Causes of The Revolution
-Bad grain harvest (high bread prices) -High taxes -Enlightenment ideas of Locke, Rousseau, & Voltaire http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/french.html
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The Old Regime
-1st Estate- 1% of population consisting of the Roman Catholic Church clergy that owned 10% of the land; exempt from paying taxes, had access to high officials, and benefited society by providing education and relief services. -2nd Estate-2% of population consisting of rich nobles that owned 20 % of the land in France, they too were exempt from paying taxes, and had access to high officials. -3rd Estate-97% of population consisting of members of society that had to pay taxes and were not part of clergy, and the bourgeoisie (middle class), were bankers, factory owners, merchants, professionals, and skilled artisans, many were well educated, and they believed in the Enlightenment ideas of Life, Liberty, property, and equality. The workers were another group from the 3rd Estate, including trades people, apprentices, laborers, and domestic servants. These workers were consistently out of work, and were paid low wages. The peasants were the lowest group of the 3rd Estate, and made up 80% of Frances population, peasants paid half of their income to nobles, the church, and king's agents. --The 1st and 2nd Estates were largely conservative, and rejected Enlightenment ideas because they benefitted from the Old Regime. |