The French Revolution for a New Government

In 1789, the French people were being unfairly treated and revolted in order to get the changes they wanted. But they had to go over many challenging obstacles to achieve this.

When the financial situation in France took a turn for the worse, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General to decide on how best to tax the people. The Estates-General was made up of the three estates of the political system of France, which was called the Old Regime. The first estate consisted of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. They owned ten percent of the land and paid two percent of the taxes. The second estate was formed of the rich nobles, who owned twenty percent of the land and paid nearly no taxes. Lastly there was the third estate which was made up of three different groups. The bourgeoisie included bankers, factory owners, merchants, skilled artisans and professionals. The bourgeoisie were often educated, and some were as rich as nobles but they had to pay the same high taxes as the rest of the third estate. Also in this estate were urban workers and peasants. The third estate was tired of their high taxes and low standing and wanted a change in the political system. However, when the Estates-General voted, they gave each estate one vote. The first and second estates, being both rich classes, had the same priorities and were always able to outvote the third estate. But the members of the third estate understood what was happening and proposed a better system for voting. Because the third estate made up 97 percent of France’s population, they thought it would be fairer to have each delegate given a vote. In spite of this, Louis XVI declined their request.

The third estate decided not to just accept the unfair rulings...

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...pierre’s fellow members of the Committee for public safety felt it would be their own lives at stake, they took action to get rid of Robespierre. He was executed in the same manner as those he had himself condemned to be killed- the guillotine.

After the horror the Radical’s had bestowed onto the people, the Moderates took the power for themselves in order to restore order. They created yet another government system, the Directory. This consisted of five men in the upper middle class. Although some of these men were corrupt, their rule gave France a time of peace, and a time to find a new military leader: Napoleon Bonaparte.

The French Revolution was a very intense time of fighting both with their own country and others. The French were able to get their much awaited government, despite going through periods of terror from allowing the wrong people in power.