French society of the 18th century

• Louis XVI


  • 20 years old
  • Married to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette
• Upon his accession the new king found an empty treasury
• Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France
• Added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles
• Under Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy, Britain
• The war added more than a billion livres to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion dime
• Lenders who gave the state credit, now began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans
• The French government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone
• To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running government offices or universities, the state was forced to increase taxes
• Even this measure would not have sufficed
• French society in the eighteenth century was divided into three estates, and only members of the third estate paid taxes
• Old Regime


  The society and institutions of France before 1789
• Estates in French society

  • Clergy
  • Nobility
  • Third estate
• Peasants


  • Made up about 90% of the population
  • Only a small number owned the land they cultivated
• About 60% of the land was owned by nobles, the Church and other richer members of the third estate
• Clergy and nobility


  • Enjoyed certain privileges by birth
  • Most important was exemption from paying taxes to the state
• Nobles


  • Enjoyed feudal privileges
  • Extracted feudal dues from the peasants
  • Peasants were obliged to render services to the lord
• The Church extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the peasants
• • All members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the state
  • These included a direct tax, called taille, and a number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco
• The burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was borne by the third estate alone
• Livre

  Unit of currency in France, discontinued in 1794
• Clergy


  Group of persons invested with special functions in the church
• Tithe


  A tax levied by the church, one-tenth of the agricultural produce
• Taille


  A tax to be paid directly to the state
• Estates General


  A political body to which the three estates (clergy, nobility, commoners) sent their representatives
• Calling a meeting of the Estates General


  1. Monarch decides when to call a meeting

  2. Estates General passes proposals for new taxes
• The last time the Estates General was called was in 1614
• Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estates General

  5 May 1789
• Composition of the Estates General


  • First and second estates (clergy and nobility) sent 300 representatives each
  • Third estate (commoners) had 600 representatives who had to stand at the back
• The third estate was represented by its more prosperous and educated members, while peasants, artisans and women were denied entry
• The third estate brought 40,000 letters listing their grievances and demands
• Voting in the Estates General


  Each estate had one vote
• The third estate demanded voting by the assembly as a whole, with each member having one vote


  King rejected this proposal
• The third estate walked out of the assembly and boycotted in protest
• National Assembly


  The representatives of the third estate viewed themselves as spokesmen for the whole French nation
• Formation of the National Assembly


  1. Assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court

  2. Declared themselves a National Assembly

  3. Swore not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch
• Leaders of the National Assembly

  • Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès
• Mirabeau was born in a noble family but was convinced of the need to do away with a society of feudal privilege
• Abbé Sieyès wrote an influential pamphlet called "What is the Third Estate?"
• While the National Assembly was drafting a constitution


  The rest of France seethed with turmoil