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Conditions for French Revolution - Coggle Diagram
Conditions for French Revolution
Political
American revolution
In 1776, the American colonists declared independence
from Britain.
Louis XVI sent troops and money to help the Americans fight against France’s their enemy, the British.
King Louis XVI won a lot of support in France for helping the Americans fight for liberty.
When many French soldiers returned home, they began to question their own freedom in France
It inspired the French people. They saw a group of people overthrow their king and start a democracy.
Absolutism
France was an absolute monarchy from the mid-17th century, under the reign of Louis XIV. Louis XVI ascended the French throne in 1774.
Absolute monarchy or absolutism meant that the monarch's power was subject to no limits other than those imposed by divine law or so-called "natural law."
In an absolutist society, the only person capable of altering the monarch's powers was the monarch himself.
The nobility and the high clergy could exert some influence over the monarch in their capacity as advisors, whereas the bourgeoisie lacked political influence as members of the Third Estate.
The Enlightenment
Separation of power
Legislative
The power of making laws
Executive
The power of putting laws into efect, the power of actually ruling
Judicial
The power of judging crimes
Ideological
Economic
Where is the tax money?
Luis looks at the empty chests and asks “Where is the tax money?“ The financial minister, Necker, looks on and says “The money was there last time I looked." The nobles and clergy are sneaking out the door carrying sacks of money.
Poverty
Significant economic changes took place in France during the 18th century.
Peasants and the urban poor found it increasingly difficult to afford the basic necessities of life.
The cost of living increase 45%, but the salary increased only 22%
The population grew from 19 million at the beginning of the century to nearly 26 million on the eve of the revolution.
Taxation system
Even though some people in France were very rich, a large amount of them were poor.
Taxes were high and so prices too, but the salary were low
As they were privileged, Estates 1 and 2, had money and land but did not have to pay taxes.
The 3rd estate was the poorest, but paid all the taxes to the church, their landlords, the Courts and to the government (king).
During the 1770s and 1780s there occurred a dangerous increase in taxes because of the bad state of the French economy an economy that deteriorated even more after the expense of the American War of Independence.
Social
Estate-based society
French society was organised into three estates that were classified into two groups.
The privileged estates (noble and clergy) had economic power, special laws and had to pay little or no taxes.
They had special treatment in court, and many other privileges (peasants paid taxes or rents to them...) .
The lower social groups or third estate had no privileges, because the privileged estate governed them and they
had no control over their lives.
Equality didn ́t exist and even though some bourgeoisie could achieve economic power by trade, no other privileges were possible.