April 3rd 2012

[4thAshley]

Fun Fact: During the French Revolution, George Washington became 1^st president of the U.S.

More Beginnings

• 1789-1799
• In 1700s France and England were considered the most advanced countries in Europe and the world
• It had a large population and a great (good and bad) foreign trade
• However, much of the world did not know the extreme debt that France had occurred

Old Regime                              

• In the 1770’s the social and political system of France was called the Old Regime
• Under this Regime, there were 3 large social classes called estates.

1^st Estate

• Made up of clergy of the Roman Catholic Church (priest, bishops, deacons, cardinals)
• Had to pay 2 percent of their earnings to taxes
• Owned 10 percent of the lands in France
• Their jobs were to provide religion, education and relief services to the poor
• Less than 1 percent of French population were in this estate

2^nd Estate

• This group was made up of rich nobles
• They held the highest offices in the gov in France
• This estate paid 0 percent of income to taxes
• Owned 20 percent of the lands in France
• This estate had only 2 percent of the population of France

3^rd Estate

• Included everyone that wasn’t in the 1^st two estates
• Had no power to influence their government in France
• Had to pay 50 percent of income/food to taxes
• Resented the 1^st two classes
• Owned 70 percent of the lands in France and consisted of 97 percent of the population

Enlightenment Ideals (3^rd Estate’s)

• Equality
• Liberty
• Democracy

Weak Leader

• Louis XVI (Married to Marie Antoinette) was a very weak leader
• He was very indecisive and paid very little attention to his advisors
• Marie didn’t help much either with constantly expressing her opinion and the fact that she was from Austria
• He finally wanted to tax the nobles, but they weren’t happy there either so the Estates-General was called.

Estates-General

• An assembly of representatives from all 3 estates
• Their goal was to approve the new tax
• The meeting was held on May 5, 1789 in Versailles
• It was the 1^st time the assembly had met in 175 years
• In the past, the 3 estates would meet separately and there would only be 1 vote per estate
• This allowed for the 1^st and 2^nd estate to always beat the 3^rd
• The kind sided with the nobles again and they were outvoted