The Causes and Effects of The French Revolution “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles.” -Jean Jacques Rousseau Imagine being a peasant of the third estate in the French Revolution era. How would you feel being taxed a lot more than the others estates, just because of some “title”? Or being treated unfair because you couldn’t read well, or you weren’t wealthy enough? Well, that’s what life was like for the peasants. But it wasn’t long before this third estate became angry about the inequality and decided to take some action. The French Revolution began when King Louis XVI called the Estates-General to raise taxes. This is when the third estate demands that delegates get a vote, but the king rejected their demand. From this rejection …show more content…
The Enlightenment was an era that challenged people to really think about government and society. Many writers, thinkers, and artists were influenced by this era. This quote from an Enlightenment thinker, John Locke, explains that all men are born equal and that freedom shouldn’t be harmed or limited; “All mankind… being all equal and independent, on one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.” (Document 1) Jean Jacques Rousseau also had the same idea of a free man. He stated, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles.” (Document 1) He’s proving that even though man is born free, there are restrictions and limitations to our freedom. This had to do a lot with the spread of Enlightenment ideas and how it connects to The French Revolution. The ideas of this Enlightenment era allowed people to start forming their own opinions about the government. This plays along to how the third estate felt about the first and second estates. Once the third estate realized that they should do something about the heavy taxes and inequality, that’s where the Enlightenment ideas came to play. The third estate formed their opinions about the government and decided to use their voice. These ideas resulted in an attempt to overthrow the government. It also led to individuality, separation of powers and the protection of natural rights. This quote: “Men being, by nature are free, equal, …show more content…
Before the Reign of Terror and all the bad events that occurred, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were rulers of the monarchy. King Louis was only eleven years old when he began ruling. Eleven is an extremely young age for a ruler to make appropriate decisions. He was very indecisive and he had no clue as to what he was doing. At age fifteen, he married Marie Antoinette. Along with the young and naïve King Louis, Queen Antoinette was just as foolish. She admired anything ritzy or glamorous, and that’s why she was known for spending lots of money on material items. Again, these two were very young and in no way, were prepared for such duties. This made it difficult and angered many of the third estate
The French Revolution was a drastic time for the people of France. In 1789, the majority of people were living in poverty and dealing with terrible conditions. People were split into three estates: the first, second, and third, the first being the wealthiest. Political, economic, and social situations were what contributed to people’s desire for change. The three main, or biggest causes of the French Revolution, were taxes, inequality, and lack of reform.
Imagine, everyone depending on you for money, but you don't get enough money to take care of yourself. Now, if there was a way to get out of this, and have the people not depend on you for things you could not provide, would you take it? The Third Estate did. This is how the French Revolution started. The First and Second Estates had all the money and did not pay any taxes.
The French Revolution occurred because of political, social, and economic inequalities within France. Unfair taxing in France contributed to starting the French Revolution because the third estate had to pay the most, despite the fact that they were the poorest class. The third estate had to give about 50% of their income to paying taxes, while the first and second estate had to pay less than 10% (Doc 2). This caused the third estate to start to go hungry, and lots of tension was building up.
Before the revolution, the third estate got taxed the most and barely had any rights, while the first and second estate barely got taxed, and had majority of the rights. “Pre Revolutionary Causes Source C: The Third Estate of Carcassonne, list of grievances from the Third Estate, Cahiers de Doléances (excerpts), 1789” However, after the the National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. That all changed.
France started out with a terrible king that didn’t give the people many rights. In the end of the Revolution people gained some rights, but the people still had a king named Napoleon. There were many changes to France during the French Revolution, but the end result was similar to the beginning, regarding the leader of their country, this is why the French Revolution can not be truly called successful. In pre revolutionary France the people wanted a lot of things, but they mostly wanted the power, they also wanted more freedom in their lives, but the absolutist monarch didn’t give the people any rights.
