French Revolution Dbq Essay

The French Revolution is an uprising in France against the monarchy from 1789 to 1799 which resulted in the establishment of France as a republic. An example of the French Revolution is the storming of the Bastille by the French citizens. It caused havoc in France for many years. The government separated the classes by money and state of living. According to Travels in France by Arthur Young, the peasants were mistreated badly. There was injustice in levying the amount each person must pay, lands held by commoners were taxed heavily, there were ragged children everywhere, there was a lack of food (mostly bread) and they brought the military onto their property. According to Document 2, the land was uneven and the taxes were unfair. The Third

They owned 25% of the land and only paid 2% of taxes. Now comes the shocking part: the rich people paid nothing. The First Estate owned 10% of land and paid 0% of the taxes. According to Document 3, the Third Estate demanded that three changes should be made in the French Government: every tax should be granted by the Estates General for a limited time, they needed to schedule the meetings of the Estates General for definite times and the votes of the Third Estate should be taken by head in the assembly. Document 4 states that, when the middle class found out about Enlightenment ideas, they became the leaders of the Revolution. They were the main cause because no one else was able to do it. The working class was just beginning to learn to read and the clergy were the ones who started it. On the contrary, according to Document 5, Lord Acton believed that the American Example (Revolution) caused the French Revolution. Document 6 quotes Comte D’ Antraigues, which says, “The Third Estate is the People and the People is the foundation of the State; it is in fact the State itself; the other estates are merely political categories while by the immutable (unchangeable) laws of nature the People is