2) The Estates General
a) Characters of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
[text pp. 64, 66 & handout]
o In your handouts, the controversy about Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette was discussed.
o Were they as bad as some people think? Maybe, but likely they
weren’t.
o It is probable that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would have done
OK in another time of French history.
o But in 1789, it was obvious that despite Louis’ best intentions, he was
unable to handle the situation.
b) Crisis in France in 1789 [text pp. 64, 67]
o By 1789, France suffered a severe crisis:
i) Overspending by Louis XIV (r. 1643-1714) and his great-grandson
Louis XV (r. 1714-1774) caused the treasury to be empty.
ii) The majority of the tax burden fell on the bourgeoisie, while the
nobles (the rich part of society) paid none.
iii) In the 1780s, France was hit by famines.
iv) There was widespread unemployment.
c) Solution to the crisis?
o There were several ways France could fix the problem.
i) Convince the absolute monarch ruling by divine right i.e., Louis XVI.
Problem: Louis could not handle the situation.
ii) Get a good Minister of Finance to reform the system.
 They had 2: Robert Turgot & Jacques Necker, both of whom
suggested taxing the nobles
 Problem: the nobles didn’t like this, and convinced Marie
Antoinette to get Louis to fire them both.
iii) Get changes through the Estates General. So what is it?
d) The Estates General [text pp. 73-74 and your Old Order diagram]
o The Estates General was the French version of Parliament.
o French society was divided into 3 Estates or parts.
- The 1st Estate: the clergy i.e., members of the Church
- The 2nd Estate: the nobility
- The 3rd Estate: the rest of society, including the bourgeoisie.
o Each Estate “elected” representatives to the Estates General, where
they would meet and advise the king.
o There were 2 problems with the Estates General:
i) It was called only when the king wanted it; the last one called was
in 1614 under Louis XIII.
ii) To pass a law, it used the system of bloc voting.
- The 3rd Estate was the largest group, outnumbering the 1st and
2nd combined.
- But each Estate counted only as one vote.
- So even if the bourgeoisie had the majority in numbers, the 1st
and 2nd Estates could always outvote the 3rd Estate by 2-1.
- This would happen if the 3rd Estate wanted to follow Turgot’s
and Necker’s suggestions to tax the nobles.
o With that kind of situation, how would a bourgeois hope to convince
Louis XVI to fix this crisis?
o In fact, they wound up overturning the entire Old Order, starting in
1789.
Assignment
1) Compare England’s Parliament in 1688 to the France’s Estates
General in 1789.
2) How much of the crisis in France was the fault of Louis XVI and
Marie Antoinette? Use the notes and the text book to back up your
opinion.