ipl-logo

French Revolution Dbq Essay

626 Words3 Pages

The high taxes, high prices on goods, and unequal distribution of wealth in France were reasons why the French Revolution started. There were three estates in France; the first estate was the clergy, the second estate were the nobles, and the third estate was made up of of three groups; average French workers, Bourgeoisie, and peasants. The French Revolution led to many wars; Louis XVI was a very weak leader, and he was executed. Napoleon Bonaparte became emperor, and the revolution came to an end. The main causes of the French Revolution were the difficult life of the peasants; the issues between the three estates; and the unfairness of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. To begin, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was a cause of the French Revolution; some of the rights were not fair. Document 8 shows this by stating, "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights; social distinctions can be established only for the common benefit." This is unjust because the third estate pays very high taxes and they are not very wealthy, while the first and second estate pay very low taxes, and they are wealthier; the third estate was not equal to the first and second estate. Citizens had a lot of freedom to many rights; "The free communications of …show more content…

In document 3, it specifies; "That the taille be borne equally by all classes…." This explains that the third estate cannot cope with the high taxes that they have to pay and are fighting so that the first and second estate can pay the same amount of taxes. The illustration in document 7 it shows taxes on top of the third estate, which the first and second estate are standing on. The first and second estate have it simple and easy, they do not have to pay any taxes, but the third estate gets piled with all of the taxes that take away most of their

Show More
Related
232 Words | 1 Pages

The French Revolution occurred because of political, social, and economic inequalities within France. Unfair taxing in France contributed to starting the French Revolution because the third estate had to pay the most, despite the fact that they were the poorest class. The third estate had to give about 50% of their income to paying taxes, while the first and second estate had to pay less than 10% (Doc 2). This caused the third estate to start to go hungry, and lots of tension was building up.

Read More
406 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

France started out with a terrible king that didn’t give the people many rights. In the end of the Revolution people gained some rights, but the people still had a king named Napoleon. There were many changes to France during the French Revolution, but the end result was similar to the beginning, regarding the leader of their country, this is why the French Revolution can not be truly called successful. In pre revolutionary France the people wanted a lot of things, but they mostly wanted the power, they also wanted more freedom in their lives, but the absolutist monarch didn’t give the people any rights.

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
512 Words | 3 Pages

Overall, the French Revolution occured because of horrendous treatment of the third estate. Unfair taxation, an obvious bias towards the upper classes, and an inadequacy of change for the better was what caused it to happen. Unfortunately, a vast amount of lives were lost to this hopeless

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

The French Revolution was a dramatic event in history with lots of rebillions and bloodshed. Historians argue over the fact on how it was caused, however these are the three most likely reasons. The American Revolution, the price of bread that has risen and the unequal distribution of taxes. As it states in document 5 and document 8, the American Revolution was a huge reason for the start of the French Revolution.

Read More
427 Words | 2 Pages

A failing government in great debt and famine spread across the populous created a very unstable France in the late 1700s. Left in a horrible position, The French Revolution began. It commenced with the formation of the National Assembly and the creation of the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens; a system of rights for every person that was made integral to the new constitution. Liberty, property, and fraternity were rights that the French revolution would do an exceptionally poor job of protecting.

Read More
638 Words | 3 Pages

The French Revolution is often considered to be the watershed moment of the modern Era. During the 1700’s there was plenty of issues going on around the world that would impact it greatly. One of the most important thing that I’d say went on around the world would be the French Revolution. The French society was fairly simple it consisted of three levels in the social system. Once you are placed in a social group you are there for life regardless of what events happen in your life.

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

In France in the year 1789, the declaration of the rights of men and citizen was written and approved by the national assembly. It was an important document concerning the French revolution because it presented new ideals for society and individuals. However, in order to understand how this changes the French society, it will be vital to go back and look at how it was before the declaration was written. Before this there was a structure called the estate general that made important decisions, its general consisted of three branches that had one vote each on decisions.

Read More
186 Words | 1 Pages

However, despite the law, these rights were not granted to all human beings, as the Declaration preserved the institution of slavery and women were not granted equal rights. In 1789, the French Revolution broke out, lasted 10 years, and ended with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French revolution was heavily influenced by present Enlightenment ideas, specifically, the concepts of sovereignty and absolute rights, as well as the population’s powerful resentment of royal absolutism, the system of noble privilege and the unfair and unequal system of taxation. Although the French revolution failed to achieve all of its goals, it brought along the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). The declaration was heavily

Read More
607 Words | 3 Pages

The French revolution was the result of decades of social inequality, national financial troubles and radical ideas developing in Europe. For years, the lower 99% of French society was tormented by the inability to rise up from their status to become nobility or become wealthy. While the people seethed under the aristocracy, the French national debt soared from their financial support to the American Revolution. France needed to raise more taxes to sustain the economy and maintain order, but this required major changes. Three things needed to be done to prevent a revolution: all three estates had to be taxed and not just the commoners of the third estate; voting had to be done by population rather than by estate; the horrific leadership of King Louis XIV had to come to end.

Read More
1095 Words | 5 Pages

The initial idea was to have one vote per estate. The vote was to determine whether or not the first and second estates should pay taxes along with the third estate. Both the clergy and the aristocracy did not want to pay taxes. It was evident that the vote would be unfair. The initial way the Estates would vote on taxes was one vote per estate.

Read More
1427 Words | 6 Pages

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,

Read More
313 Words | 2 Pages

The Third Estate tried to dissolve the other two Estates. This lead to a new legislative group, the French National Assembly. Aristocrats wanted to overthrow the Third Estate, leading to chaos and eventually created the Declaration of the Rights of Man. All

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

This change of beliefs is what led the Americans and the French to fight for their rights. The Enlightenment idea of equal rights made the Americans realize that they were in an unequal form of government and that they needed to do something about it. This American act inspired the French to do something as well. The American Revolution started when Great Britain was becoming weaker and the United States no longer felt protected with them.

Read More

More about French Revolution Dbq Essay

Open Document