The Influence Of The Ancien Regime

The 3rd estate was made of of the peasants and the bourgeoisie that made up about 97% of the total population of France. In France, their legislative body was called the estates-general. It was made up of one vote of each of the 3 estates. The 1st and the 2nd estates were comprised of the nobles and clergy who had taxes only in times of war. They were very happy with the way things were at the time, so the 3rd estate was always outvoted in the estates-general.

The French Revolution leaves a noble mark in history where peasants of a lower class claimed their rights from a corrupt system of monarchs and social hierarchy. Looking deeper into the events surrounding the French Revolution shows that there are striking similarities with it’s American counterpart; both America and France were becoming dissatisfied with their absolute monarchy, poverty and taxation bringing citizens to a boiling point. These indignities coupled with the spread of Enlightenment ideas lead two nations to break away from old ties to monarchies that were a virtually universal standard of government for centuries within mere years of each other. When America held their revolution for freedom, France was quick to follow suite, indicating that the events of the French Revolution mirrored and were inspired by the American Revolution in the way that poverty and taxes played a role in fueling revolution, they were both influenced by enlightenment ideas, and that specific actions and people recurred throughout both revolutions.

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,

One catalyst of the French Revolution was the Ancien Regime’s social structure. For centuries, the people of France were divided into three distinct groups, also known as Estates or Orders. The First Estate consisted of the Clergy of the French Catholic Church. The church was quite

In the book the Old Regime and the French Revolution, Tocqueville makes a very close analysis of the causes and antecedents of the revolution. At the first stage of the French revolution, Frenchmen's strong pursuit of liberty constitutes one distinguishing feature. However, the pursuit turned out in vain at last, as they sacrificed liberty for the sake of equality. People from different classes had shown their desire for liberty and tried to declare it through this revolution, but all failed and had to give in to the ever-growing pursuit of equality. The aristocratic liberty failed because they tried to maintain their privileges all the time; the middle class's pursuit of liberty was based on limited equality, which still could not satisfy

When oppressed by a certain style of leadership, revolution becomes a stepping stone to freedom. Due to corruption in the top ranks of society and economic troubles for those below, a French Revolution was the way the troubled citizens chose to exercise their rights. In response to the uneven rights going around France, with in the seigniorial system that gave rights and privileges only to the first (the clergy), the second estate (the nobility) and not the third estate (the commoners), the National Assembly wrote the inspiration of what to achieve for the people of France, known as The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in the 18th century, which fought for liberty, equality, and fraternity. Even though a revolution moved France

The American Revolution of the 1770’s was fueled by the ideas of social equality and political liberty as well as the desire for justice and the creation of democratic institutions. This movement as well as the writings of authors, such as Rousseau and Voltaire, speaking human rights, led way to the French Revolution. With King Louis XVI reign there was much careless spending and overindulgence leaving France in a very poor financial state when he passed away. His rule had caused the majority of French people to have distinct and feelings of resentment towards the monarchy when Louis XVI came into rule. At the time, France had three basic social classes. At the top were the royals’

Beginning in 1789, the French Revolution was a time of rebellion, passion, betrayal, death, violence, and perseverance. Before 1789, King Louis XVI was taxing his poorest people heavily, whilst the rich were hardly taxed at all. The socioeconomic system in place at the time, known as the ancien regime, ruthlessly upheld the status quo. When the tension in France rose to a boiling point, fiery, young rebels to rose up against the Monarchy, the Ancien Regime, and the Clergy. These revolutionaries desperately wanted change, and they had three main principles around which their movement centered: Liberté, Égalité, and Fraternité. Liberty is the freedom to do as one pleases so long as one’s actions do not unjustifiably harm others. Equality is being considered the same. Fraternity is a sense of brotherhood and companionship. The goals of the French Revolution were initially achieved with alacrity, however they were abandoned with relative quickness as malcontented leaders quested for, and abused, power and authority.

During 1700’s France had three main classes or “estates”. The first estate and the most powerful one was made up of clergy this estate only accounted for 1% of France's population, but owned 10% of the property. The next estate was made up of nobles that were only 2% of the population but controlled 20% of France's land. Then there was the third estate than represented 97% of France's population but only owned 70% of the country's land. The third estate comprised of everyone from the middle class or the “bourgeoisie” to merchants all the way to peasants. The third estate was only estate that payed taxes which made them really mad because the two richer estates did not need to pay anything. Another reason why the third estate was unhappy is

The French Revolution began as an expression of rebellion against centuries of absolute rule in France. After an interim of experimental liberalism under the rule of Jacobins and Girondins and then the infamous reign of terror, the people of French were drawn to a man who promised them a return to stability, and  honor through the expansion of empire. France and it’s people had long yearned for this sens eof honour, it had seemed, and could finally sens eit in a lasting rpesence under the rule of their prodigious, unbeatable general, Napoleon Bonaparte. He would soon take the reigns of civil government as well and become yet another Absolutist ruler, yet this

The French Revolution has been studied since its end in an attempt to determine and understand the causes of it and its duration. Different schools of history attempt to provide different explanations, such as Marxist schools examining whether the French Revolution amounted to a class struggle or the ‘maximalist’ school in which the cultural transformation of French society is examined, including attitudes about monarchy, privilege and religion. This essay will contend that fundamental divisions of attitudes towards privilege began the revolution, with disagreements about religion and the Catholic Church making the revolution longer in duration. Monarchy is linked to privilege as the King was part of the privileged Second Estate. Thus, the revolution as a

Before the French Revolution, France had a societal, economic, and political structure; this referring to the ancien régime. The regime precisely was France’s legislative body meaning it was the Estates General. The Estates were important social divisions in the culture of ancient France. Just like a pyramid, it manages people’s placement, indicating in what estate you belonged based in due to your total sum of wealth, social status and quality of life. Of course, at the top of the pyramid was King Louis XVI, the absolute monarch; but then again, the Estates General had three major divisions:

The French Revolution intended to accomplish three main goals: liberty, equality and fraternity. The liberty they wanted was the freedom from an oppressive government, namely the absolute monarchy Louis XVI was the king of at the beginning of the revolution. An emphasis was put on fraternity because they believed that without unification, their goals would never be accomplished. As for equality, equality under the law regardless of socioeconomic class was desired, not equality under the law regardless of gender. Despite egalitarianism not being the main intent of the revolution, women’s rights’ advocacy saw its beginnings in France during this time. This can be attributed to the many different ideas circulating at the time about what equality

The French Revolution was an era where there was a dramatic political and social change. The supporters of the French Revolution came across problems such as women 's lack of a right to citizenship, Absolute Monarchy of the Feudal System, and the lack of rights of the clergy and nobility. The supporters of the French Revolution attempted to solve these problems by abolishing the Feudal system, and the establishment of a republic. They also created steps towards resolving the lack of women’s rights, and forming an assembly.

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.