The Old Order During the 1770's the Old Regime was still in place. The Privileged Estates Two of the three estates were privileged consisting of Church Clergy and rich nobles They only consisted of about 2% of the population. These people paid almost no taxes and had Enlightenment ideas because they threatened their status. The Third Estate The other 97% of government were in the Third Estate which was a group composed of 3 smaller groups. The first group was the middle class which had bankers, factory owners, merchants. This group strongly believed in Enlightenment ideas. The workers in the cities formed the 2nd poorest group. They were traders, laborers and servants. They were paid almost nothing and were often out of work. The final group …show more content…
Despite the outward appearance of expansion, the heavy taxation made it difficult to make money from business in France. Also, bad weather lead to crop shortages and prices soared, forcing many people to face starvation. The extravagant spending of Louis XVI and the war debts against Britain caused a serious problem. The government’s debt became too heavy and the bankers refused to lend any more money. A Weak Leader With strong leadership, the France government could have kept control. However, Louis XVI’s indecisive actions made the system worse as he began taxing the upper classes. Dawn of the Revolution The upper classes started a “Estates-General”, an assembly of representatives from all the estates. (in Versailles)They would meet and vote. However, the 2 privileged estates often outvoted the lower estate. The National Assembly The 3rd estate voted for a National Assembly, which would pass laws and reforms for the French people. Soon, these delegates were locked out of their room. The found a tennis court and pledged to create a new constitution. This pledge was the “Tennis Court Oath”. Soon, nobles and other clergy who favored reform joined them. This caused Louis to call his mercenary of Swiss guards around the city of