THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

14 July 1789- king ordered troops to move into the city           People formed militia           Broke into govt. buildings in search of arms           Marched till bastille           Killed Governor DeLaunay           Released all 7 prisoners           Demolished bastille           Sold fragments in the market as souvenirs of destruction       Old Regime- Society & institutions of France before 1789. Livre- French currency discontinued in 1794.     1774- Louis 16 of the bourbon family ascended           20 y/o           Married to Austrian princess Marie Antoinette           Found empty treasury           Long years of war drained financial resources           Cost of maintaining extravagant palace at Versailles           Helped 13 American colonies gain independence from Britain           War added debt more than about 2 billion livres           Lenders began charging 10% interest           Obliged to spend more money on interest payments           Forced to increase taxes           Only the third estate paid taxes

FRANCE Monarch (king’s family) Clergy (church people) Nobility (king’s ministers) Third estate Big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers Peasants and artisans Small peasants, landless labour, servants     90% population- peasants          Only a small number owned land 60% land owned by nobles, church and rich third estate Clergy and nobility enjoyed privileges by birth          Exemption from paying taxes Nobles enjoyed feudal privileges          Feudal dues extracted from peasants          Peasants were obliged to work in houses and fields, serve in the army or build roads Church extracted tithes (10% of total produce) from peasants All members of the third estate paid taxes to the state          A direct tax called taille          Indirect taxes on salt and tobacco     The population rose from 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789          A rapid increase in demand for food grains          Production could not keep pace with demands          The price of bread (staple diet of the majority) increased Most workers had fixed wages          Wages did not put up with prices          The gap between rich and poor widened          Things worsened during drought or hail This led to subsistence crisis (frequent occurrence during Old Regime)

  Peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing taxes and food scarcity Lacked means and programs to carry out full-scale measures Could not bring change in the social and economic order Left to prosperous and educated groups of the third estate In the 18th century- the middle class emerged          Earned wealth through                    Overseas trade                    Manufacture of woollen and silk textiles The third estate included lawyers and administrative officials          Educated and denied the idea of getting privileges by birth          A person’s social position must depend on merit These ideas were put forward by philosophers like          John Locke (Two Treatises of Government)                    Refuted the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch          Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Social Contract)                    Proposed government based on a social contract b/w people and representatives          Charles Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws)                    Division of power within the govt b/w legislative, executive and judiciary These ideas were discussed in salons and coffee houses          Spread among people through books and newspapers   Estates-General- A political body to which all the three estates sent their representatives.          Read aloud in groups for the ones who could not read and write   Louis 16 planned to impose further taxes          Angered the people          Gave rise to protests against the system of privileges   Subsistence Crisis- An extreme situation where basic means of livelihood are endangered.

Read aloud in groups for the ones who could not read and write Louis 16 planned to impose further taxes          Angered the people          Gave rise to protests against the system of privileges     Estates-General- A political body to which all the three estates sent their representatives.   In the Old Regime, the monarch did not have the power to increase taxes according to his will          Had to call a meeting of the Estates-General which would pass his proposals                    Only the monarch decided when to call the meeting (last time in 1614) The Estates-General had          300 representatives from the clergy          300 representatives from nobility          600 representatives from the third estate (only educated men; artisans and women banned) Louis 16 called a meeting to pass a proposal for increasing taxes on 5 May 1789          Representatives from the first two estates were seated in rows facing each other on two sides          The third estate stood at the back Each estate had one vote          The third estate was outvoted                    Wanted to adopt a new system, where everyone had one vote (based on Social Contract)                    Denied by Louis 16                    The third estate walked out in protest Drafted new constitution to limit powers of the king, led by          Mirabeau (noble, convinced with the need to do away with feudal privileges)