Wednesday, April 3rd

[3rdCarly]

Fun Fact:

• During the French Revolution, George Washington became the first President was elected.

Revolution

• Started in 1789 and lasted until 1799.
• The 1700’s, 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 didn’t 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 the Regime,  there were 3 large social classes called the estates.

First 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 the French population was in this estate.

Second Estate

• This group was made up of rich nobles
• They held the highest offices in the government 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.

Third Estate

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

Enlightenment Ideals

• Enlightenment is a complex with many influences, for this chapter we will focus on the influence from USA.
• The 3^rd estate was becoming very tired of the Old Regime.
• They prompted the ideals of equality, liberty, and a 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 were called.

Estates-General

• An assembly of representatives from all three estates
• Their goal was to approve that new tax.
• The meeting was held on May 5, 1789 in Versailles.
• It was the first time the assemble had meant 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 estates to always beat the 3^rd.
• The king sided with the nobles again and they were outvoted.