Ancien regime Flashcards
Ancien regime
Rigid social structure
First estate = 150,000
Second estate = 200,000-400,000
Third estate 26.5 million people
Church owned 10% of land
Paid the tithe by everyone
Privileges = exempt from taille
Paid the don gratuit instead which was an optional payment to the King
Nobles owned 25% of land
Could be guillotined rather than hanged
Nobility of the sword had the right to carry a sword
Bourgeoisie had more in common with the second estate
Had to pay the state the taille and the church the tithe as well as grain and produce
The third estate were required to pay indirect taxes eg the Tobac and Octrois
Men had to provide the corvee royal
Absolute monarchy
“Divine right - God given
Absolute power - theoretically
Lettres de Cachet - King could imprison anyone without trial “
Expectations that the King should rule by law meaning uphold christian morality
Complex system of government / administration
Government was carried out by the King in Council - tookadvice from his own chosen council eg Nobles de Epee
Intendants were overworked so failed to effectively maintain Louis rule in the regions and collect taxes
System of venality meaning people brought their offices
Parlements were the highest magistrates courts and could send a remonstrance to the King however the King could then force the acceptance of an edict through a lit de justice
Power was concentrated and ministers focused on their reputations
Impact of the revolutionary war
damaged the French state (3.3 billion livres in debt) and gained no commercial ties
Took key enlightenment ideas eg consent of government, limited power of the leader, equality and liberty
Paris was a hotbed of intellectual debate
Benjamin Franklin had a huge impact on the American revolution
Economic problems
By 1788 - Bread cost 88% of the average wage
Internal trade barriers
1780’s decline in the textile industry as well as variations in weights and measures
Problems with royal finances
6% of expenditure was on the Court
Louis inherited 2 billion livres of debt
The seven years war cost 1.3 billion livres
Impact from the enlightenment
- Created a blue print for change - intellectual movement
- rejected and questioned dogma eg absolute monarchy and the structure of society instead favouring logic and reason
- Locke emphasised the need for consent in gov.
- Key thinkers attacked mercantilism (strict state regulation of the economy)
Extent of influence of the philosophes through academies and salons
May 1788
- Provincial parlements flooded the courts with remonstrances
- Radical pamphlets spread
- Paris Parlement led demands to end the lettre de cachet
- First estate added to call for the estates general
June 1788
- Briennes demand for an enlarged don gratuit was only partially agreed
- Taxes went unpaid
- Sporadic risings led by nobles
- Day of the Tiles in Grenoble
July 1788
- Louis committed to calling the estates general in 1789
- Breinne suspended payments from the royal treasury
August 1788
- France declared bankrupt
- May edicts were rescinded
- Brienne resigned and Necker was reinstated
Controller generals
Turgot - 1774-76 : Wanted to replace indirect taxes with the property tax his 6 proposed edicts were forgotten about in 2 months
Necker - 1777-81 : Tried to uniform the tax collecting bodies and replace venal accountants
Calonne - 1783-87 : 1786 reform package put to the assembly of notables but was rejected
Issues with taxation
- Not uniformed
July 1787
- Parliament refused to approve Brienne’s proposal for a land tax
- Ordinary parisians gathered outside the Palais Royal (Home of the Duc d’Orleon)
August 1787
- Louis banished the Parlement to Troyes to get away from the crowds
- Encouraged the idea that the royal government was despotic
September 1787
- Allowed the Paris Parlement to return
Nov 1787
Louis held a royal session where the duc de orleons was so outspoken that Louis exiled him
Parlement was forced to approve the vingtieme
Louis forced to call an estates general by 1792
May 1788
- Parlement issued the fundemental laws of the Kingdom
- May edicts were drawn up + Louis forced them through a lit de justice
- 3 months of chaos + royal control broke down
Montesquieu
defended the nobility + their privileges
separation of powers
Voltaire
Believed in civil rights + right to a fair trial
Rousseau
Believed that gov. was a contract btwn people are their rulers
Both side had obligations
Diderot
Rejected religion and supported science
Taxation
- inefficient (Collected by overworked intendants)
- Third estate had to pay the taille to the state and the tithe to the church
- Indirect taxes eg Tobac and Octrois
Issues with LXVI as King and MA as Queen
- Was not always expected to take the throne
- Little understanding of politics and was seen as weak
- MA was known as madame deficit
- Issues regarding the fact it took 8 years for them to produce a child
Intendents
- They were appointed as Royal agents to ensure taxes were paid, edicts were carried out, raising troops and requesting lettre de cachets
- They were overworked and allocated far too little staff
The law and Parlements
- 13 Parlements which were the sovereign courts and they heard civil and criminal cases
- Parlements could issue a remonstrance to get the King to look at his edicts again however Louis could overrule this through using a lit de justice
Types of nobles
- Noblesse de epee : nobility off the sword (Largely at court and were members of the Kings own family)
- Sparrow hawk nobles (They lived in the countryside and were not wealthy however clung to their titles)
Strengths of the Ancien regime
- Highly centralised
- King could take advantage of noble networks
- Functioned well for a government of that period
Weaknesses of the Ancien regime
- Inequality of privileges
- Almost universally accepted that change was necessary
- Limited by divisions
Challenges to ruling France
- No common language
- There was a North-South divide in France
- Internal custom barriers which prevented trade
- Lack of uniformity in the territories France had acquired
- Low productivity
- 1775 Flour war lead to increasing bread prices
Turgot :
- 1774-76
- Wanted to replace indirect taxes with a property tax
- 1776 issued 6 edicts which were unsuccessful and forgotten by May
- Very little support
Necker
- 1777-1781
- Restructured financial administration
- Replaced venal accountants with paid accountants
- Was successful in hitting against corruption so was popular with the third estate
Calonne
- 1783-1787
- created a 1786 Reform package (removal of internal custom barriers, land tax and end of the corvee royal)
- Put to the assembly of notables but was rejected
Impact from the American revolutionary wars
- Separation of power
- Enlightenment ideas
- Consent of the governed
Assembly of Notables
- Feb-May 1787
- 144 men were far from the rubber stamp that Louis had hoped for
- Many were influenced by enlightenment ideas and so campaigned for a fairer taxation system
- May 1787 The assembly was dismissed
Clash with parlements May 1787-May 1788
- Brienne had to turn to the parlements for support with increased taxation
- Tried to force it through with a lit de justice however Parisians gathered at the home of the due d’orleon
- Louis banished the Paris parlemenets in August 1787
