Chapter 1: Why Did The Revolution Happen? Flashcards
French Society before 1774
- First Estate (clergy of Catholic Church, 0.5% of population) & Nobels (140,000 in a population of 28 million BUT owned 1/4 - 1/3 of all land) in 2nd had tax privileges and the Nobels could receive feudal dues from those living on their land while The Church took tithes from each parish (owned 6% of all land, controlled education/hospitals/poverty relief) from the vast majority Third Estate (bourgeoisie, some of which were richer than Nobels but had not their rights)
- Majority (80%) lived in countryside and were peasants / ‘PAYSANS’ = lots of poverty, French not always first language
- Paris population of 620,000 by 1789 (one of the largest European cities) w/ crowded poorer districts = difficult to control
How France was Ruled (before 1774)
- Main offices of state located with royals at the Palace of Versailles 20 miles SW of Paris
- Some provinces had long history of Royal rule called PAYS D’ÉTATS. Some had been more recently acquired called PAYS D’ÉLECTION. They had more privileges and different systems of taxation. King relied on private tax collectors.
- Provinces of France ruled from Paris through local, royal officials called INTENDANTS.
- No French parliament, ruled by Royal Edict, which had to be registered / ratified by one of 13 regional high courts of law called PARLEMENTS, consisting of small numbers of aristocratic judges.
- BIG PROBLEM was That France was a patchwork of different forms of administration/legal systems/taxes, as there was no single representative body that passed laws covering the whole country
- France had rich maritime trade & a colonial empire that benefited from Slave Labour on Caribbean Plantations. Had a large navy & army, but impoverished by war (Seven Years’ War 1756-63). Major religious wars between Protestants & Catholics in 16 - 17th century UNTIL 1680s = CATHOLICISM.
The King
- King could make laws, but was bound by the laws.
- King could override the PARLEMENTS in a special ceremony called a LIT DE JUSTICE.
- King could also order arbitrary imprisonment by special warrants, known as LETTRES DE CACHET.
- King met with ministers separately to discuss their department, not collectively, creating COURT FACTIONS that worked against each other.
- Louis XVI came into power 1774 with huge amounts of debt. Born 1754, became DAUPHIN.
- Betrothed to Marie Antoinette in 1770 = unpopular AUSTRIA = failed to consummate / no male heirs until 1781
- Duty to faith, shy & uncommunicative, stubborn & inconsistent, not powerful presence compared to LOUIS XIV, bad reputation (lack of manly vigour, liked boats & watches)
Frances Financial Problems
- Financial deficit was a symbol of regimes failure to modernise and inadequacy of the king, and ultimately lead to 1789 estates general.
- INADEQUATE TAX SYSTEM: privilege, regional variations, tax farming
- War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48 cost 1 billion livres, Seven Years’ War cost 1.3 billion
- War debt = excessive borrowing = high interest which reacher 50% by 1764
- 1720s: govt income = 160 million livres, 1740s = 300 million but deficit at 25 million livres
BUT debts from dynastic wars were common, and only Britain, and possibly The Netherlands, had a very developed system of public finance. PLUS growth of new ideas, rising middle classes, urban discontent, and rioting when prices rose was common in Europe…
Work of Turgot
- took over as Controller General of finances in 1774 (found PROBLEMS = no system of accounts, out of date balance sheets, annual deficit of 37 mill & total debt of 235 mill)
- SIX EDICTS = proposed abolishing price controls, prompting enterprise & reducing restriction of guild trade = reform-minded / physiocrat
- BUT financial policy didn’t take precedence over foreign policy ( see 1778, when France helped American civil war)
ACTIONS:
> improved communications
> speedy carriages called Turgotines
> aimed to replace forced road labour (corvée)
> ended price controls = bread rioting ‘Flour wars’ = privileged interests turned against him including QUEEN = dismissed in 1776
Turgot had many sound ideas, but wasn’t concerned if they were unpopular and underestimated the fury of opposition to free trad in grain.
Work of Necker (1st time)
- Swiss Protestant Banker, Director General of finances from 1776 (resigned 1781, recalled 1788)
- focus on nature of royal finances = aimed to increase Crown’s share of farmed out taxations & reduce 70,000 “venal officies” to essentially increase confidence in royal finances
- borrowed 500 mill livres
- published royal accounts for 1st time - Compte Rendu 1781 = seen as refomer
BUT relatively small increase in royal income, predicated surplus based on unrealistic spending figures, became unpopular for publishing court’s spending on pensions & royal household (however, this only equated to under 100 million) …………… by 1786, spending = 633 mill, income = 472 mill, greatest expenditure = 259 mill in debt increase
Necker created problems by disguising extent of the debt and then encouraging the early calling of the estates general.
Work of Calonne
- traditional Nobel official, Charles de Calonne, as Controller General of Finances in 1783
- found total debt of over 100 mill & high annual repayments
- established ‘sinking fund’ & reissued gold coinage to prevent counterfeiting
- 1786 MAJOR PLAN: three prongs = economies, new land tax to end privilege & free trade to increase prosperity by ending internal customs
- to a void hostility by PARLEMENTS he called ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES 1787 to share responsibilities for reform = group failed to agree AND he lost support of King = dismissed & exiled
- Calonne overestimated his ability to persuade the assembly of notables to make reforms
Why did the three major financial reformers fail & what was the result?
