BOOK: LIBERATING FRANCE PART 1 Flashcards
1
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The old regime
- The French economy under the old regime
A
- France was an absolute monarchy
- Catholicism was the only recognized religion in France and the Church had spiritual authority and great wealth
- France was divided into provinces
- Every district had its own system of weights and measures
- The rural population was poor and extremely vulnerable
2
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- French colonies: Growing economic instability
- The taxation system
- Tax collection
A
- When France lost the Seven Years’ War with Britain (1756-1763) = Much of their territory was ceded to Britain
- “Fell upon those who could least afford it”
- Taxes owed to the King were collected by finances who paid to hold the position - known as a venal office
- There were 200-300 agents in France
- Indirect taxes are collected by a syndicate (Farmers- General)
- Louis XVI borrowing money for the American War of independence (1778-1783) = basically borrowing they own money and paying interest on it.
3
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The tithe to the Catholic Church
- Feudal Dues
A
- Known as the Gallican Church
- Approximately owned 10 per cent of the land
- The Third Estate paid a tithe to the Church, a tax on their produce of between 5 and 10 per cent of their harvest.
- From 3 - 25 per cent of their produce was paid over to the local lord
- The poorest of all were the sharecroppers. Up to 80 per cent of their produces was forfeit in rents, taxes and dues.
4
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- Social inequality under the old regime
- Rural life
- Town dwellers
A
- Divided into orders or estates
- 1 = Clergy and the Roman Catholic Church
- 2 = Nobles or those who had acquired nobility - the aristocracy of France
- 3 = Those of common birth
- Both determined status, opportunity and privilege
- Over eighty per cent of whom were peasants who drew a living from subsistence farming
- Town dwellers made up 5 to 8 per cent of the population
5
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The Roman Catholic Church
A
- Dominated most substantial cities and towns, physically, economically and psychologically
- Provide protection, spiritual guidance, etc
- Privilege… for many it was symbolized by the taxation system
- Had a tax-exempt status
6
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The Estates
A
- Clergy and the Gallican Church (0.6 per cent of the population)
- 0.4 per cent of the population but owned 33 per cent of the land
- Noblesse d’ pee = Nobles of the sword
- Noblesse de robe = Nobles of the robe
- Venal offices (50,000)
7
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- Bankruptcy and the need for reform
- The foreign debt
A
- Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)
- Louis XVI: appointing Necker (Swiss by birth) as Comptroller General of the nation’s finances
- Necker published the first public account of the financial situation of the French state = Compte Rendu au Roi. however, it did NOT include a record of the extraordinary accounts (the reals costs of the war
8
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- Callone’s plan for a fairer tax system
- Reactions to Calonne’s plan: The Assembly of Notables
- Reactions to Calonne’s plan: The aristocratic revolt
A
- 20th August 1786 = presented the Plan for the Improvement of the Finances to Louis XVI
- Success of Calonne’s plan depended on the support of the King and the compliance of the Notables
- The Notables accepted the idea of local assemblies. They also agreed to the changes of the corvee
9
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- Brienne’s attempted compromise
- Parlement: “Maintain the citizens in the enjoyment of rights which the laws assure them” - Sutherland
A
- With the notables dissolved, Brienne took the tax decrees directly to the Parlement of Paris
- Parlement of Paris: Register royal edicts so that they became law. It was also the sovereign court of appeal
- Parlement of Paris: They do not have the power to REJECT the king’s edicts, ONLY to delay them
- Saw the Parlement “as a barrier to despotism of which everyone was weary”
10
Q
LF: TATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The Parlement of Paris as the champion of the people
- Schama: “The constitutional principle of the French monarchy was that taxes should be consented to by those who had to bear them”
A
- July 2nd 1787 = Parlement of Paris rejected Brienne’s tax laws
- Without the consent of the people, the Parlement would not consent to registration
- 6 August 1787: Louis attempted to assert his absolute authority
- 15 August 1787 = Louis XVI exiled the Parliament to Troyes. This decision encouraged popular UPRISINGS
- Parlement: appeared as the champions against the ‘despotism’ of the king’s ministers
- ‘The magistrates’ return to Paris was greeted as a triumph’
11
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- Absolutism in action: the royal session
- William Doyle = “open war”
A
- Louis XVI orders the loans be immediately registered
- Duc d’orleans: heir to a long tradition of obstructionism
- Louis XVI: “That is of no importance to me… It is legal because I will it” = Outright rebellion
- Lettres de cachet = exiling Duc d’brelans and two leading magistrates
12
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- Bankruptcy
- Schama
- Brienne
A
- Only 400,000 livres left in the treasury
- Schama: Enough money for the government to function for one afternoon”
- Louis XVI: On August 8th called for the Estates General on 1 May 1789
- Brienne resigned on 24th August and declared that Necker is “the only man I know who could restore the confidence of the people”
13
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The Harvest Crisis
A
- 13th July 1788 = A massive hail storm ha d destroyed much of the grain harvest
- Destroyed apple crops in the north of France
- Wheat crops that sustained the greatest damage
- “France’s rural area were experiencing turmoil of their own”
- 1789 a four pound loaf of bread cost almost double what it had in 1787
- “Natural disasters turned into an economic and political crisis for the ancien regime”
14
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The Third Estate demands change
A
- Declaration by the parlement on 25 September = lost support from the bourgeois and common people
- The Third Estate demanded greater representation
- 5th december 1788 = The king announced he would grant double-representation to the Third Estate, but did not make a decision on the issue of voting
15
Q
LF: ATTEMPTS TO REFROM THE OLD REGIME
- The Pamphlet War (1788-1789)
- What is the Third Estate? A call to revolution
A
- 4000 pamphlets published between May 1788 and April 1789
- Abbe Sieyes = Challenge to royal absolutism
- Challenged the old order of Estates and, with it, the system of privilege
- What is the Third estate? Everything? Everything (Shackled and oppressed)
- What had it been before in the political order? Nothing
- What does it demand? To become something therein
- 25,000,000 men
- Two orders = Think only of their privileges
- Third estate = “form a National Assembly”
