Download FileNewTemplate

The French Revolution
The Old Order
• The Old Regime was the social and political
system of France in the 1770s.
• Under this system the people of France were
divided into 3 large social classes or estates.
• Two of the estates had privileges, including
access to high offices and exemptions from
paying taxes.
The Old Order
• The First Estate
– Consisted of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church
– They owned 10% of the land in France.
– Made up only 2% of the population of France.
– Paid 2% of their income in taxes.
– Scorned Enlightment ideas
The Old Order
• The Second Estate
– Made up of rich nobles.
– Held highest offices in government.
– Made up less than 1% of the population.
– Owned 20% of the land in France.
– Paid 0% of their income in taxes.
– They too disagreed about Enlightment ideas.
The Old Order
• The Third Estate
– Included bourgeoisie (the middle class), urban
workers, and peasant farmers.
• Bourgeoisie – bankers, factory workers, merchants,
professionals and skills artisans.
• Urban workers – tradespeople, apprentices, laborers, and
domestic servants.
– Paid high taxes (50% of their income) and lacked
privileges.
– Had no power to influence government.
– Embraced the Enlightenment ideas.
– Resented the First and Second Estates.
The Forces of Change
• New Ideas About Government
– Inspired by the success of the American Revolution.
– Structure of society was questioned.
– People in the Third Estate began to demand equality,
liberty, and democracy.
The Forces of Change
• A Weak Leader
– King Louis XVI paid little attention to government
advisors and had little patience for the details of
governing.
– Rather than cutting expenses, Louis put off dealing
with the money emergency until there was no money
left.
– His only solution was to tax the nobility (the Second
Estate).
– The Second Estate forced the king to call a meeting of
the Estates-General.
Dawn of the Revolution
• The Estates-General
– An assembly of representatives for all three estates.
– Clergy and the nobles dominated the Estates-General.
– Each estate’s delegates met in a separate hall to vote,
and each estate had one vote.
– The two privileged estates could always outvote the
Third Estate.
– The Third Estate insisted all three estates meet
together and that each delegate have a vote.
– The king did not like this idea and kept with the rules
for the meeting.
Dawn of the Revolution
• The National Assembly
– The Third Estate was eager to make changes in the
government.
– Third Estate decided to name themselves the National
Assembly and to pass laws and reforms in the name of the
French people.
– The National Assembly proclaimed the end of absolute
monarchy and the beginning of representative government.
– Third Estates delegates were then locked out of the
meeting.
– The Third Estates delegates broke down a door to an indoor
tennis court and pledged to stay until they had drawn up a
new constitution. This became the Tennis Court Oath.
Dawn of the Revolution
• Storming the Bastille
– Citizens were afraid the king would use military force to
dismiss the National Assembly.
– People began to gather weapons but they needed
gunpowder.
– On July 14, 1789 a mob searching for gunpowder and
arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison.
– The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of
revolution to the French people.