The French Revolution occurred due to the curtailing of the estates’ rights under King Louis XIV, who attempted to rule as an absolute autocrat and was later executed for this. The Enlightenment made it permissible for people to speak and question the rights of the time. After the Enlightenment, social rights, religious rights, and gender rights were expanded and advanced. Document one speaks of natural rights that extends to all of humanity with natural rights being any right that doesn’t hurt another, “You have the most sacred natural right to everything that is not disputed by the rest of the species.” By being a natural right, it couldn’t be denied to anyone, no matter gender, race, or time period.
During this time the middle class ended up rebelling and over throwing King Louis xvi. During the revolution there were a lot philosophers, they also caused the French revolution to break out. Based on document 7, there was three changes that the third estate demanded to make in French government, and it was to have every tax be granted only for a limited time, the king to be fair and the votes should be taken equally. The significance that the people rebelled against the ruler since King Louis XVI rejected all reforms, and eventually putting his head and putting it on a stick. All things considered, the three estates caused the killing of King Louis XVI only because he wasn't being fair.
Arianna Paulin Mr. Bonnet World History II, French Revolution 27th of October, 2017 Through His Actions and Policies, To What Extent was King Louis the XVI Responsible for the French Revolution? Introduction Paragraph Between the years of 1785 and 1793, the French society was on the verge of collapsing. There was poverty and famine roaming the streets, making it nearly impossible to survive given the ridiculously high and unjust taxing system.
We associate Kings and Queens with beautiful castles, extravagant parties, and absolute power. But where does the money come from for the decadent parties and luxurious castles? What happens when a ruler 's subjects are untrusting and feel mistreated? The answer is revolution. In the late 1700s the main causes of the French Revolution were feudalism, the class system, the monarchy, and the economy.
Ultimately, the growing inequality of income and wealth has made people feel resentful. The French Revolution beginning in 1789 was a change in economic agenda that had many effects upon society and the individual. First thing to remember is that, France was deeply in debt and in order to regulate this was to collect taxes from people. With this intention, there was a unfairness with the Third Estate because they had to work more to pay the taxes. In the internet source titled “Economic Crisis during the French Revolution” states, “Harvest was also poor and food very expensive.
Shortly after the Civil War, there was something much more radical followed. Not many have heard of the Terror or the French Revolution in the 1780’s, though just because it is not notoriously known does not repudiate the fact that is was one of the most gratuitous, oppressive, and bloodiest time periods in history. It all began when the king of France at the time, Louis XVI, started requiring peasants and nobles to pay taxes, in this caused great turmoil that led to the calling of the first Estates General meeting in 75 years. This meeting was held in Paris France on May 5, 1789 to form a vote, due to unfair circumstances. Since the third estate, the peasants, were overruled, despite possessing more members than the first and second estates
One of the reasons why the French revolution started was because of some social issues. In 1789 France was the most populated country of Europe, with 26 million people living there, of course there were higher demands of Food and consumer goods. In the 18th century, the large population also created a strain on natural resources, which eventually lead to complicated problems. Also the social hierarchy consisted of three main classes (the Clergy,
While 97% of the population were hungry, broke and unemployed, Louis XVI and his family continued to indulge in their luxurious lifestyle. Louis XVI’s inability to deal with the economic slump and food deficiency that France was facing had led to France being on the verge of bankruptcy. This was an important factor that fueled the rising anger of the 3rd estate causing them to commence the Revolution in
The country was almost bankrupt from earlier spending on involvement in the american revolution and large spending by King Louis XVI. Everyone left in the third estate, was beyond poor. People survived off of bread, while the price for bread made an increase. This made it difficult for families while the people among power flaunted their cash. As an example, people often blamed King Louis’s spouse, Marie Antoinette who spent most her time playing dress up with her few friends.
“In the world today, a nation’s financial collapse can threaten its political and social stability. It was the same in France in 1789.” (Burley) The first recognizably modern crisis of state bankruptcy – where a nation’s financial collapse led directly to political and social upheaval, was experienced by France as the prelude to the French Revolution. In the years leading up to the French Revolution, there were a number of significant financial problems stemming from many years of bad financial decisions made by previous rulers.