- no one of them retained support of Louis XVI
- honest & realistic minister were unpopular = Turgot faced riots on grain prices & Calonne was abused as ‘Monsieur Déficit’ WHILE Necker was popular for the wrong reasons
- FAILURE to reform showed enduring nature of privilege & detrimental effect of war BUT didn’t make monarch personally unpopular, stop govt functioning & despite debt, 1778-83 war had gone well THUS perceived need to do something about debt was more pressing than actual debt
- idea that problems could be solved by nation proved fatal to Monarchy = Public interest in financial reform was unprecedented in 1780s, as shown by best seller Compte Rendu = limited success of three reformers = need for more than a new appointment = Estates General for first time since 1614 thus had the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT EFFECT OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
Enlightenment Ideas
REASON & SCIENCE
- Issac Newton, Denis Diderot’s Encyclopaedia (published between 1750-77), Buffon as a fore-runner of Darwin in the theory of evolution
- Ideas of questioning outdated beliefs & the bible = religion stood in the way of progress (see Voltaire)
POLITICS
- John Locke’s ‘natural rights’ induced the American Declaration of Independence 1776 ‘life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness’ = if governments were dictatorial or oppressive they broke the ‘contract’ between the rulers and the ruled so could legitimately be overthrown
- Baron de Montesquieu disagreed with Locke / less democratic, but disagreed with absolute monarchs = despotism = praised English model (Church & nobility as institutions which shared power)
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’ of 1762 & the ‘General Will’
- SEE ALSO Rousseau’s ‘Confessions’ and ‘Emile’ = modern world as too far away from natural virtues (purity, honest, etc) = touched Marie Antoinette who visited his grave = idea that ‘the people’ lived purer lives than the rich / innate wisdom
The Impact of the American Revolution & War of Independence
- constitution in line with Montesquieu (separate powers), ‘natural right’ in Declaration of Indendence 1776 = ideas of Enlightenment found practical expression in America
- American literature eagerly read after end of war 1783 = Washington as heroic, Marquis de La Fayette as renowned, Benjamin Franklin, American ambassador, was mobbed by admirers
America fought for similar ideas as the french (AND ALL THE DEBT):
- no taxation without representation
- ‘all men are created equal’
- the idea of natural rights
- religious equality, and toleration
- the right to rebel against unjust and tyrannical, monarchical rule
How Important were Enlightenment Idea?
- Enlightenment ideas spread through salons: aristocratic hostess, invite a range of guests to discuss art, literature and politics
- New ideas discussed in increasing number of cafés and in the growing numbers of newspapers (3 in 1700 to over 80 by 1785)
- Ideas discussed mainly among the educated elite, so vast peasant masses would not have been influenced directly
- The Enlightenment divided the French elites, Noble critics of the government found themselves popular heroes
- The whole vocabulary of politics changed: ‘national sovereignty’ & ‘right of man’
Middle Class Demands
- 1700: 700,000 INCREASED TO 1780: 2.3 million
- Greater book ownership, more associations & discussion groups, resentment about outdated privilege, flourishing underground literature critiquing corruption of society
- Opposed to censorship of church, & social and trade controls like CUSTOMS POSTS and Nobels’ tolls on trade
- middle ranking priests were enthusiastic reformers, restful about domination of high offices (CURÉRS kept poor by tithes), critics of absenteeism & pluralism
Urban discontent
- 1/5 of population of 28 million lived in cities: PARIS 620k, LYON 145k, only 8 more cities with populations over 50k
- easier to become a master (craftsman employing workers) after Turgot’s reforms to guilds (40,ooo by 1780) BUT workers were strictly controlled
- BAS PEUPLE (urban underclass) servants, street sweepers, cobblers, pedlars, etc
- The destitute below them = beggars, street children & 25,000 prostitutes
- ongoing tension between city authority and lower urban classes - overcrowded
- rapid urban growth meant decreased authority of church
- poor living conditions, rising food prices, food riots & danger of unemployment, greater social awareness & literacy levels ( number of books owned by wag earners x3 during 18th century)
Urban Economic Problems from 1787
- lower class district (faubourgs) made part of old inner city by construction of new city walls, with custom posts and gates built by the General Tax Farm between 1785 and 1787 = higher prices of food
- Series of bad harvests and short-term rising economic distress in winters of 1788 and 89
- unmpleoyemnt rose to 80,000 in Paris & slump in textiles
- crowds ransacked food warehouses in Marseilles in March 1789
- Orleans saw riots against shortages and food prices in April 1789
- May 1789 attacks on tax offices in Limoux
- Food prices peak in July 1789 = BASTILLE
RURAL Economic Problems & Discontent
- LONG TERM, peasants under pressure from taxes to state - the TAILLE (land tax) and indirect taxes such as the GABELLE (slat tax) & tithes & feudal dues, & Nobels tried to take more land / local landlords encouraging on ‘common rights’ = voiced in ‘cahiers’
- peasant population = 23 million
- crisi of winters 1788-89
- sharecropping produced poverty, only 1/3 peasants owned their land (mostly smaller farms with more quality soil, the rest rented)
- explosions of violence at Turgot attempting to end control of food prices
- rural labourers often worked in trades to were hit by trade downturns like 1788-78 (especially textiles) = migrated to town - overcrowding
- winter 1988-89: peasant refused to pay taxes in NE & Franche Compté area, Nobel’s chateaux attacked in Provence, Artois attacks on lords’ game, Aix seizing back of grain payments = forerunning to Sumer of 1789
