Dbq 3rd Estate French Revolution

The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy

The French Revolution was a time of period where social and political was a disruption in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799. This time of period affected Social Structure of France prior to the French Revolution. The factors that caused this revolution was due to having a bad government system, weak superiority, and inequality of the classes of people in France during the war. In this research, I will define and explain how Social Structure contributed to the French Revolution Resentment of royal authoritarianism. The three estates that social structure consists of are first estate which are the clergies, second estate known as the Nobleman, and third estate which are the Bourgeoisie, peasants, and workers. The Revolution did not omit sharp distinctions among the social groups, neither did it alter the distribution of wealth. This caused them to divide into these three groups called as estates.

Alas, the Estates-General did not last long, and it surely did not solve anything. Instead, the King’s last-ditch attempt to avert a national disaster provided the people a platform to challenge his absolute political power, and paved the way for his ultimate demise. Outraged at the fact that it represented over 90 percent of the population yet still had the same one vote as the other two Estates, the Third Estate made the Estates-General come to a quick halt. Under the current system, the First and Second Estates could always outvote the Third, effectively rendering the people’s right to vote illusory; so, the bourgeoisie led the call for a new voting arrangement that would guarantee representation of the entire nation. Unsurprisingly, the King and nobility were adamant that the old

During the period 1789-1806, one of the unusual manifestations of the French Revolution was the adoption of a completely new calendar; 'The Calendar of Reason’. It was divided into twelve months of thirty days each which symbolized their separation from the old style. One of the reasons for the calendar consisted on the rejection of numerous holidays, religious and politic oppressiveness and some reactions included people honoring to the new adoption while other arguing over the cruelty they were brought upon.

In the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century, France was undergoing major changes. Before the French Revolution, France was experiencing political, social and economic problems. During this time period France was unstable, and wasn’t able to keep up with the new arising Enlightenment ideas. In addition, there were high taxes, unequal power distribution and social inequality. The French Revolution not only impacted the citizens of France, but people from other countries as well.

The final group of the Old Regime was the third estate. This was France’s workforce. These people made up ninety-seven percent of the population, but were only allotted seventy percent of the land. The third estate had sub-groups of its own. The first group was the Bourgeoisie. This translates into “city dwelling” but is commonly known as the middle class. Those that made p this group were doctors, lawyers, and merchants. These people were fairly well off and had a bit of extra money. The main difference between the Bourgeoisie and the others in the third estate was that the Bourgeoisies were educated, specifically in enlightenment ideas. They later helped to steer the French Revolution. The next group within the third estate was laborers and artisans. This group consisted of the skilled craftsman in society. Along with the others in the third estate, they had low wages and high taxes. The third group of the third estate was the peasants. Making up roughly eighty percent of the population, the peasants were at the bottom of society. They lost nearly half their wages to taxes even though they had miniscule wages in the first place. They were forced to pay a tax to the church (tithe) and could not influence society. They disliked the first estate because they were the tax collectors and the second estate because they were the government officials. They fought this by

French society was ingrained with the ideology of a three class or estate society. The First Estate consisted of clergy who owned approximately ten percent of France’s land. The Second Estate contained the rich nobles who only occupied two percent of the French population, but had ownership of twenty percent of the country’s land. The Third Estate encompassed ninety-seven percent of the French population. The First and Second Estates had many privileges in French society, and they paid little to no taxes. Unfortunately, the tax burden fell upon the Third Estate, which caused them to yearn for political change. Hefty taxes fell upon business owners within the Third Estate who were unable to conduct a profitable business. On top of the tax crisis,

“Meanwhile the growth of commerce and industry had created, step by step, a new form of wealth, mobile or commercial wealth, and a new class, called in France the Bourgeoisie,” (Lefebvre 104). Due to the increasing gap between the first two estates and the working class, a type of ‘upper lower’ class had emerged from the poverty called the Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie were a group of wealthy merchants that ran the lower estate and were willing to make changes to their government. They made their money buying and selling goods, but resented the extreme amount of taxes they were subjected to. On the other hand, the first estate held certain privileges that the third estate could not receive due to their status as the church.

The French Revolution was a result of the system of “Estates” instated by the monarchy leaving the common people, or Third Estate, in terrible living conditions. The system was designed so that aristocrats, the clergy, and the monarch were guaranteed two-thirds of all votes in their favour, meaning that commoners were left without a way to achieve change. The nobility lived in blissful ignorance, enjoying sumptuous feasts and privileges such as the rights to hunt, wear swords, and own fiefs. Meanwhile,

The French Revolution was a period of time from 1789 to 1799 in France where there was political instability. It officially began on the 14th of July, 1789, when the Bastille, which was a symbol of the King’s harsh policies, was stormed. The King, Louis XVI, the Queen, Marie-Antoinette and about 40,000 people were all brutally murdered. But there was also a positive side, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was formally adopted on August 1789 and feudalism was abolished. This essay will address the issues of the three estates system, food shortages and the fiscal crisis. It will also be argued that the most significant cause of the French Revolution was the social inequality that stemmed from the three estates system.

Lastly, political inequities shared showed the amount of power and influence the upper class had but in Frances’ society it was mostly controlled by the king rather than then being dominated by Landowning nobles and the Tsar. Within these time periods the majority of people in these countries had trouble getting by because of the unfair leadership by monarchies with their systems that benefited the rich but hurt the poor. Overall, both countries promoted social policies keeping the upper class ahead, political inequities that gave upper class more control over society, and finally economical inequities that kept few upper class enjoying the majority of the wealth and the lower class severely impoverished with little hope of escape.

The Estate System was a major social cause of the French Revolution. During the 18th century France, society was divided into three unequal estates: the clergy, nobility, and peasants.

While the third estate, the middle class of French society, held the majority, containing ninety seven percent of Frances’s population, actually had little to no power. This, combined with other factors in France and Haiti, caused them to revolt to solve their problems regarding inequality creating two revolutions that history would forever remember.

In France during the 18th century, there was a system named the Ancien régime, which refers to the societal, economic and political structure of France before the French Revolution. At the top of the pyramid was the absolute monarch Louis XVI. He took the throne in 1774 and received it with problems that couldn’t be fixed. (French Revolution Overview 6) Below the king came the first estate which was made of 100,000 nobles. Then came the second estate was made of 300,000 clergy. Finally came the third estate which was made of the rest of France, which was 23.5 million people. 90 percent of that 23.5 million were peasants. The third estate’s taxes ensured the financial well-being of the state, clergy and nobles. (French Revolution Overview

In the late 18th century, the world was about to witness another revolution for democracy. After the United States emerged victorious in the quest for independence it would become an example to the world. France, America’s ally during the war, would be further crippled financially by this quest for independence, and in turn let the Third Estate, the third social class in French politics composed of lower class people, see this example. As France spiraled into moderate depression the people would revolt, resulting in the one of the bloodiest times in history. There were many reasons for this need of revolution in 18th century France. One was the higher aristocratic class’s lack of concern for the troubles of the Third Estate. An example of