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Before you begin

• On some slides you may have too actually type out the information.

• It may not allow you to copy or paste.

Causes of the

French Revolutio

n

Focus Questions

• Identify the three Estates that made up the social structure of France.

• Explain the economic troubles France faced in 1789.

• Identify the reasons Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General.

• Explain why a Paris crowd stormed the Bastille.

The Old RegimeUnder the ancien regime, or old order, everyone in France belonged to one of three classes…

First Estate

Second Estate Third Estate

• The CLERGY

• Enjoyed enormous wealth and privilege

• Owned about 10 percent of land, collected tithes, and paid no taxes

• Provided some social services

• The NOBILITY

• Owned land but had little money income

• Hated absolutism

• Feared losing traditional privilege, especially exemption from taxes

• BOURGEOISIE and PEASANTS

• Peasants were 98 % of French population

• Resented privilege of first and second estates

• Burdened by taxes, miserable wages faced hunger, starvation

Discontent among the Third Estate

• Best jobs were always reserved for nobles• Urban workers earned miserable wages• Peasants taxed on land, necessary goods

and spices• Nobles imposed “manor dues” – tax paid

directly to noble instead of state• Only nobles had the right to hunt wild game

Enlightenment thinkers led people to question the logic of the the Old Regime…..where is the reason for it???

Economic Troubles• For years, the French government had

engaged in deficit spending• Louis XIV had left France deeply in debt. • Recent wars, a general rise in costs in the

1700s, and the lavish court were incredibly costly. • To bridge the gap between income and

expenses, the government borrowed more and more money.

• Bad harvests in the late 1780s sent food prices soaring and brought hunger to poorer peasants and city dwellers.

Economic Troubles…Summarized

1. Deficit spending2. Debt3. Wars4. Inflation5. Lavish court6. Borrowed money7. Bad harvests

Absolute Monarchy Weakens• The heirs of Louis XIV were not the right

men to solve the economic crisis that afflicted France.

• Louis XV pursued pleasure before business and ran up France’s debts

• Louis XVI was well-meaning but weak and indecisive• Louis XVI’s economic advisor suggested

he tax the First and Second Estates (those Estates forced the King to fire his advisor)

• First/Second Estates force Louis XVI to call the Estates General to try to regain some of the power they lost under absolute monarchs

Meeting of the Estates General• The Estates General was a meeting of all

three Estates• Each Estate had one vote• Under this system the First and Second

Estates always outvoted the Third Estate• The Estates General met in May of 1789

• The Third Estate consisted mostly of bourgeoisie who were familiar with the Enlightenment

• The Third Estate wanted all three Estates to meet together and vote as a single body….they were denied

Meeting of the Estates General• Delegates of the Third Estate left the

Estates General and declared themselves to be the National Assembly who represented France• They invited members of the other Estates

to help them write a Constitution for France

• When the hall they were supposed to meet in was locked against them, the National Assembly met on a tennis court

• Tennis Court Oath• Delegates swore “never to separate and to

meet whenever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and just constitution”

Meeting of the Estates GeneralFrance’s economic crisis worsened, bread riots spread, and nobles denounced royal

tyranny.

Louis XVI summoned the Estates General in 1788

The Third Estate declared themselves to be the National Assembly and invited delegates from the

other two estates to help them write a constitution.

When reform-minded clergy and nobles joined the Assembly, Louis grudgingly

accepted it.

Storming of the BastilleOn July 14, 1789, more than 800 Parisians gathered outside the Bastille, a medieval fortress used as a prison. They demanded weapons believed to be stored there in order to protect themselves from the royal troops surrounding Paris.

The commander of the Bastille opened fire on the crowd, and a battle ensued, in which many people were killed.

The storming of the Bastille quickly became a symbol of the French Revolution, a blow to tyranny. Today, the French still celebrate July 14 as Bastille Day or Independence Day.