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French revolution
French revolution in 19th century
French revolution
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More handpicked essays just for you.
French revolution
French revolution in 19th century
French revolution
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Economically, heavy taxes fell on the three estates. Firstly, France endured social imbalance during the French Revolution. Many people during this time were very poor and there was an increased bread price on the people of the third estate (Doc 1). Representing the fact that the third estate were treated unfairly then
During the old days of France the french people were divided into 3 estates which were social
Also, they owned a lot of land. The third estate included the middle class which was made up of wealthy and educated people. The rest of the third estate was mainly made up of peasants. According to Document 3, the third estate demanded, “That the taille be borne equally by all classes”. The third estate paid heavy taxes and rent.
Before the revolution, the third estate got taxed the most and barely had any rights, while the first and second estate barely got taxed, and had majority of the rights. “Pre Revolutionary Causes Source C: The Third Estate of Carcassonne, list of grievances from the Third Estate, Cahiers de Doléances (excerpts), 1789” However, after the the National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. That all changed.
Rights were given to all peaceful french citizens. In Document B.” All hereditary titles and privileges of nobility are abolished. “ For hundreds of years before the reign of terror, there were three estates. The nobles and the clergy were the first two estates. They had many privileges such as not paying taxes and having the top jobs.
The French peasant community relied on bread and wheat for food. This was until “Poor harvests in 1788 and 1789 (which) sent prices of wheat and rye soaring- leaving many desperate” (566 Spielvogel) The peasants who relied so much upon wheat now had to find a new way to survive. France's debt made the government needed to higher the price. This change made the Third Estate unhappy because the Government were changing their system to hurt the Third Estate drastically, but would not change when asking the First and Second Estate to simply do more taxes.
In a diagram from 1789, it shows that the First and Second Estates made up only a small percentage of the population, yet they owned ten times that amount in land, and paid no taxes. Meanwhile, the majority of the population, made up by the Third Estate, were taxed profusely and owned little land in comparison (Doc 2). The inequality between the estates and the extent to which the Third Estate was abused because of their social status was clear . This is portrayed in an illustration where the Third Estate was trampled by the taxes forced upon them by their social superiors (Doc 7). They were in no state to pay taxes or tithes to the church, and this mandatory tariff left little money for their own needs.
Taxes, which is still a commonly disagreed topic, were a major reason the people of France revolted. The members of the first estate were paying only a fraction of what the members of the third and event the second were. Arthur Young, a man who travelled through France from 1787 to 1789, made the observation that land owned by nobility and people of the upper class was taxed very little compared to the land owned by common citizens (Doc. 1). This injustice took a great toll on members of the third estate and
As the French had about Twenty-five million people, 100,000 were clergy, 400,000 were the nobleman, and the rest was known as the third estate. The third estate was left to starve, while Louis XVi and Marie Antoinette lived a luxury lifestyle. The only food they could afford for a limited time was bread, but then the prices got so high, that the rich can only afford it.
While historians continue to study the similarities and differences, the two main civilizations that show the most major fluxuating differences and similarites are the Incas and the Aztecs. While the pressence of gods and agricultural societies of the Aztecs and Inca were similar between 1300 to 1500 C.E., there were differences ine the type of goverment rule and trade between civilizations, due mostly to isolation brought upon by the Andes Mountians. In both ancient societies there is an obvious sense that gods have the primary rule; in the case of the Aztec and Inca this trait is unchanging. It can be observed that both the Incas and the Aztecs relied heavily on religon for everyday life by the eloborate temples that each society erected in favor of the gods.
The French Revolution was a time of radical and social upheaval. Conditions in France both economically and politically caused much discontent among the people of the Third Estate. Which not only included peasants but during this time was made up of everyone that wasn’t a noble or of king-like status, such as merchants, artisans, and the middle class (bourgeoisie). After the Enlightenment, the people of France began to question their government and society. Especially the people of higher class in the Third Estate.
In Travels in France, Arthur Young stated that the nobles were taxed very little while the poor were taxed heavily (Document 1). This signified that these fees hurt the third estate the most because they were forced to pay the most amount of money, yet they made the least amount. The peasants had it worse than anybody else because they still owed debts dating back to feudal times. In addition, cartoons during the French Revolution satirically showed the public how the 1st and 2nd estate were not deeply impacted by the political system while the 3rd estate was crushed by the taxes they had to pay (Document 7). The third estate earned terrible wages and faced starvation everyday and on top of that, they suffered the most because they had the highest taxes.
The French Revolution, from 1789 to 1799, was a turning point in history and created enormous change. France, for centuries, had been divided into three classes; churchmen, nobility and Peasants. The nobles and churchmen had huge wealth while ordinary people were very poor. The Monarchy did not do enough to help ordinary people and this class of people became increasingly angry with their circumstances. This eventually led to an uprising by ordinary people against
However, Americans were able to succeed because of their quick increase in population and economy. One of France’s financial problems came from the money they loaned America during the war. Arthur Young traveled throughout France and saw that “lands held by the nobility are taxed very little [and] lands held by commoners are taxed heavily” (Doc B). This comes back to the idea of inequality and how the government supported a class system in France that negativly affects the third estate. Because commoners’ land was taxed so much, they were unable to feed themselves.
During the Eighteenth Century, France had an absolute monarchy with Louis XVI as king and Marie Antoinette as queen. In that time period, French society was based upon a system of Estates where the clergy made up the First Estate; the nobility comprised the Second Estate, and everyone else including professionals, peasants, and the bourgeoisie made up the Third Estate. The Third Estate was immensely unhappy with the old regime, the Estates General, and Louis XVI’s leadership. France was also in the midst of a fiscal crisis due to the American Revolution, Louis XVI’s lavish lifestyle, the Seven Years War, and the tax exemption of the First and Second Estate. Following the surge of new ideas and impactful philosophers from the Enlightenment,