Why there was Discontent Amongst the Members of the Third Estates by the Late 1780's
The Third Estate was a very mixed group of people, who were neither
clerics nor nobility. By far the greatest proportion of this estate,
comprising between 80 and 90% of the population as a whole, was
peasantry. The remainder was made up of the bourgeoisie and the urban
workers. The bourgeoisie (middle classes) is a rather vague term,
which is often divided in turn to the haute bourgeoisie, such as the
wealthy merchants and tradesmen, and the petite bourgeoisie, such as
small shopkeepers and craftsmen (also known as urban workers).
Peasants mainly worked as labourers on the land, however some were
better off and had managed to acquire land in their own right.
Peasants generally led difficult lives in the 18th century that were
dictated by the unfair Ancien Régime. Part of their discontent stemmed
from the huge burden of the king’s taxes, which fell upon them. The
Third Estate had to pay taxes to the state, including the taille,
vingtième, capitation and gabelle. These all increased enormously
between 1749 and the 1780’s, in order to pay for the wars in which
France had become involved. Taxes took between five and ten per cent
of the peasants’ income, which made it extremely difficult for the
poorer peasants to survive. As well as these direct taxes, the Third
Estate had to pay indirect taxes on goods, such as the gabelle, which
was the tax on salt. Again, as a result of the wars France had become
involved in, prices had been put up by the late 18th century, making
everyday essential items more and more expensive.
The Third Estate also had to pay the tithe to the church, which again
was a great burden on the poorer peasants. The tithe was a proportion
of each year’s crop paid to the church by landowners. In most of
France, it was 7-8% of the crop, but this varied greatly from region
to region. The tithe was supposed to provide for the local priest,
In the essay written by Gary Nash, he argues that the reason for the American Revolution was not caused by the defense of constitutional rights and liberties, but that of “material conditions of life in America” were not very favorable and that social and economic factors should be considered as the driving factor that pushed many colonists to revolt. The popular ideology which can be defined as resonating “most strongly within the middle and lower strata of society and went far beyond constitutional rights to a discussion of the proper distribution of wealth and power in the social system” had a dynamic role in the decisions of many people to revolt. The masses ideas were not of constitutional rights, but the equal distribution of wealth in the colonies that many felt that the wealth was concentrated in a small percentage of the population in the colonies. The Whig ideology that was long established in English society had a main appeal towards the upper class citizens and “had little to say about changing social and economic conditions in America or the need for change in the future.” The popular ideologies consisted of new ways of changing the distribution of wealth. Nash in his essay continued to give good evidence to prove his point that the American Revolution was not caused by the defense of constitutional rights and liberties, but by improper distribution of wealth. During the pre-American Revolutionary times, the “top five percent of Boston’s taxpayers controlled 49 ...
The mid-1700s were undoubtedly the ultimate festival of the troubled. People around the world felt a sense of conflict as class systems developed in various countries. Beginning in the 1770s, the North American Revolution set the tone for a series of revolutions throughout the Atlantic. From France to Haiti, and from Central America to South America, people fought for a right to prosper.
Some people like Emmanuel Sieyès, middle-class writer who was taken by the Enlightenment ideas, believed that all of French Society lay on the backs of the third estate. On the contrary, Robespierre, the monarch at the time, believed that the third estate did not have the power to do anything important to society. The third estate had to pay taxes like the Gabelle and Taille while the first and seconds estates did not have to pay any taxes to the king. Also, the third estates had less of a representation in voting. The first and second estate could outvote the third estate every time and this was a huge inequality. The condition of the third estate was horrible but a good portion of this third estate was the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie had some wealth and social class, so they influenced the rest of the third estate about their rights, while also inspiring some lower clergies and provincial nobles and thus led to a group of rebellious people to fight the monarchy. This fight for political representation and political rights was only one cause of the French Revolution. Another causes lies in the French Monarchs: Louis XlV, Louis XV, and Louis XVl. When Louis XlV was ruling, the monarchy had unlimited power and was known as a
The frequency of popular protest and rebellion in Early Modern England offers an insight into the nature of the social relations people maintained. P. Clark refers to the repetition of rebellion and popular protest as being ‘a recurrent phenomenon’ which spread throughout Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth century. This implies that people thought there was a necessary cause to act in such a way, believing that change was possible to address their grievances. Additionally, Andy Wood further emphasises the ideology of the repetitive nature of popular protest and rebellion through the existence of a ‘shared tradition of popular protest’. This implies that there was a continuation in the motivations of those who chose to rebel. Many of the
In addition to this, the cost of running a government in general had gone up and the country needed more money. Because the king didn't have as much power to tax as he pleases, the government could make a firm and accurate taxation of the people. In France, the price of government had also gone up.
