1.8. The Estates General

Question 1

When was brienne forced to resign?

Answer 1

26th August 1788 when the state couldn’t borrow any more money

Question 2

What were high bread prices fuelled by?

Answer 2

A catastrophic harvest which lead to widespread urban unrest in the second half of 1788 and attacks on chateaux and tax offices in rural France

Question 3

What did Louis do to restore confidence in the government?

Answer 3

Restored necker as controller general and made him a member of the council of state

Question 4

What did necker convince the king to do?

Answer 4

Advance the calling of the estates general to May 1789

Question 5

When was the last calling of the estates?

Answer 5

1614

Question 6

How did the parlements want the meeting of the estates general to be like?

Answer 6

Like the old form- voting by order and each estate sitting separately

Question 7

What did the third estate want for the estates general?

Answer 7

Voting by head and each representative was given one vote

Question 8

What did the dispute of the third estate and parlements about the third estate cause?

Answer 8

A storm of protest against the parlements, undermining their position in public opinion

Question 9

What did the king and necker do after the protests?

Answer 9

They doubled the representation of the third estate

Question 10

Who could take part in preliminary meetings?

Answer 10

Any man over 25 who was on the tax rolls, but was not a servant, actor, or bankrupt

Question 11

What was a fatal error in the estates general?

Answer 11

The issue of what voting mechanism would be used

Question 12

What happened on the 24th January 1789?

Answer 12

Louis requested he hear ‘the wishes and grievances of our people’ and would be recorded in the special books called cahier de doléances

Question 13

How would they air their grievances?

Answer 13

The three estates would meet separately in each local constituency and those eligible to vote in the election would air their grievances

Question 14

How many were able to become politically active for the first times?

Answer 14

Millions

Question 15

What were the consistent messages in the list of grievances?

Answer 15

-need to reform the tax system
-nobility wanted to take a more leading role and limit the absolutism of the king
-clergy saw a need for a spiritual reform, but saw no need for ending privileges
-the unfairness of the system the third estate had to endure needed to be radically altered. The bourgeoise also wanted recognition in the running of the state
-the tone of the grievances was reforming in nature- they didn’t want the end the monarchy

Question 16

How were the deputies chosen for the estate general?

Answer 16

They were chosen through an elective process that began in February 1789

Question 17

What circulated the streets?

Answer 17

Pamphlets outlining what the third estate should try to achieve at Versailles

Question 18

What was the most famous pamphlet?

Answer 18

What is the third estate? written by the Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, who was deputy for the third estate

Question 19

What did each of the constituencies have?

Answer 19

A separate electoral assembly for each order

Question 20

What was every constituency expected to produce?

Answer 20

Two clerical, two noble, and four third estate deputies

Question 21

How many deputies were from the first estate?

Answer 21

303

Question 22

What percentage of the deputies from the first estate were from the lower clergy?

Answer 22

75%

Question 23

How many deputies were from the second estate?

Answer 23

282

Question 24

What percentage of the second estate deputies were the most wealthiest people?

Answer 24

60%

Question 25

What percentage of the second estate deputies were minor nobility with smaller land holdings?

Answer 25

33% (1/3)

Question 26

How many deputies were from the third estate?

Answer 26

578

Question 27

Who were the majority of the third estate deputies?

Answer 27

The bourgeoise

Question 28

How many peasant deputies were there?

Answer 28

2, both from Brittany

Question 29

How did the proceedings open?

Answer 29

With royal protocol and a sense of pomp and ceremony

Question 30

What did the higher clergy in the first estate and the second estate want?

Answer 30

Each estate to meet and vote separately as they thought the first and second estate would vote the same way since they were more privileged

Question 31

What did the third estate want?

Answer 31

They wanted all three estates to vote together as they thought that with the help of the poor priests they would outvote the higher clergy and nobles

Question 32

When did proceedings begin?

Answer 32

4th May