In 1774 Louis XVI ascended the throne of France. At the age of 20, he was married to the princess of Austria, Marie Antoinette.
There were 3 estates created. The clergy, nobility and commoners. The society of estates was part of the feudal system.
Clergy- consisted of the Roman Catholic Church.
Nobility-The upper class of the medieval society, who were the rulers of the country.
Commoners- The lower classes of people who had no power or influence over the government.
The Estates General met every few years but they did not have any real power as their decisions could be vetoed by the king.
On May 5th 1789, the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and began writing a new constitution for France.
The Third Estate wanted more representation but the First and Second estate refused to give them what they wanted.
In June 1789, the Bastille prison was stormed by angry mobs demanding bread.
The Storming of the Bastille marked the beginning of the French Revolution
The Reign of Terror lasted from July 1793 - July 1794
Tithe-A tax levied by the church, comprising 10% of the agricultural produce.
Taille-tax to be paid directly to the state.
Subsistence crisis- an extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered.
John Locke put forward his book, Two Treatises of Government. He sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
Jean Jacques Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives.
Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary in his book, The Spirit of Laws.
The National Assembly was led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes. Mirabeau was a noble but knew the importance of a society without a feudal privilege.AbbeSieyes was originally a priest.