AOS 1 Unit 3 - Causes France Flashcards
First estate percentage of population?
0.5%
First estate members
clergy including cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests
Privileges of first estate
- owned 10% land
- gained money from the tithe
- rented land to peasants
- didn’t pay state tax
Second estate percentage of population?
0.5-1.5%
Second estate members
- Nobility of the sword (noblesse d’epee) - those who had been born noble
- Nobility of the robe (noblesse de robe) - those who had been made noble by the king or had purchased it
Privileges of second estate
- excused from corvee
- exempt from paying taille
- exempt from military service except for being an officer
- land ownership
Third estate members
commons, peasants, workers and bourgeoisie
Third estate percentage of population?
98%
Absolutism
power held in one person
Grievances of third estate
- lack of political/social/economic power
- paid bulk of taxes
- poor living standards
- unable to move up social ladder
Benevolence
good in purpose and intent
Divine right
monarch receives the right to rule directly from God and is only accountable to God
Absolute monarchy
concentrated power in the monarch who is not restricted by a constitution. There is no separation between church and state and the kings person is inviolable.
Powers of an absolute monarch
- make laws
- appoint ministers
- direct foreign policy
- command army
- control taxes
Limits of an absolute monarch
- accountable to church
- could not change law of succession (male primogeniture)
- could not change the rights of the estates
Legal system
- King appoints council of ministers
- 13 high law courts called Parlements
- King could control laws
- parlements could issue a remonstrance to delay a law
Public perception of an absolute monarch
- competent
- benevolent
- powerful
- legitimate
- confident
Characteristics of Louis XVI
- well intentioned and sincere
- religious
- immature
- indecisive
- easily manipulated
Louis XVI HI
“timidity and mistrust of himself” - Guy Marie Sallier
“no will of his own” - Christopher Hibbert
“tiresome practical jokes” - Christopher Hibbert
Don gratuit
an annual voluntary gift tax from the church to the king, the amount decided by the church, every 5 years
Strengths of economy
Slave trade of 465,00 slaves in colonies such as Saint Domingue was profitable in selling coffee and sugar
Weaknesses of economy
- expensive customs barriers
- old farming techniques
- no central treasury system
- in debt from involvement in wars
Tithe
a compulsory tax of 1/10th of income paid to the church, 3rd estate paid
Seigneurial dues
the payments due to nobles by peasants
Venal offices
purchase of noble titles and government posts for money
Bourgeoisie
the urban middle class, having greater social and financial capital than peasants but less than aristocrats and nobility
Corvee
compulsory unpaid labour for the feudal lord usually on roads
Capitation
tax per person due to census, everyone paid
Taille
major tax based on how much land they held, church/nobles/most towns were exempt
Vingtieme
income tax of 20% on levied during times of war, everyone had to pay during and 3 years after war
Gabelle
salt tax
Feudal dues
peasants paid to rent farms 3-25%
Banalities
paid by peasants to use mills, ovens and wine press
Enlightenment definition
An intellectual movement that challenged established authority and tradition through the use of reason, including the separation of church and state and despotic rule (absolute power used in a cruel way)
De Montesquieu
- promoted separation of executive, judicial and legislative powers
- criticised absolutism
- wrote The Spirit of Laws
“gave a favourable portrayal of the British monarchy” - Jeremy Popkin
Voltaire
- reason over superstition
- religious tolerance
- seperate church and state
- freedom of speech
“the great cause of his life was the campaign against religious intolerance” - Jeremy Popkin
Rousseau
- power in the people
- general will
- citizens should overthrow the government if it fails
“man is born free yet everywhere he is in chains” - Rousseau
The Encyclopaedie (Denis Diderot)
- published 1751-80
- 70,000 articles
- guide to social inequality and corruption
- read in salons
“no man had received from nature the right to order others” - Diderot
HI - literacy rates
“one third of the French were illiterate” - William Doyle
Frances involvement in the American War of Independence (AWOI)
1778-1783
Reason for involvement in AWOI
- revenge for seven years war
- restore national pride
- secure future trade with US
Marquis de Lafayette
- was a liberal noble
- soldier in the AWOI
- brought back ideas of liberty
- influential among society
The Seven Years War
1756-1763
Social cost of AWOI
- 8000 soldier sent brought back ideas of liberty
- inspired revolutionary ideas
“laid the foundation for another in France” - Arthur Young
“brought with them seeds of independence” - Madam Campan
Economic cost of AWOI
- bankruptcy of 1788
- spent total of 1.3 billion livres
- 91% spending was loans
- left in deficit
Jacques Turgot
