Social Inequality In The French Revolution

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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 …show more content…

The peasant revolts had obviously worked because the national assembly turned everything they had been protesting about into reality. According to the French legislation, pecuniary privileges, personal or real, in the payment of taxes are abolished forever. Taxes shall be collected from all the citizens, and from all property, in the same manner and in the same form. (Abolition of the Feudal System, 1789). The national assembly tackled the unfair tax system which taxed peasants more than those who were wealthy noblemen. This was a big step forward to fixing the rigid social structure of France and opposing the monarchy’s oppression of peasants. Additionally, Louis was convicted of crimes such as conspiring against liberty. He was later executed on January 21, 1793. (Scandiffio) This shows that the monarchy was seen as very detrimental to the ideal of liberty, the conviction and execution of the king marked the end of the monarchy which was formerly a vital feature of the Old Regime. The actions taken against the oppression of the monarchy demonstrate that the French Revolution challenged the traditional value of social inequality to a near-full

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