Background to the French Revolution PDF

Background to the French Revolution  Old Regime France POLITICALLY Used dictatorship Absolute monarchy /absolutism (form of dictatorship led by a monarch that could not be questioned) Led by King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette (Bourbon family)  Old Regim...

Background to the French Revolution  Old Regime France POLITICALLY Used dictatorship Absolute monarchy /absolutism (form of dictatorship led by a monarch that could not be questioned) Led by King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette (Bourbon family)  Old Regime France Prior to 1789 society was: – Feudal (kings, feudal lords and church make the laws and provided security for people in exchange for society performing feudal obligations & paying feudal taxes/tithes) – Based on aristocratic privilege – Dominated by RC Church, tradition and customs – NO nationalism & NO collective consciousness – loyalty was to the church, noble lord, royal family  Contact between people was limited by one’s class and position in society Society divided in 3 estates: – 1st Estate – clergy – 2nd Estate – nobility – 3rd Estate – serfs, peasants, workers, commoners, artisans and bourgeoisie  Used mercantilism Heavy government interference and government granted monopolies lots of inflation and no economic freedom  Economic problems – Heavy debt burden (too many wars, i.e., funded American Revolution) – Debt to bankers (facing bankruptcy) – Louis XVI continues to borrow $ at very high interest rates to fund the court at Versailles – Lack of economic reform – Finance ministers Turgot and Necker fired for suggesting the nobles be taxed – Shortage of bread in 1787 -88  Political Problems – Weak king – Third Estate was powerless and locked into feudal service – People suffered from the king’s poor decisions but could do nothing about it  Intellectual Movement – Intellectuals known as philosophes spread new ideas – Ideas required reform – Rejected: Mercantilism Feudalism Absolute monarchy (divine right of kings) – Demanded: Capitalism Democracy Human Rights Secularism (no religion in government law) (separation of church and state)  Social Changes – Salons (social gatherings in bourgeois homes) become popular (people share the ideas of the Enlightenment / Age of Reason) – People were aware of Britain’s limited democracy and were inspired by the American democracy created in 1776 – Both England and America had bills of rights (French people began to want rights also) – Rejection of the caste system of privilege Philosophes in the Salons  Influence of the Enlightenment aka Age of Reason 1640-1800 Logic, reason, skepticism Wanted progress and improvement God determined the status of people (rejected as untrue) Kings were put on the throne by God (Divine Right Theory) (rejected as untrue) Philosophe John Locke Wanted representative democracy (popular consent and majority rule) Life, liberty and private property to be protected people who pay taxes must have a voice in their government  Philosophe Voltaire – Freedom of speech – “I may not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Freedom of religion – Enlightened dictatorship Philosophe Montesquieu – Separation of the powers of government – Executive, legislative and judicial branches CANNOT be controlled by the same group – Supports democracy  Philosophe Rousseau – Equality is more important than freedom – EGALITE – equality – Egalitarianism – movement towards greater equality Philosophe Adam Smith – Argued against mercantilism – – Supported capitalism  Philosophe Diderot – Compiled the world’s first Encyclopedia – Contained all the ideas of the philosophes – He hoped to: “bring a revolution in the minds of men to free them from prejudice”