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Three Causes Of The French Revolution

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The French Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, and experienced violent periods of political turmoil. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, it profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies. There are mainly three aspects of the causes of the French Revolution—political, economic and cultural. The inequality of the French government’s policies in favor of the first two estates is a main factor of the French Revolution. A chart revealing the life of Frenchmen in 1789shows the differences among the nobles, clergies and the Third Estate. The first two estates include only about 3% of total population, owned …show more content…

The idea expressed by Rousseau in The People Should Have Power that “Man is born free. No man has any natural authority over others, force does not give anyone that right. The power to make laws belongs to the people and only to the people” influenced people who been suppressed by the royals and the aristocrats, and the independence of the United States is a perfect example for the Frenchmen to follow. Some people, such as historian Albert Mathiez, claims that leadership fell to the middle class with their knowledge of the ideas of the Enlightenment that “The middle class… was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The Revolution came from them- the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” Although the idea is true considering the low literacy among people in the 18th century, without the support of the working classes, the overthrow of the monarchy cannot be done. Lord Acton suggests that “…the suffering of the people was not greater than they had been before. The ideas of the philosophes were not directly responsible for the outbreak…[but] the spark that changed thought into action was supplied by the Declaration of American Independence.” As supporters of American Independence, Frenchmen are familiar with that “news”. Being influenced by both events, revolution occurred. Also, with the invention of printing press, thoughts went faster than ever through cartoons and articles. However, we must see that those articles have preferences, and they are somehow propaganda-like. As a result, they may be exaggerating the miserable side to smear their enemies. In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen published in 1789, we can see a deep influence from Rousseau. It says “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights…”. The deep influence of Enlightenment

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In your unit study, you explored the causes and effects, characteristics, as well as the consequences, of each of these revolutions. What did they have in common? How did they differ? For this portfolio, you will complete this document as you explore the similarities and differences between the French and American Revolutions.

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The most important cause of the Democratic Revolutions of the seventeen-seventy's and the eighteen-ten’s was political because the people did not have a voice in the government. Before the French Revolution, France was ruled by monarchies. Kings and queens ruled France and had the power of its people. For example, in the article of the “ French Revolution” it states that during their ruling time, they enjoyed his power by using the “ Letter de Cachet” to arrest innocent people. As well, they did not care about their citizens.

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Question #5   The French Revolution was an influential part of history  that was inspired by liberal and radical ideas.   The Revolution  was known to be the Revolution that upset the course of history.   The result of the  French Revolution was the decline of the  theocracies and also absolute monarchies.   Instead of having  theocracies and absolute monarchies they had republics and  democracies.

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French overthrew their internal government, while Haiti overthrew their external government. The French revolution was the start of enlightenment ideas coming into place in Europe. The french were in debt The French monarchs had unlimited power and also declared themselves as representatives of god. This revolution stirred  among the French leading to the rise of Napoleon. The Haitian Revolution influenced slave rebellions in the United States and the British Colonies.

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This form of government did not contain a complexly balanced, strong, and independent executive.” This was the exact form of government many revolutionaries wanted; a government where the majority of the power rested with the people, instead of one overpowering

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The French Revolution was a drastic time for the people of France. In 1789, the majority of people were living in poverty and dealing with terrible conditions. People were split into three estates: the first, second, and third, the first being the wealthiest. Political, economic, and social situations were what contributed to people’s desire for change. The three main, or biggest causes of the French Revolution, were taxes, inequality, and lack of reform.

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The French Revolution was one of the most significant wars that changed France’s history. The Revolution started in 1789 and ended in 1799 and was mainly initiated by the conditions affecting the Third Estate. Louis XVI was predominately the king during this time period but little did he know that an uprising among the peasants was happening. The French Revolution was caused by the Enlightenment ideas because of the American Revolution, the knowledge of rights, and the questioning of France’s government. The American Revolution was basically the “fire” that ignited the change the Third Estate wanted to see in their country.

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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.

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During the 18th and 19th century, revolutions were happening on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, facilitated by the ease with which ideas and information could travel by sea. These revolutions aimed to produce liberty and equality for all, a radical new idea that came about in the Enlightenment Era. The French Revolution began in 1789, when the French National Assembly wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It continued in 1792 and 1793, when the constitution was written, and culminated in 1818, when France finally abolished slave trade. The French Revolution best lived up to the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality because of the rights and freedoms that were guaranteed to every citizen without discrimination through two important documents: the Constitution and the Rights of Man.

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Socio-economic tensions were the main reason for the collapse of royal authority in France in 1789. Although other factors such as religion, enlightenment and also short-term mistakes are often blamed for the collapse of royal authority in France in 1789. The three-estate system was the social hierarchy in which French citizens had to live simply based on which estate they were born into. It was created with each of the three estates or the three sections in society having the power to decide on important factors within the country such as deciding on the levying of new taxes and undertaking reforms in the country The three-estate system or the estates of the realm contained three estates, the first estate being the clergy, the second estate

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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,

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During the French Revolution, people fought and killed for the things they believed in, specifically rights. It was started for many things, including resentment of royal absolutism, rise of enlightenment ideals, unmanageable national debt, and the unfair treatment of the Third Estate. The French Revolution produced written works such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which served as a model of man’s inalienable right to liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. Everyone during the Revolution agreed on and wanted one thing: rights. However, not everyone wanted people to have this privilege, and cared more for themselves.

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The French Revolution all began after people in France decided it was time to fight for their rights and freedom and escape the tyranny that took place and give the people more power. At the time King Louis XVI was the French king and had power from 1774 to 1792 and was later executed in 1793. In France, the people were divided into three separate social estates, clergy, nobility, and the commoner as the lowest and the highest above all of course would be the king. The Enlightenment was a movement by intellectuals who promoted reason and science, and they began to question the system in place at the time in France and they began to spread revolutionary ideas that got people thinking about change. The “French Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideals” and when the ideas began to spread people were newly educated about something they never thought about, and after

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Firstly, the French Revolution was a

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In order to repair this problem, Sieyes demands that the third estate have true representatives in the Estates-General selected by the people and an equal amount of representatives to the other two orders together. Both of these demands seem very reasonable, especially considering that the third estate made up about 95 % of the population of France. Additionally, as Sieyes also mentions in his pamphlet, why is it fair that the nobles and the clergy are simply born into a higher class and have more rights and advantages than the people who are born into the third estate? Everybody is born and created equally and should have an equal amount of rights. Descent is not a fair determining factor of class and representation.

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