Heavy Taxation Dbq

DBQ Practice The French Revolution was caused by many problems within France. During the 18th century, France participated in wars such as the American Revolution and the 7 years war. With France participating in those 2 wars, they became bankrupt. France had to somehow make money so they decided to start heavily taxing the 3rd estate and made them work harder for their own food and wealth.

Moving on to the time period of this document this document was written March 1, 1789 a couple months before the storming of the Bastille. Thus, at this time in history there was a significant amount of commotion arising from the people of the Third Estate. The people of the Third Estate were trying to voice their opinions on the oppressive political and economic situations occurring at this time in France in order to try and bring about a reform. These oppressive political and economic situations that the Third Estate were trying to reform included things such as the king heavily taxing only the Third Estate, who already did not even have the finances to survive let alone pay these high taxes. Another example is the fact that the Third Estate did not have equal representatives in the political society to represent their wants and demands in comparison to the First and Second Estates, which can be seen through out Cahier de Doleance’s, Villagers of Lion-en-Sullias, Women of Paris, Flower Sellers, and Village of Pithiviers-le-Vieil. Cahier de Doleance’s, District of Mansigne. Not only does this text help historians and the reader get a better understanding of the specific wants of the Third Estate but the rest of his documents such as Villagers of Lion-en-Sullias, Women of Paris, Flower Sellers, and

The 18th century can be marked as a period of internal and external struggle for the American colonists. From improper representation, to unfair taxes, such as the Stamp Act, to being overall abused by Britain, the colonists were justifiably angry. From this anger, the slogan “No taxation without representation” was born and quickly began to emerge from the lips of almost every colonist all across America. The demand from colonists everywhere for no taxation without representation weighed heavily as a symbol for democracy, as it revealed the mindset of many – Britain was using the hardworking colonists and took their money without even giving them a say – and laid the foundation for the American revolutionary war, allowing more arguments and

Before the revolution France was ruled under the Ancien Regime system, meaning the country and all its people were under the reign of an absolute monarch. This was a tradition that had been upheld through the years and the Royal family had enjoyed a life funded by the people of France, the royal family’s lifestyle unaffected by the situation outside their palace. The Palace, Versailles, was built by king Louis XIV and the expenses for building this “village” was very high, and in later years the cost for its upkeep would play a significant role in Frances financial difficulties. In order for these difficulties to be overcome France needed a tax reform. The government had a very high tax rate on the poorest of their people, the Third Estate, and they were still not getting enough money to get out of their

The Third Estate was made p of the "common" population. They included lawyers, merchants, and peasants. They were made up of the Bourgeoisie which is the middle class which is the highest portion of the third estate.

1. The ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was necessary to validate the Federal income tax on individuals.

In “‘Twelve Articles’ of the Peasants during the German Peasants’ Revolt”, the peasants address to their indefinite ruler that they “are ready and willing to pay the fair tithe of grain” (1), and they “will let [lords] demand only what is just and proper” (1). The peasants were aware of the greedy, clerical abuses of power by pastors, but they were unwilling to accept paying more than fair to support “a decent and sufficient maintenance” (1) for the pastor. This is similar to the “Manifesto of the Peasants of Angoumois,” that showed that the peasants were aware that the burden of taxation from the centralizing France state was put onto the poor peasantry, rather than the richer Middle Class. The peasants in this developing absolutist monarchy attempted to state that “those with sufficient property” (3) should pay the taille, “without regard to personal connections and without fear of the power of the rich” (3). In both these documents, neither state’s peasantry refused taxation or had a desire to change the system. This reactionary idea is also present in the “‘Twenty-Nine Demands’ of Kett’s Rebellion” from England in 1549. This direct list of demands to the definite monarch from the peasantry, was in a request “to redress and

According to an excerpt from Miss Betham-Edwards, ed., Arthur Young’s Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789, it states that “there is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay… 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 1sou… (Doc. E)”. This quote shows that the amount of the tax that the 3rd estates have to pay is excessively abundant. Also, they are the ones making the least money compared to other estates. The people of the 3rd estates had a difficult time paying the taxes, eventually, they couldn’t take it and planned to change the taxation system.

However, the third estate held the commoners and made up the bulk of French society. The commoners were responsible of the hard labor and farming of the land. The third estate was performing all of the work, paying the taxes, and maintaining society. This caused the third estate to feel unequal in society, and wanted a change. Economic

The citizens of the 3rd estate and some citizens in the 2nd estate in France during 1789, were not happy at all. They were getting heavily taxed by Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, and the Catholic Church. When they didn’t have the money to pay the taxes that was forced upon them. After all of the hard work they put in to growing crops, the crops were taken

The Third Estate, treated unfairly in society, became angered and wanted simple equalities that the other Estates had. In

The third estate had to pay the highest rate of taxes, while the first and second estates had to pay little or no taxes (document 2). The first estate enjoyed enormous wealth and privilege, owned about ten percent of the land, collected tithes, and paid no taxes. The second estate owned land, but had little money income. The third estate resented privileges of the first two estates and were burdened by taxes.

Lands held by commoners are taxed heavily.” which presents the imbalance of how citizens were taxed. Compared to the 3rd estate, the 1st and 2nd estate had to pay little to no taxes. Even though the 3rd estate had a bigger population, they owned very little

The second estate was mainly composed of nobility. They too were exempt from paying taxes. This left the tax burden upon the third estate. The third estate consisted of some merchants and entrepreneurs; however, the majority were peasants. Corruption of the estates was causing much frustration among the common people who composed 70 percent of the population.

The highest group was the First Estate, this was the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility and the Third Estate was everyone else. The Third Estate included; peasants, merchants, commoners, and anybody that didn't have a family generation of nobility. In the document it says “the population of the third estate was highest and they owned the most land because they did all the works. They also had to pay every cent of the tax money while the Second and Third payed not one penny” (document 2). This type of class division was extremely unfair to the Third Estate, a woman writes “the taxes and laws are crushing us” (document 3). This shows two things, one is that she is in the 3rd estate because she pays taxes and two is that this is not only her that feels this way. So many other people in the society feel this way too. After the death of King, Napoleon was the power. In the document it says “Terror used to execute enemies of the regime” (document 4). This shows that the people feared leaving their homes because they didn't want to be killed by Napoleon. When Napoleon went around killing the “enemies” this was a time called The Reign of Terror. In the document it says “We feared to go out,in case,without realizing it, we committed some transgression...we hardly spoke to anyone, for there were spies everywhere,and we jumped at each knock at the door, fearing arrest” (document 6). So this really did