DBQ: What Caused the French Revolution?
DOCUMENT A
“. . . Powers of the king.—The King, Louis XVI, was absolute. He ruled by the divine right theory which held
that he had received his power to govern from God and was therefore responsible to God alone. He
appointed all civil officials and military officers. He made and enforced the laws. He could declare war and
make peace. He levied taxes and spent the people’s money as he saw fit. He controlled the expression of
thought by a strict censorship of speech and press. By means of lettres de cachet (sealed letters which were
really blank warrants for arrest) he could arbitrarily imprison anyone without trial for an indefinite period.
He lived in his magnificent palace at Versailles, completely oblivious to the rising tide of popular
discontent…”
SOURCE: Friedman & Foner, A Genetic Approach to Modern European History, College Entrance Book Co.,
1938
DOCUMENT B
Yearly Incomes Compared (circa 1780)
Archbishop of Paris 50,000 livres
Marquis de Mainvillette 20,000 livres
Prince de Conti 14,000 livres
A Paris parish priest 10,000 livres
A typical village priest 750 livres
A master carpenter 200 livres
(The livre was replaced by the franc in 1795. In the
1780s, there were about 5 livres to $1 ).
DOCUMENT C
SOURCE: French demographic statistics, 1789
DOCUMENT D
“September 5, 1788: The poor people seem very poor indeed. The children are terribly ragged.
June 10, 1789: The lack of bread is terrible. Stories arrive every moment from the provinces of riots and
disturbances, and calling in the military, to preserve the peace of the markets….The price of bread has risen
above people’s ability to pay. This causes great misery.
July 12, 1789: Walking up a long hill, to ease my mare, I was joined by a poor woman, who complained of
the times, and that it was a sad country; demanding her reasons, she said her husband had but a small plot of
land, one cow, and a poor little horse, yet they had to pay a tax of 42 pounds of wheat, and three chickens,
to one noble and 168 pounds of oats, one chicken and 1 sou [small unit of money] to another...the taxes and
laws are crushing us.
This woman, at no great distance, might have been taken for sixty or seventy, her figure was so bent, and her
face so wrinkled and hardened by labor, — but she said she was only twenty-eight.”
SOURCE: Arthur Young, an English agricultural writer, traveling through France in 1787-1789
DOCUMENT E
SOURCE: “King and Queen as Two-Headed Monster” – Political Cartoon (1791)
DOCUMENT F
“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.”
SOURCE: Jean Jacques Rousseau, The People Should Have Power, 1775 (A pamphlet banned by the French
government)
DOCUMENT G
“What is a nation? A body of associates, living under a common law, and represented by the same
legislature, etc. The Third Estate embraces all that which belongs to the nation; and all that which is not the
Third Estate, cannot be regarded as being of the nation.
What is the Third Estate? It is the whole
What is the Third Estate? Everything.
What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing.
What does it demand? To become something.”
SOURCE: Abbe Sieyes, What is the Third Estate?, January 1789
DOCUMENT H
PARIS, OCTOBER 17, 1787: “One opinion pervaded the whole company, that they are on the eve of some
great revolution in the government: that everything points to it: the confusion in the finances great: with a
deficit impossible to provide for without the estates-general of the kingdom, yet no ideas formed of what
would be the consequence of their meeting: no minister existing, or to be looked to in or out of power, with
such decisive talents as to promise any other remedy than palliative ones: a prince on the throne, with
excellent dispositions, but without the resources of a mind that could govern in such a moment without
ministers: a court buried in pleasure and dissipation; and adding to distress, instead of endeavoring to be
placed in a more independent situation: a great ferment1 amongst all ranks of men, who are eager for some
change, without knowing what to look to, or hope for: and a strong leaven for liberty, increasing every hour
since the American revolution; altogether form a combination of circumstances that promise e’er long to
ferment into motion, if some master hand, of very superior talents, and inflexible courage, is not found at the
helm to guide events, instead of being driven by them.”
NANTES, SEPTEMBER 22, 1788: “Nantes is as enflamme in the cause of liberty, as any town in France can
be: the conversations I witnessed here, prove how great a change is effected in the minds of the French, nor
do I believe it will be possible for the present government to last a half century longer, unless the clearest and
most decided talents are at the helm. The American Revolution has laid the foundation of another in France,
if government does not take care of itself.”
SOURCE: Arthur Young, an English agricultural writer, traveling through France in 1787-1788
DOCUMENT I
SOURCE: The Center for History and New Media, George Mason University (2010)
DOCUMENT J
*The following are excerpts from a list of complaints about the king, taxing, and voting in the Estates General
that were presented to the assembled Estates General in 1789. Background: The Estates General was like a
Parliament or Congress. Representatives from each of the three Estates could attend. Each Estate was given 1
vote for a total of 3 votes on any issue the Estates General looked at. All of these reforms were rejected.
“That the king be forced to reform the abuses and tyranny [of his rule]…. That every tax…. Be granted only
for a limited time [and periodically re-evaluated]….That the taille [a tax on land] be borne equally by all
classes…. The meetings of the Estates General…. Shall be scheduled for definite times…. In order to assure
the third estate the influence it deserves because of its numbers… its votes in the assembly should be taken by
head…”
SOURCE: Excerpts from Cahiers de Doleances (lists of grievances), presented to the Estates General (March
29, 1789)
DOCUMENT K
1.
2.
4.
10.
11.
16.
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights; social distinctions (distinctions) can be established
only for the common benefit.
The aim of every political association (government) is the conservation (protection) of the
imprescriptible (can’t be taken away) rights of man; these rights are liberty, property, security, and
resistance to oppression….
Liberty consists of being able to do anything that does not harm another person…
No one may be disturbed (bothered, arrested) because of his opinions, even religious, provided that
their public demonstration does not disturb the public order established by law.
The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: every
citizen can therefore freely speak, write, print…
Any society in which guarantees of rights are not assured nor the separation of powers determined
has no constitution.
SOURCE: Excerpt from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)