The Causes Of The French Revolution

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

“Let them eat cake” is a very popular quote that you may have heard before. It was supposedly said by the Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette, during the late 18th century in the middle of an outbreak known as the French Revolution. There were many causes that lead to the Revolution, including the third estate´s predicament. They struggled with being denied basic rights, over taxation, and neglect from the monarchy.

The third estate’s citizens had the lowest income in France, yet they were the ones who were supporting the government. The burden of the countries taxes was nearly impossible for the third estate to carry. One peasant woman said that the taxes were “crushing” her and her fellow third estate members. (Document 2).The first and second estate made up the wealthiest portion of France, yet they paid next to nothing in taxes. This obviously and rightfully angered members of the third estate. Why should the only people who can afford to pay taxes be exempt from them? This kind of inequality resulted in violence from the third estate. As a form of rebellion, peasants attacked tax collectors whom they owed money. They also burned land registers and court records. This example, along with the formation of the National Assembly show that the first actions of the revolution were a result of not giving the third estate the voice that it’s members felt it

During the reign of King Louis XVI, France was going through severe economic crisis. France was in debt from war and helping America in the American Revolution, and poor harvests inflated the prices of bread, causing poor people to starve. Most importantly, the unfair tax system forced the lower class to pay all of the taxes. On June 20, 1789, powerful men from the third estate walked out of a meeting with the Estates General and vowed to create a new constitution (BE). Many people, like the nobility, Catholic Church, conservative, and foreign monarchs, disliked the reforms. To deal with the opposition, the French Revolution made a radical turn under the control of Maximillian Robespierre. Robespierre was the chief prosecutor who got Louis

French Revolution was a horrifying event that was from 1789 to 1799. The revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic and created political chaos. The french revolution started because most people were denied basic rights because the King and Queen cared only for themselves, the economic crisis in France, and social injustices.

There were three Estates during the French Revolution. The First Estate was, the Clergy, it consisted of those employed by the Catholic Church. They had great influence in France, controlling vast amounts of land and were exempt from taxes. The Second Estate, the Nobility, were also exempt from most of the king taxes. They had the best and highest paid jobs in the army, church, and legal professions. The Third Estate, encompassing all the other people not in the other classes. This held the biggest percent of the population and had the greatest economic and social diversity. The vast amount of people in the Third Estate were starved and ragged because of the ever-increasing taxes they had to pay. Because the other two estates did not have to pay taxes, this made it even more difficult for the peasants to survive. The constitution also made the king the absolute

In the late 1780s France divided everyone into three social classes or estates. The first estate was the clergy which was the highest, the second estate was the nobles, and the third estate was the commoners, or the peasants. France was in a deep financial crisis. King Louis XIV had left France in debt. The government began to barrow millions of dollars that went to paying the taxes. Food prices started soaring because of bad harvests which brought hunger to many of the poor peasants. The government had to increase taxes and reduce expenses to stop this financial crisis but the nobles and the clergy tried to stop anything to not pay their taxes.

Many factors went into the starting the French Revolution. One of the main contributing factors was the lack of a fair hierarchy in the French society. There were 3 main classes and only 3% of people were inside of the top 2. This created a problem as the first 2 had twice the representation that the third did in the government. The first Estate was made up of the clergy from the Roman Catholic Church. They also owned almost 10% of the land inside of France. The Second Estate was the rich nobles. They owned almost 20% of the land. Both of the classes paid almost no taxes and shot down almost any ideas of the Enlightenment. The Third Estate

The biggest cause leading to the French Revolution was political causes. The inefficient administration made thing impossible to get done and due to the government being preoccupied they wouldn’t fix it. The church could censor anything they had too much power. The kings in power during this time were corrupt they wanted money and did not cared for there people.