...d estate was made up of a city-dwelling, well educated middle class called the bourgeoisie, the urban lower classes and the farmers, all of which made up about 80 percent of Frances population and yet received less money than both the other two states combined. This did not stop from the government taxing the population though and the burden of it fell mostly, if not almost all on the peasants. They lost half or more of their income in taxes and were forced to pay ridiculous taxes like feudal dues to the nobles, tithes to the church and royal taxes to the king?s agent and besides all this, peasants had to pay a certain tax which was paid in work rather than money. The two other estates on the other hand paid no or very little taxes thus the third estate all had reasons to hate the old regime. The French and American revolution was partly the outcomes of these resentments towards the government and was also the result of weak leadership at the top.
Aided by bad harvests of 1788 and 1789, so that a riotous people stood behind the Third Estate.
Historian Albert Mathiez states that “The middle class… was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The revolution came from them- the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” The middle class were not able to have a class on their own; they were still considered peasants. In the illustration it showed how much people and land each estate held, the Clergy was one percent of the population which owned ten percent of the land. Nobles were two percent of the people that owned thirty-five percent of the land. The middle class, peasants, and city workers were ninety-seven of the people owned fifty-five percent of the land. This means that if the third estate were to riot, this would cause havoc. There was a lot during that time; the website Macrohistory and World Timeline shows that “The population of France had grown to between 24 and 26 million, up from 19 million in 1700 without a concomitant growth in food production. Farmers around Paris consumed over 80 percent of what they grew, so if a harvest fell by around 10 percent, which was common, people went hungry. There was insufficient government planning and storage of grain for emergency shortages”. If there were approximately 26 million people, there would be 25,220,000 people in the third estate, 520,000 people in the second estate, and 260,000
We will begin discussing French peasant revolts with the revolt against “gabelle”, meaning, in English, the tax on salt. This tax initiative began in 1548 and is kn...
The third estate consisted of the remaining 23.5 million French people who were 90% peasants. The third estate was the only estate that paid taxes. Their taxes ensured the financial well-being of the clergy, state, and nobles (French Revolution Overview 6). The Enlightenment was a major influence of the French Revolution. The Enlightenment caused the revolution in three ways.
A second underlying cause was the raising of taxes. The third estate was already being taxed enough, and the nobles refusal to pay taxes only worsened the problem.
The Third Estate consisted of everyone else, the pheasants, farmers, landless labourers, serfs and the emerging middle class called the bourgeois. 80% of the population was rural and were very highly taxed by the king, like the rest of the Third Estate.... ... middle of paper ... ... Overall, the weakness and indecisive actions of France's monarch, King Louis XVI, did not make those serving him respect or be loyal to him and his choices.
The first cause of importance was the agricultural crisis that was "caused by the very low production of wheat due to the cold weather, the wheat fly epidemic and the fact that the land had been harvested from the beginning of the century". " The low amount of wheat caused the cost of living to soar and left many people staving and without their homes because they were unable to pay their creditors or their rent." This infuriated the French assembly because the funds that could be used to improve the conditions of the French people were being divided among the Chateau Clique.... ... middle of paper ...
A small number of people said that the Third Estate, that which was drawn from the towns, should have power to equal the other Estates. Clubs of the bourgeoisie. the middle class, were formed, proclaiming, "Salus populi lex est. " It was a simple cry meaning "the welfare of the people is law." To these people, Estates General was like a pair of shoes that no longer fit.
The Privileges of the First and Second Estates in France in the 1780's Under the Ancien Régime, the French people were divided, according to their status, into ‘estates’ or social groups. These groups were very unequal in size and power. It is difficult to give exact figures for this period, but it is estimated that the First Estate, the clergy, had around 170,000 members, the Second Estate, the nobility, had 300,000-400,000 members, while the remaining Third Estate made up the rest of the population. Louis XVI was an absolute monarch and under his regime, the people of France had to pay taxes, which went towards the army, the public officials and the luxurious life that the royal family led at the Palace of Versailles. Even though the Third Estate was the poorest overall, the unfair Ancien Régime meant that the huge burden of taxes fell mainly upon them.