Pre-Revolution France
Up until 1789, France was an absolute monarchy ruled by a King who claimed his total power to govern to be God-given. In 1775, that divine King became 19-year-old Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon. The new French King was initially happily welcomed to the throne by his subjects, as he “wanted to do well by his people, including the poor, if only he could determine what it meant”; but he was not able to do so due to circumstances that “made him more of a prisoner than a prince, and far removed from his subjects.” Indeed, Louis XVI inherited one of the world’s most powerful and wealthy dynasties, but he also governed a nation that was choked by mounting debt, rampant fiscal mismanagement, and a highly inequitable system
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When the colonies became the United States of America in 1776, France had gained absolutely nothing from the American War. In fact, the country now faced enormous financial debt from taking out international loans to finance its war expenses, which only added to the already existing debt from the Seven Years War (1754 – 1763), during which France not only lost its Navy, but also its territories in North America. Its policy of borrowing huge sums brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy by the mid-1780s, with the Crown’s debt mounting so high that fifty percent of the state’s income went to pay the interest on the …show more content…
To make matters worse, for the past decade, the French populace had been suffering from famine because of bad harvesting and sky-high price of even bare necessities. The demand for manufactured goods plummeted, causing many workers, farmers, and traders to be without work. The laws of the land were becoming increasingly burdensome to the Third Estate, while excusing the clergy and nobility from paying taxes. Since they already had to pay tax on land (taille), tax on food and drink (aides), tax for the upkeep of the clergy (tithes), tax on salt (gabelle), and many more, the common people were understandably angry with the entire burden falling on them while the other two Estates remained exempt from taxation. Clearly, “Laws themselves [were] nothing but instruments at the hands of the rich, to oppress the
Before the French Revolution, France was a feudal kingdom. Louis XVI ruled the land, and
The Seven Years’ War was yet another war fought partly because of bad leadership. After spending a large portion of French finances paying for the war, the French lost their North American colonies; by the time of the French Revolution, France no longer had income from these holdings and was deeply in debt. This massive debt problem fueled the French Revolution, which in turn fueled more unnecessary wars in Europe and during which France’s financial problems were not getting fixed. After the Revolution and during Napoleon’s early rule, France’s financial problems were alleviated, but this accomplishment was reversed by the Napoleonic
During the American Revolution, Britain lost the war against the United States as they declared themselves an independent United States of America. Ready for revenge for the loss of the Seven Years’ War, King Louis XIV entered the war with the United States which led to a financial crisis for the country of France. This crisis led to food shortage and high taxes on the privilege few which later resulted in desperation. The peasants and the urban poor were affected the most with the rise of food prices.
Revolution Era publicized the two the possibilities for fundamental changes and its disappointments were more the focus than any other problem. During the late 18th century slavery was a dominant society and was approved by white Americans. Other the other token, many black Americans did not approve slavery. Although, the African Americans confronted in the Revolutionary principles and the new evangelical religious group that emphasized the equality of all religious society and insufficiently from a failure in the profit of tobacco in many important slave areas of Virginia and close by states.
Around 1763, Britain was in immense debt from funding the 7 Years War (French and Indian War). Britain was lacking revenue and they decided that the colonists were responsible to help them since they took part in the war as well.. Britain started taxing the colonists by enacting many different acts until 1776. Colonists did not think very highly of these taxations and believed it was an infringement of their rights to tax them without their consent. Eventually, Colonists became so resistant to British Rule, that the Independence Movement was started. Colonists were upset acts were being imposed on them without consent . Their resentment from trade regulations grew thus leading to rebellion. Colonists attempted reconciling
According to an excerpt from Miss Betham-Edwards, ed., Arthur Young’s Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789, it states that “there is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay… they had to pay a tax of 42 pounds of wheat, and three chickens, to one noble and 168 pounds of oats, one chicken and 1sou… (Doc. E)”. This quote shows that the amount of the tax that the 3rd estates have to pay is excessively abundant. Also, they are the ones making the least money compared to other estates. The people of the 3rd estates had a difficult time paying the taxes, eventually, they couldn’t take it and planned to change the taxation system.
