The Three Main Causes Of The French Revolution

In the late eighteenth century France was in a finical crisis from the debt of war and supporting the New World in own revolt against Britain. To pay off the massive debt the French government increased the taxes on the only taxpaying social class, the Third Estate. Many had trouble paying this increased tax due to inflation and drought. France was on the verge of finical crisis so the king, Louis the XVI, called the Estates General for the first time in 175 years in attempt to devise a solution, however the power of Estates General was not divided evenly among the people, and gave the First and Second Estates more representation, and this was enough to push the Third Estate into starting a revolution.

There are very few members in the first and second estates, yet they owned the most land, while the third estate made up most of the population, yet owned very little land. “First: Clergy - 1% of the people owned 10% of the land. Second Estate: Nobles - 2% of the people owned 35% of the land. Third Estate - Middle class, peasants, city workers 97% of the people owned 55% of the land.” (Document 2) There were high prices, high taxes, and people were listening to enlightenment ideas. Louis XVI decided to tax the Second Estate. They called a meeting of the Estates-General - an assembly of representatives from all three estates. (ROI) In addition, as a political cause, the third estate had no privileges or say in the government,while both the clergy and nobles did. As mentioned before, the inequality of taxes proved another gap in the social classes. “The Revolution had been accomplished in the minds of men long before it was translated into fact.... The middle class...was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The Revolution came from them-the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” (Document 4) Estates- General was the first such meeting in 175 years. Met on May 5th,1789 in Versailles. In the Estate- General each estate had one vote. (ROI)

First of all, the vulgus of France were not habituated with their basic human rights. Cahiers, a list of grievances about the king, taxing and voting involving the estates explains how the third estate was not provided with equal rights. The third estate owned most of the land and made up a large percent of the population, yet were not accustomed with the rights they deserved. They paid for the wealthy to live an excessive life and didn't get anything in return. This was unjust and unfair.

Firstly, the Royal Family was pivotal in creating an unfair estate system which caused inequalities contributing to the French Revolution. One example, the Third estates were the only Estate which had to pay taxes. The Third Estates taxes were increased 28% (Source C) and “Car les tailles et les droits nouns ecrasent,”

Imagine a period of time of gruesome bloody executions and a lack of equality. The French Revolution started in 1789 and lasted until 1799. The Revolution led to the end of the monarchy in France. In 1793, during the Revolution, king Louis XVI was executed by extremist Jacobins who represented the Third Estate. The execution led to war with several neighboring countries and started the most violent portion of the French Revolution called the “Reign of Terror.” The three major causes for the French Revolution were; the king and queen were spending all of the country’s money (deficit spending), the upper classes were not paying their share of taxes, and the peasants were treated poorly while also not being given the recognition they deserved for all the work that they do. These three examples led to the French Revolution occurring and affected the short and long term of France, as well as all of Europe’s history. In current times, people wonder what caused the execution of the king and queen, or in other words, how the 3 causes contributed to their downfall.

It began when the French monarchy formed from The Seven Year war. During this time, the French were in debt due to their support of the American Revolution. Therefore, France restricted free trade with other nations and kept the country and most of its people in a state of poverty. The French people were still organized in three different feudal class divisions of estates. The first estate, the Clergy, consisted of those employed by the Catholic Church. They greatly influenced France by controlling vast amounts of land (they were also freed from paying taxes). The second estate, the Nobility, were also exempt from most taxes. They held the best and highest paid jobs in the army, church, and legal professions. The third estate, consisted of all the other people not assigned to a higher class. The third estate composed of much of the population and held the greatest economic and social diversity (the peasants). They were starved and ragged and bore the brunt of the ever-increasing taxes. They were demanded to pay fees for land ownership every

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 first stage of the revolution was caused by a number of factors, both economic and social. First of all, toward the end of the 18th Century, France was in deep financial trouble. The country was nearly bankrupt, due to a combination of leftover national debt from previous kings, several bad harvests in a row, and the recent expenses related to helping the American Revolution. To make things worse, the tax system was out of date and no longer met the financial needs of the nation (Nicassio 481). Under this system, the population of France was divided into three Estates. The First Estate was composed of members of the clergy, the Second Estate represented the nobles, and the Third included everybody else. Traditionally, the First Estate would

Third Estate- The French social society was broken up into three estates the first being the clergy, the second is consisted of the nobility; and the third estate is basically everyone else from wealthy financiers to beggars and peasants. The third estate had occupations in finance, manufacturing, and commerce. This social class was an ambitious group approved of expanding the publishing industry, purchased many new homes in Paris and other cities, and subsidized the fine arts. In 1789, the third estate was allowed to have a vote in polices and with the help of the other two estates help create the National Assembly.

Finally, the third estate is made up of the peasants. Those who had been being taxed far beyond what they could afford while others lived lavishly. Peasants basically funded wars because kings like Louis XVI were too weak to tax the people that had the money to pay such great fees, the nobles.

Prior to the French Revolution, being a part of the third estate was unfair. The way that the Estates General worked was that each of the three estates got one vote and the side with two votes won. Because the first and second estates were privileged they would always win the vote. The reason that this was unfair was because the third estate made up 97% of the population, yet only got one vote. The little money that people in the third estate had was taken away by the many taxes taken by the first two estates. The Estates General worked so that you could not rise above your social status, so if you were born to the third estate you would stay in the third estate.

The Nobility had long been discouraged by their loss of rights. They worked hard at getting themselves in positions of power that surrounded the monarchy. The special concern of the nobles was to see that the King did not introduce tax reform. They wanted more political power to make sure events like this did not happen. While they denounced the monarchy’s absolutism they wanted to set up their own form of it.

In the 1700s, France had a social and political system that divided the people into three social classes: the first estate, the second estate, and the third estate. The first estate consisted of the Roman Catholic Church’s clergy and made up one percent of France’s population. The second estate was made up of rich nobles and represented two percent of France’s population. The remaining ninety-seven percent of France’s population fell under the third estate. The third estate was also divided into three categories: the bourgeoisie, the workers in France’s cities such as tradespeople, apprentices, or laborers, and the peasants. The peasants formed the largest category in the third estate and made up eighty percent of France’s entire

To begin, during the French Revolution the peasants lived under the worst conditions. Peasants formed the largest group within the third estate, more than 80% of 26 million people in France. The poor had no part or say the decisions that the government would make. Peasants and the rest of the third estate were expected to pay an enormous amount of taxes, that the second and first estate did not have to pay. For example, there was bad weather around 1780 caused a widespread of crop failures, resulting in a shortage of grain. That lead to the doubled price of bread, peasants could not afford to purchase the bread because of the outrageous amount of taxes that they had to pay, this lead to many people in the third estate facing starvation. Not only was this unfair for the peasants, it made them become outraged, and lead them to the beginning of the Great Fear.

Two of the estates had privileges, including access to high offices and exemptions from paying taxes, that were not granted to the members of the third. This caused growing resentment among the lower classes.