first finance minister under Louis
1774-1776
- widely disliked as he tried to limit the privileges of groups
- lost support after trying to expose royal spending
- reforms made no impact in long term
main reforms:
- cut spending
- fairer taxation
“the first cannonball that is fired…will force the state to public bankruptcy” - Turgot
Charles Alexandre de Calonne
third minister
1783-1787
by 1786 112 million deficit
needed tax reform
“[the system of privilege] alone infects everything” - Calonne
Jacques Necker
second finance minister
1776-1781
- successful Swiss banker
Main reforms:
- restore royal credit
- abolished total of 891 venal positions
- borrowed 520 million in high interest loans
“spurious good cheer that led France down the primrose path to perdition” - Schama
The Compte Rendu Au Roi
19 February 1781
- first public account of finances
- sold 20,000 copies within weeks
- was false, didn’t show war expenditure
- showed a 10 million livre surplus
-
Calonne’s plan for the improvement of finances
20 August 1786 presented Louis with plan
Included:
- new tax on all landowners
- new provincial assemblies
- abolition of internal tax barriers
Lomenie de Brienne
fourth minister
1787-1788
Lit de Justice 8 May 1788
- create new treasury
- replace parlements
- end venal offices
Assembly of the Notables
22 Feb-25 May 1787
144 members - all but 2 were nobles
Calonne had many enemies
they agreed with removal of internal barriers and introduction of assemblies
they didn’t want to give up their taxation privileges though
The Day of Tiles
7 June 1788
- soldiers tried to banish magistrates in Grenoble
- people stood on houses and threw tiles
- 2 killed
- the first act of violence from the people
- soldiers refused to fight - Louis had began to loose control of armed forces
The Royal Session
19 November 1787
- Brienne wanted to borrow 420 million to pay off short term loans
- the parliaments wouldn’t register the loans
- Louis did it himself
“it is legal because I will it”
=tensions between Louis and the parlements
Harvest Crisis
July 1788 hailstorm killed harvest
1788-89 harsh winter low of -21
bread price x2 from 1787 to 1789
bread riots began in August 1788
Lead up to the Estates General
- Parliament of Paris declared each estate would get one vote
- Third estate demanded voting by head and more representation
- Louis granted representation but not voting
The Society of Thirty
noble group met twice weekly in 1788-89
included Lafayette and Duport
wanted a constitution
“aristocrats against privilege” - Schama
Pamphlet War
5 July 1788 Louis invited educated people to send their opinions on the estates general to the Keeper of Seals
May 1788-April 1789 4000 pamphlets published
Abbie Sieyes
published ‘What is the Third Estate?’
20,000 pamphlet challenging order of France
“What is the third estate? everything” - Sieyes
“one of the most explosive documents of the period” - McPhee
Cahiers de Doléances
list of grievances drawn up in each electoral region by members of all estates in the lead up the the estates general meeting in May 1789. Aimed to inform the deputies what issues they should push for reform on.
Rural revolt
cold weather, unemployment and high prices
hunt for grain in cities and towns
Revellion riots
23 April 1789 a wallpaper manufacturer named Rebellion argued for lower bread prices
- people misunderstood what he said
- they marched on his mansion
- 700 killed
Estates General Meeting
5 May 1789
opening ceremony = Louis fell asleep and Necker did 3 hour speech
6 June there were disputes about presenting credentials
3rd estate wanted everyone in the same room
Sieyes proposed the clergy and nobles could join the 3rd or forfeit their rights to represent the nation
12 June the 3rd began verification as representative of the nation not estates
13 June 3 clergy joined them
Declaration of National Assembly
17 June 1789
as the assembly arrived at the Salle des Menus Plaisirs on 20 June doors were locked
The Tennis Court Oath
20 June 1789
600 deputies swore oath to write constitution
The Royal Session
23 June 1789
Louis said the assembly was null
said he would consider taxation reform
24 June soldiers sent to stop them joined the assembly
25 June 47 nobles including the Doc d’Orleans joined the assembly
26 June 6 regiments sent to Versailles
Necker’s dismissal
11 July 1789
The Municipal Revolutions
13-17 July 1789
Jean Sylvain Bailly new mayor of Paris
Lafayette made leader of militia
Fall of Bastille
14 July 1789
only held 7 prisoners
was a symbol of royal authority
Governor Launay was killed and head put on pike
600 people
first major act of violence from the people
The Night of Patriotic Delirium
4 August 1789
nobles voluntarily began giving up their titles
The Great Fear and Rural Riots
wave of fear in countryside
fear from 20 July- 6 August 1789
uprisings began March 1789
peasants refused to pay tax
invaded Lyons tax office
Reasons for the great fear
- harvest crisis of 1788
- peasant xenophobia
- political climate
- false rumours
“arose from the fear of the brigand” - Lefebvre
