Download Causes of the French Revolution

CAUSES OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
Mr. Meester
AP European History
Pages: 592-603
FINANCIAL CRISIS & TAXES
• Following the Seven Years’ War & American Revolution The
French Government was severely in debt.
• France had problems getting enough tax revenue
• Attempts to tax the nobility were stopped by the Parlements
• Rene Maupeou nearly broke the Parlements but was dismissed
• The Parlements were run by the Nobles but had public support
• Sex scandals and living in Versailles marred the public’s view of
the monarchy
NECKER, CALONNE, & BRIENNE
• In 1781, Finance Minister Jacques Necker issued a report
that the situation wasn’t as bad as people believed.
• Necker was removed from office
• In 1786, Charles de Calonne became Minister of Finance
• He tried to encourage internal trade and new land taxes
• Calonne needed public support from the Assembly of
Notables but couldn’t get it
• Etienne de Brienne replaced Calonne but couldn’t gain
approval for new taxes
• Eventually Necker was brought back & the Estates General
was called
PROBLEMS AT THE ESTATES GENERAL
• The 3 Estates clashed immediately
• The 3rd Estate refused to let the Aristocracy & Monarchy to
determine the future alone
• The organization & voting in the Estates General was also
debated
• Old social & political differences still existed
• Public outrage caused the “Doubling of the Third”
• Most representatives brought Cahiers de Doleances
• Showed a great deal of similarity in grievances between the
estates
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY & OATH
• The 3rd Estate refused to sit a separate order & invited the
aristocracy to form a new legislature.
• Formed the National Assembly
• Louis XVI tried to reassert control over the Estates General
•
•
•
•
Locked National Assembly out of its meeting room
Led to the Tennis Court Oath
Finally agreed to voting by head
Change would spread beyond the government
FALL OF THE BASTILLE
• Louis tried again to regain control this time by using the army
and firing Necker
• The National Assembly wanted a limited monarchy
• Louis sided with conservative aristocrats
• The people of Paris reacted to these events and the price of
bread violently on July 14th 1789
• Storming of the Bastille
• The next day the National Guard gave command to Marquis
de Lafayette
• This set the precedent of common citizens influencing the fight
THE GREAT FEAR
• Unrest also existed in the French countryside where the
Great Fear led to peasant uprisings
• The Night of August 4th say the aristocrats in the National
Assembly tried to end uprisings.
• They voluntarily gave up their special privileges
• It abolished the social distinctions of the Old Regime
• Louis XVI failed to understand the significance of these
events
• The National Assembly had an ally in the people against the
king and conservative aristocrats
THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS
OF MAN
• On August 27th the National Assembly
issued a broad list of political principles
known as the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen
• Drew on the Enlightenment and other
documents
• It was directed at the abuses on the Old
Regime
• It wasn’t an accident that it was
addressed only to men
WOMEN’S MARCH ON VERSAILLES
• Louis didn’t immediately sign the
Declaration
• Bread price had remained high
for months
• 7000 armed women marched to
Versailles demanding bread
• They forced him to not only sign
but also move back to Paris