Another of the biggest problems during the french revolution was economic problems. These problems had to do with the american revolution along with the french revolution. The money in france at this time was in the first and second estates. The third estate had almost no money. The taxes in france were raised every time france was in need of money and this caused havoc with all the people in france. “Unlike the british, who had a system of public-supported poor relief, the French responded to poverty with ad hoc policies when conditions became acute.”(). Also money in france was going to america to support the American revolution and therefore the people in france were paying tax money that was not even benefiting them. “At a time when france was experiencing economic crisis, the government was drastically short of money. Yet french governmental extravagance continued to grow due to costly wars”.() Finally another major problem around economics in france at this time was food. During this time food was very valuable because not many people had money, the problem was that there was a drought meaning crops could not grow leaving

For six of the eight causes of revolution, describe two events, actions or beliefs (evidence) during the years before the French Revolution that led to a developing revolutionary situation. Explain how each contributed to the revolutionary situation.

A number of political, social, and economic factors combined to form the causes of the French Revolution. Most of the political causes dealt with the Monarch having too much power. Many people in France, right before the Revolution, were denied basic rights and were living in poor condition.according to document one by Friedman and Foner, “He lived in his magnificent palace at Versailles, completely oblivious to the rising tide of popular discontent…” meaning that the King was too occupied with appointing civil offices and military officers, and the rest of his controls, to notice what the living conditions his people have. This is a cause because it leads to the formation of the National Assembly, Third Estate comes together and they believe that they were the true representatives of the people, they vowed to meet every day until they came up with a new constitution, “Tennis Court Oath”. The National Assembly, established the constitutional monarchy, abolished feudalism, and adopted The Declaration of the Rights of Man (doc 4). France’s government had also long been under attack from Enlightenment Philosophers for the government’s absolutist actions. More and more people questioning the traditional way of ordering society.

The French Revolution was caused by a number of different short-term and long-term factors. As argued by Georges Lefèbvre, in a Marxist approach, who often interpreted the causes of the revolution from a peasant's perspective and was of the opinion that class struggle was the main cause of the revolution. In his eyes, the aristocracy prevented monarchical reform in order to keep their privileges. The bourgeoisie, wishing to reform the justice system and the tax system due to the unfair tax burden that only the Third Estate had to carry in times of economic hardship and the confusion reigning due to the Estates-General meeting. The urban revolution, most present in Paris, notably the Storming of the Bastille which truly marked the rise against the monarchy. In addition, it can be argued that the revolution resulted from peasant anger due to the harvest failures fuelling the revolutionary sentiment by leaving the nation short of food crops, which created bread shortages and drove up prices, impacting peasants more than any other social group. Furthermore, François Furet viewed the democratic ideas of Enlightenment philosophers as the soul of the revolution. However, and in my opinion most importantly, the revolution was caused by the numerous mistakes made by King Louis XVI, as William Doyle also argues.

the French Revolution was a time wherein specific the third estate, or the common people, were treated poorly. The king barely noticed the displeasure of the French people. Even when they tried to grab his attention, by offering up alternate ideas he ignored them. The third estate didn't want to stand for what the king was doing, so they revolted. The French Revolution was all over the place with economy, social, and political problems racing through everybody’s minds

The nation of France towards the close of the 18th century was divided sharply along social, economic, and political lines. Under an absolute monarchy, remnants of feudal tradition dictated the presence of three estates: clergy, nobility, and peasantry, each with varying degrees of privilege and political standing. It was a combination of factors that caused first the aristocracy, followed by an emerging bourgeois class and finally the oppressed masses, to renounce the old order. It would be incorrect to assume that the people of France shared a collective motive, or that the Revolution was based upon a formulated plan. Rather, each estate, and each internal group within the estates, had an independent desire to change their way of life. The common theme was a claiming of so called natural rights, a term introduced by Enlightenment philosophers (philosophes) of the time. The definition of these right, however, varied. A peasant saw the abolition of aristocratic privilege and assurance of economic security as essential. The upper classes enjoyed the luxury of being able to consider wider application to the ideas of Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu. Therefore, the French Revolution did not originate from a single point. A consolidation of emerging philosophic ideas, growing perception of national corruption, and economic uncertainty during the same time period allowed each group in France to rally behind a personal cause for upending of the current regime.