“In the south of France there is a size. There is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay.”(Doc 1). The third estate produced all of the food and manual labor for France but were also taxed the most for their property. This shows that the people of France weren’t treated equally and they realized that it wasn’t fair that their wages were being stolen from them by someone they
Louis XIV 's France was an absolute monarchy, meaning the king had the power, control, finances and the nation in his hands more then ever before. In the 17th century, France was the strongest and wealthiest nation in Europe, and the head of the state, the king, was the most influential person of the time. In the ideas of the scientific revolution and the soon-coming changes of the enlightenment the country was developing. For a few decades France was not involved in any major wars or battles and the peace helped the population grow fast.
During 1780s to 1790s France was in total chaos. France was ruled by the Bourbon family King Louis XVI from 1754 to 1793, it was an absolute monarch and they had absolute power and did not share it with a legislature. The situation was already bad before Louis XVI began his reign, but situation got worse. In the end, there was a revolution in France and a vast amount changes to the society and the government of France. Louis XVI himself was executed and killed; while France was established as a democratic country. There were different reasons for Louis's downfall: social, economic, political conditions. Also reasons such as the Age of Enlightenment when some philosophers had new ideas of how the country should be ruled, the inequalities
One major cause of the old regime were the taxes and laws between the three estates. As seen in Document 2, “the 3rd estate paid 50% of income in taxes while the 1st and 2nd paid less than 5%” (Doc 2). This clearly shows that the most populated estate, the third estate, paid half of their income as their taxes. Larger amounts of taxes the third estate paid versus the lower amount of taxes for the first and second estates. Another significant cause was the unequal three estates and the third estate was overpowered. The third estate had more power in laws and taxes and their relationship with the lower estates were not good. As demonstrated in Document 7, the cartoon of the “The political and social system in France” (Doc 7). This cartoon proves the relationship between the third estate and the two lower estates. The lower estates didn’t have anything to do with taxes and laws and the third estates were all in laws and taxes. The final
In 1787, a few years after the British recognized American independency, the Revolution in France was beginning to unravel. France was desperately in need of financial assistance; it lacked a National Bank and National Treasury system. France had supported the American colonists in the American Revolution, and also gave financial support in the War of Austrian Succession, and the Seven Years War. A combination of the financial support given in these wars, maintaining their military, and the fact that France spent more then it collected in taxes each year, resulted in a substantial debt crisis for France.
A major French issue that Cahier highlights in this document was the bias shown by the governments taille tax. The taille was an important direct tax on the Third Estate that became a major source of governmental income. The fact that the First and Second Estates were exempt from this tax lead to wide dissatisfaction among the Third Estate.
Before the revolution France was ruled under the Ancien Regime system, meaning the country and all its people were under the reign of an absolute monarch. This was a tradition that had been upheld through the years and the Royal family had enjoyed a life funded by the people of France, the royal family’s lifestyle unaffected by the situation outside their palace. The Palace, Versailles, was built by king Louis XIV and the expenses for building this “village” was very high, and in later years the cost for its upkeep would play a significant role in Frances financial difficulties. In order for these difficulties to be overcome France needed a tax reform. The government had a very high tax rate on the poorest of their people, the Third Estate, and they were still not getting enough money to get out of their
The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy
The French Revolution was a period of social and political turmoil in France from 1789 to 1799 that greatly affected modern and French history. It marked the decline of powerful monarchies and the rise of democracy, individual rights and nationalism. This revolution came with many consequences because of the strive for power and wealth, but also had many influential leaders attempting to initiate change in the French government and the economy. In 1789 the people of France dismissed King Louis XVI of his title, took apart his monarchy and executed him, his wife Marie Antoinette and thousands of nobles. The French set up a new system of government with specific revolutionary ideals, including liberty, equality and fraternity. This was a