Week 1 The French Revolution Final Essay

Submitted By poolside06
Words: 1293
Pages: 6

French Revolution
Dan Ogg
HIS/114
February 24th, 2015
Marhofer
French Revolution
The French Revolution was brought on by the citizens of France, and was based upon the rights and privileges of the common people of France. The peasants within France wanted to be treated fairly within the country, they wanted a voice, and they were tired of abiding by the rule of the royals and the well off. Representing over 90% of the population, the peasants were not only working for their family members, but also for those within royalty and the land owners, although as peasants, their share of the tax burden was much higher than others. A brotherhood, made up of mostly peasants was formed as everyone coming together as one. Frances’ issues were self-induced with things such as hubris, or excessive pride in oneself. The elitist within France did not want to admit that what they were doing was wrong, nor did they want to give any entitlement to the peasants that they had. Peasants thought that royalty and the government as a whole were not treating them fairly. All this was brought on as fiscal irresponsibility caused by excessive spending led to higher debts, and so taxes were raised so the government could get out of the finical hole they were in. A new democracy was formed where the power and the politics were giving everyone the chance to be heard and to be equal, including royals, landowners and most importantly the common people of France. The use of technology at the beginning of the French Revolution was nonexistent, but as the revolution continued throughout the years it became a viable resource of war. Liberty and equality were the main goals for the French people, to be free from the poor working conditions they were forced to work in, and to even the tax burden across all of the French people. The land owners abused their rights and were taking most of harvest and leaving the peasants with very little to feed their own family. The members of government were not paying a fair share of imposed taxes and the lower class was paying twice as much to cover the royal communities. Peasants were treated like slaves and as both women and children were abused, and forced to do more work for less pay. The disparity between the common people and royalty was the main cause of the revolution. The French Revolution took place from 1789-1799. This war helped France gain freedom, and abolished the Monarchy led by King Louis the XVI. France had always been ruled by absolute monarchy. Due to past wars, and the fiscal irresponsibility of the monarchy in the France was in deep debt. The king tried improving the financial status France was in by proposing new reforms, such as taxation, to bring more money in. In searching for resolution to Frances’ economic crisis King Louis XVI ordered the convening of the Estates General to look for ideas on how to improve the crisis that France faced. The Estates General was made of three different groups representing the population of France. These three groups were primarily based on economic standing within the country. The first estate was made up of men the church or clergy, the second estate were the nobles, and the third estate consisted of common men, to whom shared no special privileges. Within the economic system of France, the highest taxation burden was placed on the third estate while the clergy members were exempt from taxes, and the nobles and royalty paid little or no taxes at all. Prior to the convening of the Estates General, the three groups created the “cahiers de doleances” or list of grievances (Kagan, Ozment, & Turner, 2013). However, during the initial meetings the third estate, representing the largest population base, felt as though their voice was not heard and that their demands for equal liberties were ignored. While the third estate wanted a vote based on population, the first and second estates believed the vote should be based on public standing. A stalemate had set in