French Revolution Dbq Essay

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.

The French Revolution is a time where people fought for freedom and many lives were lost. During the French Revolution the Enlightenment was happening. Political, economical and social causes lead to the French Revolution. One of the reasons that the French Revolution started was the 3rd estate got no representation from the government. Life was rough for the 3rd estate.

Lands held by commoners are taxed heavily.” (Young). This shows that not only the Third Estate believed they were taxed unfairly, but foreigners also noticed problems with the heavy taxation. The graph in Document

French Revolution was a major revolt of French citizens turning against the traditional values of the monarchy. People realized the unfairness of the state of France and demanded change causing a major disagreement between the people of France and their leaders, the clergy and the nobility. The people of France found this unfairness in multiple way those being politically, socially, and economically. They saw the power imbalance, unequal taxing, and terrible quality of life and wanted change.

The American Revolution War began in April of 1775 and ended in 1783. It lasted about eight years, The war was between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies. The colonist thought that the king began abusing his power and began taking advantage of them. The colonist left their motherland to the New World to get a new life and start over. At the beginning they thanked the king for the opportunity but there came a point where the colonist began seeing the king as a tyrant.

The three estates system was used to rule France in the eighteenth century. Each estate was composed of the clergy, nobles, and commoners respectively. However, this system of governance allowed the first and second estates, which comprised only 10% of the population, to outvote the third estate, which was made up of 90% of the people. By questioning the fairness of the system, the third estate was able to revolutionize and abolish the unfair system. Without the questioning of the decisions and ideas of the second and first estate, the third estate would’ve continued to be taken advantage of.

In a diagram from 1789, it shows that the First and Second Estates made up only a small percentage of the population, yet they owned ten times that amount in land, and paid no taxes. Meanwhile, the majority of the population, made up by the Third Estate, were taxed profusely and owned little land in comparison (Doc 2). The inequality between the estates and the extent to which the Third Estate was abused because of their social status was clear . This is portrayed in an illustration where the Third Estate was trampled by the taxes forced upon them by their social superiors (Doc 7). They were in no state to pay taxes or tithes to the church, and this mandatory tariff left little money for their own needs.

In the third estate were the bourgeoisie, the urban lower class, and the peasants. These people made up 98% of the population. The people were poor and starving, and the country was in debt. Until people fought against the monarchy. The French Revolution began on May 5, 1789, when people finally had enough of being tired of having no food, high taxes, and just being miserable, so

The American Revolution wasn’t so revolutionary after all. Some say The Revolution assisted the extinction of slavery,it brought equality or fairness upon the wealthy and poor, and that it also helped the movement of women's rights. The American Revolution didn’t quite assist to the extinction of slavery. In document 5 you can see on the map how majority of the southern colonies or states didn’t abolish slavery till 1865.Basically it took about eight decades to abolish slavery itself but not the thought of it. In document6 a young well educated African American man makes a speech about how he doesn’t see a future for his-self .

To him, the Third Estate of France is everything. When saying this, he is comparing the Third Estate, which is comprised of the common people, to the privileged people of France. For instance, the common people did not have the proper representation. Usually, whoever represented them was, unfortunately, not appointed by them, so did not have their best interests in mind. Additionally, the Third Estate was always outvoted in the Estate General because their individual votes, which would have outnumbered the votes of the other two estates, were not counted, rather, each estate could claim one vote each.

The French Revolution was one of the most important historical events that occurred during the eighteenth century, developed since the first months of 1789 until the late 1790’s. This revolutionary movement drastically changed France from a Monarchy to a Republic, making Louis XVI one of the last kings of France, and Napoleon Bonaparte rise as a Republican leader. The enlightenment ideals where what triggered the general discontent among all citizens, making them want liberty, equality and fraternity. The French Revolution not only influenced its own country but it also influenced countries all around the world and in different time periods. The social classification was a general discontent among the population and a first factor to the

Maximilien Robespierre, a lawyer, politician, and member of the Jacobin Club, composed this speech in 1789 with the hope of removing the property requirement barriers in regards to voting and holding office in his home country, France. Robespierre was a “devoted defender of ‘the people’” (FR&HR 83) but, unfortunately he was not defending women, only men. This creates some complications in determining his sincerity because it is unclear if he truly meant what he stated, or simply wanted to gain more followers. Robespierre wrote this speech to convince members of higher classes how unfair the current system is and perhaps even to spark anger into the lives of those living in the Third Estate.

The main difference between the American and French Revoultion was that one successfully converted to a democratic government and one did not. The French Revolution was not successful in forming a democratic government due to France’s history of a monarchy, economic issues and divison among its’ people. Unlike America, France had a long history of sole rulers and dictatorship which made the change to a democratic government much more difficult and ultimately impossible. America’s motto of “all men are created equal” (Doc A) was the complete opposite of France’s dividing estate class system. The third estate consisted of peasents, common people and the bourgeoisie, the second estate belonged to the Nobles, and the first was the home to the Clergy.

The French Revolution, which lasted from 1789 to 1799, was primarily a response to the poor leadership of King Louis XVI who had been ruling France at the time. A number of commoners took to the streets of Paris to protest against the monarchy after years of alienation and paying abundance of tax and fees. The bourgeoisie was also out of touch with the rigid social structure orchestrated by the regime as they were often excluded from law-making decisions and other political rights that were given exclusively to noblemen. Shortly after the monarchy had been abolished, the church became victimized at the hands of the revolutionaries who recognized the institution as a chunk of the Ancien Regime that needed to be destroyed. On that note, the French

Nobles lost their advantaged position in French society causing, among other things, loss of life, a perceived forced emigration to other lands, loss of property, and the end of seigneurial rights and income. Some of these advantages were subsequently recovered during Emperor Napoleon’s reign but many pre-Revolutionary rights were forever