Chapter 23Chapter 23

Section 1Section 1

Key Terms

Old Regime Estate Louis XVI Marie Antoinette Estates-General

National Assembly Tennis Court Oath Great Fear

The Old Order

Old Order-social and political structure that created inequalities

King was at the top and three groups called estates were under him

King Louis XVI was the king at the time

Lived extravancantly

Economic Troubles

Lived at Versailles Marie Antoinette was

from Austria (enemy of France)

She was unpopular Frivolous and self

indulgent Wore fancy clothes,

lavish parties

The Privileged Estates

Most people wore rags First Estate

Roman Catholic clergy 1 percent of the population

Clergy had several privileges since the Middle Ages

Only the church could try priests or bishops

The Privileged Estates

Did not have to pay taxes

Land that belonged to the church was not taxed

Church owned 10% of France’s land

Bishops and clergy became very wealthy

Many people resented the wealth and priviledge

Second Estate

Made up of nobility 2 percent of the

population Controlled much of

the country’s wealth Paid few taxes Held key positions in

government and military

Second Estate

• Many lived in country estates

• Owned 20 percent of the land

• Peasants did all the work

• Charged high fees and rents

• Some lived at the king’s court

• Lived in luxury, jobs ceremonial

Third Estate

• Largest group 97% of the people

• Made up of several groups

• Bourgeoisie- top, city dwelling merchants, factory owners and professionals

• Some very educated and rich

• Did not buy influence of government

Third Estate

Next were artisans-shoemakers, bricklayers, dress makers laborers

If they had no work they went hungry

Sans culottes-”without knee beeches

Third Estate

• At the bottom peasants who farmed (80%)

• Paid rents and fees to landowners

• Paid 1/10 of income to the church

• Performed labor like working on the roads without pay

• Peasants were miserably poor with no hope of a better life

Enlightenment Ideas

Social inequality driving people to revolt

Enlightenment ideas were inspiring revolution

Bourgeoisie- knew of Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu

Great Britain limited the kings power

Enlightenment Ideas

American colonists had rebelled against the king

Economic Troubles

Third cause for revolution

France was deeply in debt

Borrowed huge sums of money

Some for American Revolution

King spent lavishly

Economic Troubles

1787 King Louis XVI tried too tax the Second Estate

Nobles refused to pay

King backed down Year later country

faced bankruptcy Half the taxes

covered the debt

Economic Troubles

Winter of 1788 was the worst in years

Frozen rivers could not turn mill wheels

Food and firewood were scarce

Hunger and cold made life wretched for thousands

Economic Troubles

Country was broke People were hungry Price of bread doubled Eliminating tax

exemptions for the First and Second Estate would have helped

Clergy and nobility resisted all efforts

Meeting of the Estates General

Estates General made up the three estates

Wanted to approve new taxes on the third estate

August 1788 Louis agreed to the meeting

Had not met in 175 years

Wrote notebooks to document grievances

Meeting of the Estates General

People wanted the Estates to pass sweeping reforms

Each Estate had one vote

First and Second usually voted together

Enlightenment philosophers gave Third Estate feeling of importance

Dawn of the Revolution

King went over voting rules

Third Estate which had more representatives refused the king’s order

June 1789 Third Estate proclaimed themselves legislature

National Assembly had the right to make laws

Dawn of a Revolution

King locked the Third Estate out of the meeting

Third Estate met indoors at a tennis court

Swore the Tennis court Oath

Would not leave the court till they wrote a constitution

Storming of the Bastille

Louis ordered troops to Paris and Versailles

National Assembly feared the king would use violence

Paris had sympathy for the national Assembly and started to arm themselves

Storming the Bastille

July 14, 1789 a mob went to the Bastille looking for weapons

Mob tried to negotiate with the commander

Mob and prison guard exchanged fire

Mob killed the commander and put his head on a stick

A Great Fear Sweeps France

Storming the Bastille was a powerful symbol of the French Revolution

Great Fear- wave of senseless panic

They feared the king would punish them

Spread rumors the king had hired foreign soldiers

A Great Fear Sweeps France

Great Fear swept France

Rumors of massacres spread

Peasants took revenge on landowners

Destroyed records listing feudal dues and rents

Burned nobles homes

Restrictions on Power

Louis called troops to Versailles to protect his throne

Angered the common people of Paris

7,000 women march on Versailles demanding bread

Mob broke into the palace

A Great Fear Sweeps France

Women demanded that Louis and Marie return to Paris

Louis agreed King, family and

servants would never return

Change of power Beginning of radical

reforms