French Revolution: Economic & Social Factors

• Causes of events like the French Revolution involve both long-range problems and immediate forces
• Revolutions are not always caused by economic collapse or widespread hunger
• In the 50 years before 1789, France experienced economic growth due to foreign trade and industrial production, but prosperity was not shared by all, especially the peasants
• The causes of the French Revolution are found in a complex examination of French society and its late 18th-century problems

Social Structure of the Old Regime

• The long-range causes of the French Revolution are rooted in the condition of French society
• French society was based on unequal rights and privileges
• The population of 27 million was divided into three legal categories or estates, a structure dating back to the Middle Ages

The First Estate

• The First Estate consisted of the clergy, numbering approximately 130,000 people
• The church owned about 10% of the land
• Clergy were exempt from the taille, France's chief tax
• The church made a "voluntary" contribution to the state every five years
• The clergy was divided, with higher clergy from aristocratic families sharing interests with the nobility, while parish priests were often poor

The Second Estate

• The Second Estate consisted of the nobility, comprising approximately 350,000 people
• Nobles owned about 25% to 30% of the land
• Under Louis XV and Louis XVI, the nobility held important positions in government, the military, law courts, and higher church offices
• Nobles controlled heavy industry through investment and ownership
• The nobility was divided

Nobility divisions

• The nobility of the robe derived status from officeholding, allowing commoners to attain noble rank and dominated royal law courts and administrative offices
• The nobility of the sword claimed descent from the original medieval nobility
• Nobles sought to expand their privileges at the expense of the monarchy, defend liberty, and maintain their monopoly over positions
• Law attempted to limit military officerships to fourth-generation nobles to exclude newly enrolled members of the nobility in 1781

The Third Estate

• The Third Estate was commoners and the overwhelming majority of the French population
• The classes were divided by occupation, education, and wealth
• Peasants were the largest segment, comprising 75% to 80% of the total population and they owned 35% to 40% of the land
• More than half of the peasants had little or no land to survive

Feudalism

• Serfdom no longer existed on a large scale in France
• French peasants had obligations to local landlords and deeply resented relics of feudalism such as fees for using village facilities and tithes to the clergy
• The nobility had the right to hunt on peasants' land

Urbanization and Social Stratification

• The Third Estate included skilled artisans, shopkeepers, and wage earners in the cities
• Although it was a period of rapid urban growth, 90% of French towns had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants with only nine cities having more than 50,000
• Consumer prices rose faster than wages, which caused urban groups to experience a decline in purchasing power
• The economic discontent and struggle for survival of this segment of the Third Estate caused them to play an integral part in the Revolution

The Bourgeoisie

• About 8% of the population was the bourgeoisie, owning 20% to 25% of the land
• It included merchants, industrialists, bankers, lawyers, public officeholders, doctors, and writers
• Many bourgeoisie sought security and status through land purchase
• The bourgeoisie had their own grievances as they were often excluded from social and political privileges monopolized by nobles
• Nobles separated by differing levels of wealth and importance, and parallel gulfs existed between wealthy financiers and local lawyers
• Wealthy middle-class individuals were still able to join the ranks of the nobility, which meant members of the bourgeoisie and nobility formed a single class
• Ideas of the Enlightenment proved attractive and were shared by both groups
• Both the aristocratic and bourgeoisie elites were increasingly frustrated by a monarchical system resting on privileges and an old and rigid social order based on estates

Problems Faced by the French Monarchy

• The growing frustration at the monarchy's inability to deal with new social realities and problems furthered its demise
• Specific problems in the 1780s worsened issues
• Periodic economic crises still occurred despite it being a period of growth as a country overall
• Bad harvests in 1787 and 1788 and a manufacturing depression resulted in food shortages, rising prices, and unemployment
• The number of poor reached crisis proportions
• Existing privileges and social and political institutions came under increasing criticism

Philosophes

• The phiolosophes ideas circulated widely among the literate bourgeois and noble elites, influencing revolutionary leaders

Failure to Make Reforms

• The French parliaments often frustrated efforts at reform
• The thirteen law courts could block royal edicts by not registering them.
• The law courts, with their noble judges, assumed the role of defenders of "liberty" against the monarchy which pushed their own interests as well, especially by blocking new taxes
• One of the fundamental problems facing the monarchy was financial

Financial Crisis

• The immediate cause of the French Revolution was the near collapse of government finances
• The government was drastically short of money while France was experiencing economic crises
• French governmental expenditures continued to grow due to costly wars and royal extravagance
• The government borrowed funds since the poor taxation policy contributed to the high debt, unlike Britain who had a central bank
• Most of the monarchy's funds came from the peasantry
• By 1788, interest on the debt alone constituted half of government spending
• Total debt reached 4 billion livres (roughly $40 billion)
• Financial lenders refused to lend additional amounts over growing fears
• Parliaments refused to assist in fiscal reform, fearing that it would involve higher taxes
• Charles de Calonne proposed a complete revamping of the fiscal and administrative system of the state
• Calonne convened an "assembly of notables" in early 1787
• This gathering of nobles, prelates, and magistrates refused to cooperate, and the government's attempt to go it alone brought further disaster
• The government was forced to call a meeting of the Estates-General and was virtually admitting that the consent of the nation was required to raise taxes

Explore the economic conditions in pre-revolutionary France, the three Estates, and the social dynamics that fueled the French Revolution. Examine the privileges of the nobility and clergy and the grievances of the Third Estate.