Origins of French Revolution Flashcards
Who did the King meet with to discuss policy formation?
Conseil des Depeche ( Church)
Conseil d’Etat (State + Foreign Affairs)
Conseil Royal des Finances (Finances).
What could the King do to overrule the Paris Parlement?
lit de justice
What happened to resolve the political deadlock following Calonne’s reform package?
It was decided to put the measures to an “Assembly of Notables”.
When / What was the Revolt of the Nobles?
May - August 1788
Political breakdown and collapse of royal authority.
Why was Brienne appointed as finance minister?
Had led the opposition to Calonne’s proposals at the Assembly on Notables
Royal debt growth between 1715 and 1764?
300 million livres
Events in the Revolt of the Nobles?
Provincial parlements flooded the royal court with remonstrances
Radical pamphlets attacked Brienne
Day of Tiles in Grenoble - 7th June
Who was there tension between with the intendants?
Provincial Governors
Pays d’états
Seigneurs
Turgot’s accomplishments
Wanted a freer economic system
Cut royal expenses
Reformed tax-farming system
Abandoned proposals of Turgot
Replacing indirect taxes with a land tax
Ending price controls
Six Edicts - suppressing guilds / abolishing corvee
What were the May (1788) Edicts?
Plans drawn up by the King to remove the parlements’ powers
What limited the King’s power?
Laws and customs
Conseil du Roi
Paris parlement
Where were the ideas of the Enlightenment implemented?
USA following Revolution and War of Independence.
Necker’s accomplishments
Cut royal expenses
Replaced venal offices with salaried officials
Removed “vingtieme” on industry
Restructured financial administration (tax farmers reduced from 60 to 40)
Published France’s first ever “budget statement” - compte rendu au roi
Name an indirect tax
Gabelle (salt)
When did the Paris Parlement refuse to register Brienne’s proposals?
July 1787, saying that only the Estates-General could consent to any new taxes
Where did “philosophes” meet to discuss the ideas of the Enlightenment?
Salons
What did “philosophes” do?
Questioned traditional assumptions, ideas and institutions (Absolute monarchy, Church, Social structure)
Stressed the importance of reason and logic over faith and superstition.
What was included in Calonne’s reform package?
Replacing corvee with a land tax
Removing controls on grain trade
Removing internal customs barriers to boost commerce
Brienne’s accomplishments
Reformed the education system
Abolished tax-farming
Established a central treasury
What exacerbated French debt?
Wars
Economic depression
Factors behind growing politicisation of the third estate
Publication of “What is the Third Estate?” - Sieyes’ response to Necker’s invitation for writers to state how they thought the Estates-General should be organised
Poor economic situation
Drawing up of the cahiers de doleances
Name two direct taxes
Vingtieme (5% levy)
Taille (land tax)
Name three “philosophes”
Voltaire
Rousseau
Diderot
What did the Paris Parlement do?
Controlled guilds
Ensured the King’s edicts conformed with previous legislation
Placed scrutiny on decrees.
Who composed the Assembly of Notables?
Princes
Judges of the parlements
Notables representing provincial estates
Representatives of the Church
Name four economic problems developing from 1770
Over-reliance on agriculture
Lack of river/canal network required to carry goods
Decline in textile industry
Antiquated banking system
What did the Church offer the Crown instead of paying taxes?
“don gratuit”
What were parlements and how many were there?
Sovereign courts
13
Issues provoking debate around the Estates-General
What was eventually decided and why?
Number of deputies elected by each estate (Equal representation or proportional to population)
Method of debate (one single body or each estate meets separately before convening?)
Voting procedure (single vote per estate or voting by head?)
Decided to follow procedures laid down at last meeting of the Estates-General. - Equal representation / separate estate meetings / one vote per estate.
When was the previous meeting of the Estates-General?
1614
1715 - 1771
How much did French commerce increase?
How much did industrial production increase?
Eight-fold
Double
What proportion of France was the Paris Parlement responsible for?
2/5
When did the Assembly of Notables meet?
February 1787
When was the Assembly of Notables dismissed?
May 1787
What was the royal debt in 1783?
3.3 billion livres
What were intendants and what did they do?
Representatives of the crown in the provinces
Maintained control and fed back information to Paris.
Order of finance ministers
Turgot (74-76)
Necker (77-81)
Calonne (83-87)
Assembly of Notables
February - May 1787
Between which years did royal debt grow by 300 million livres?
1715-1764
When and where was the Day of Tiles
7th June 1788
Grenobles
Factors behing growing unpopularity of the Church
Absenteeism
Tithes
Its exemption from taxes
Its power over the people
Noble privileges
Tried in special courts
Exempt from military service, paying the gabelle, and the corvee
Received feudal dues
Short-term causes of the Revolution
Foreign policy
The financial crisis
The economic crisis
How did foreign policy cause the Revolution?
The Seven Years War (1756-63)
Defeated in India and North America by the British
Lost much of France’s overseas territories (Canada / Louisiana)
The American War of Independence (1776-83)
Cost a great deal of money - 1066 million livres
Exposed French soldiers to the ideas of liberty and democracy
How did the financial crisis cause the Revolution?
The French government was building up a huge deficit
1786 - Revenue = 475 million livres, Expenditure = 587 million livres
Deficit of 112 million livres was almost a quarter of the total income
16th August 1788 - Brienne suspends all payments from the royal treasury, an acknowledgement of bankruptcy
Factors behind financial crisis
War
Tax
When and why did the King exile the Paris Parlement to Troyes?
15th August 1788
They refused to reigister Brienne’s tax reforms, saying that only the Estates-General could consent to any new taxes
How did the economic crisis cause the Revolution?
Bad harvest of 1788 - Wet Spring and freak hailstorms in July
Food shortages - 88% of a labourer’s daily wage spent on bread during the winter of 1788-89, up from half normally
Decline in textile industry / over-reliance on agriculture / lack of river and canal network / antiquated banking system
Led to the politicisation of the 3rd Estate
