriages of daughters to sons of court nobles to
gain closer relationship to King & Queen
• Collected rents, corvees, & taxes from peasants
• Liberal nobles favored the philosophes & called for
reform & a constitutional monarchy like Marquis de
Lafayette & Comte de Mirabeau
Second Estate: The Seigneurial
System
• Feudal method
of land
ownership and
organization
• Peasant labor
Receiving a seigneurial grant
Second Estate:
NOBILITY
•Rich from parents/land rent/no
taxes to pay
•Desire to return to feudal system
•Wanted more power from King
•Resisted wealthy merchants from
joining
•Extravagant spending:
Example: Hairstyles so high, afraid
to dance in fear of hair catching fire
from chandeliers!
Second Estate
Second Estate-Nobility
• Lords could:
– Ride across peasants’ fields when hunting, even if
there were crops growing
– Keep rabbits, which the peasants weren’t allowed
to kill even if they were eating their crops
– Keep pigeons, which the peasants weren’t allowed
to kill even if they were eating their crips
Social Causes: Third Estate
• Rest of population; about 25 million
• 2.3 million or 8% of the population made up the
Bourgeoisie---middle class; landowners, lawyers,
doctors, merchants, craftsman, writers, etc…
• Bourgeoisie owned about 20% of land
• Lived in the cities; copied the dress of the nobility;
upwardly mobile
• Frustrated by their lack of power & privilege
• Wanted all Church, army, & govt positions to be
opened up to men of talent & merit
• Wanted a constitutional monarchy, fair trials,
religious freedom
Third Estate: Bourgeoisie or
Middle Class
• Part of the Third Estate,
they were the “middle
class” of France.
• They were bankers,
merchants, factory
owners (educated people)
• Led the revolution
Third Estate: Bourgeoisie
•
•
•
•
Welcome to the world of the
bourgeoisie, a class that walked the
line between middle class and
aristocracy with image as its balancing
pole.
The bourgeoisie was a class fighting for
freedom from the aristocracy while
simultaneously striving to attain the
privilege of that class.
For the social climbing bourgeoisie,
image was everything.
Members of the bourgeoisie utilized
fashion to mimic the air of the
aristocracy, outings to the theater and
the opera to inflate their public image,
and appearances at restaurants and
casinos to demonstrate their economic
status and their aristocratic taste.
•In addition, members of the
bourgeoisie spent many
hours promenading through
gardens.
•But in all places a social
climbing bourgeoisie must
behave with grace in order
to fully mimic the noble
image, thus proper etiquette
was essential.
• This ironic mix of
revolutionary spirit and high
society aspirations forms the
essence of the bourgeoisie.
Bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
Social Causes: Third Estate and
Peasants
• Peasantry-about 21 million people
• Collectively owned 30 to 40% of the land
• Most rented land from other peasants or
nobles
• Tried to supplement income by working as day
laborers or textile workers
• Victimized by the heavy taxes to King, Nobles,
and Church
Social Causes: Third EstatePeasants
• Every year the peasants had to give part of
their crops to the King, to the nobles, and to
the Church, so there was little left for them to
sell and eat
• They had to build or repair roads and bridges
for no pay
Peasants
Social Causes: Third Estate and SansCulottes
• Sans-culottes: urban
workers or artisans,
factory workers,
dock workers, etc…
• Lived in poverty
• Most politicized
group of poor people
due to high literacy
rate
Sans-Culottes
• The sans-culottes were the common people of Paris, and were so
named this because they didn't wear upper class breeches or
culottes.
• They were the working people, the shop owners, the trades-people,
the artisans, and even the factory workers.
• They were among the prominent losers of the first, more subtle
revolution.
• While the middle class and wealthy classes benefitted greatly from
the revolution, the sans-culottes saw their livelihoods disappearing
and inflation driving them to fight for survival.
• Of all the groups of France, the views of the sans-culottes is what
drove the radical revolution from 1792 to 1794---Robespierre,
National Convention, Republic, and Reign of Terror.
•
Sans-Culottes
The desires of the sans-culottes were
simple. They believed that survival was a
right of all people, inequality of any kind
was to be abolished, and the aristocracy and
the monarchy were to be eliminated.
• Property was not to be completely
eliminated, but to be shared in communal
groups.
• These ideas were far more radical than what
the Jacobins had in mind. However, more
radical Jacobins sympathized with the sansculotte and began to work with them.
• This radical group of Jacobins were called
the Mountain, because they took the
highest seats in the Assembly.
Sans-Culottes
Sans-Culottes Pamphlet
•
Pamphlet trying to describe who the sans-culottes were
• “A sans-culotte, you devils? This is a creature who
always goes on foot, who does not own millions of
livres, as you would all like to do, owns no chateau,
has no servants to do his bidding, and who lives very
simply, with his wife and children, if he has any, on
the fourth or fifth floor.
• He is useful, for he knows how to work in the fields,
or in a smithy or sawmill, how to use a file, how to
cover a roof, make his own clogs - and how to pour
out his blood to the last drop for the good of the
republic. And since he is at work, one may be sure not
to see his face in the fashionable Chartres café nor in
the low bars where there is conspiring and gambling,
nor in the literary salons”
Sans-Culottes Pamphlet Continued
• “In the evening he goes to his section meeting,
without powder or scent or boots, not with any hope
of being noticed by the women citizens on the
benches, but in order to lend all his strength to
sound motions, and to crush any which arise from
the odious faction of so-called statesmen. Apart from
that, sans-culotte always has an edge on his blade: to
trim the ears of ill-wisheirs. Sometimes he marches
with his pike; but at the first sound of the drum you
may see him setting off for the Vendée, for the army
of the Alps or of the North. “
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
SLOGAN OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION MEANT DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT CLASSES
OF PEOPLE
Members
clergy less than 1 %
Needs
A decrease in the power
of the Monarch and
increase in their political
power. Maintain their
property rights
Nobility less than 2 %
To maintain their
current position
3rd estate
97 %
upper
drs., merchants
Political Power to match
their economic power
which meant the
elimination of the
Monarch
1st estate
2nd estate
middle
artisans
less taxes and lower
rent