French Revolution Dbq

bourgeoisie, who were wealthier commoners who resented the higher classes due to the burdens of taxation they faced. At the very bottom of the social class ladder were peasants. Peasants were laborers who could barely afford basic necessities and like the bourgeoisie were heavily taxed.
As one can see from this description of the social structures that were in place during the ancien regime, just why so many people were unhappy with it. The majority of the people were being heavily taxed and were granted few rights, while the rich minority continued to stay rich. The social structure of France during this period of time was clearly an issue to the vast majority of subjects. However the social structure of the nation wasn’t the only

thing subjects of France took issue with. A quote from Reinhart Koselleck’s book Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society serves to describe what was wrong in the political sphere as it pertained to the Absolutist State of the time in saying:

The princely State, supported by the military and the bureaucracy, developed a supra-religious, rationalistic field of action which, unlike its other aspects, was defined by the policies of the State. Socially, the monarchies remained entirely bound by traditional feudal stratification, so much so that in most instances they sought to preserve that stratification. Politically, however, the monarchs strove to eliminate or neutralize all institutions with an independent base. Mercantilism, too, was an economic system subject to political planning and State guidance; similarly, religious and ecclesiastical questions were treated with an eye to their usefulness to the State, wether within the framework of an established Church or under toleration with a purpose. The realm of a political system covering all of Europe constituted the constellation from which the Enlightenment started out (Koselleck, p. 16)9.

It is clear to see that the system of absolute monarchy that was brought in to save France during a time or political and religious turmoil, was no longer working for the nation, and out of displeasure for it came a new way of thinking called The Enlightenment. The Enlightenment, also referred to as the Age of reason, was a philosophical movement that birthed the political thought in favor of a written constitution, individual rights, anti sacred kingship, and fundamentally challenged the European Old Order of absolute and divine right monarchy. Another quote from Reinhart to back up these statements and describe how the Enlightenment grew in France is as follows:

The Enlightenment reached it’s zenith in France, the very country in which the Absolutist system had for the first time, and most decisively, overcome the internal religious conflict. The abuse of power by Louis XIV accelerated the process, in the course of which the subject discovered himself as a citizen. In France this same citizen would one day storm the Bastille. The political structure of the Absolutist State, initially an answer to religious strife, was no longer understood as such by the Enlightenment that followed (Koselleck, p. 16)10.

However, despite the fact that during the eighteenth century Enlightenment ideas originated in France and became polar throughout all of Europe, it was not sole aspect that sparked The Revolution and ended the ancient regime. Although it did help, tremendously. A quote from C.B.A. Behrens in his book The Ancien Regime describe just what Enlightenment thinking did in France during this period of time saying

Here the Enlightenment can be considered only as a solvent of the old order. It provided a potent one, because it provided all the discontented with principles by which to justify their discontents and with visions of a better future to inspire the attempts at change. The teaching of the Philosophes unsocial and political questions was profoundly revolutionary, since they attacked all the assumptions to ridicule, and continually pointed out that society was rotten. On the other hand, their doctrines did no crystallize into a revolutionary creed until after the Ancien Regime had already begun to collapse under the impact of the impending bankruptcy and the measure adopted to avert it. (Behrens, p. 124-126) 11.

As on can see from this quote, The Enlightenment was mainly a theoretical aid in terms of what actually caused the Revolution to occur.

As hinted at towards the end of the last quote, one of the main driving factors for the Revolution and end of the ancien regime in France according to Behrens, were relations between French and Britain. Between 1689 and the Revolution, almost half of that time was spent in wars with Britain. He says that “they overburdened the economy and reduced the system of taxation to chaos…The recurrent partial bankruptcies and the continual attempts to increase taxation were among the most potent causes for discontent…The success in the last war, which was fought to win the Americans their freedom, undermined the old ideals of absolutism and privilege and promoted the new ideas of liberty and equality for which the Americans stood” (Behrens, p. 162) 12. So, as a result of discontent with the social and political structure of the nation, a new ideology in The Enlightenment, combined with continual taxation increases, served as the reasoning for change. That change came in the form of the Revolution in

1789.
The start of the French Revolution came on May, 5th 1789 with the convocation of the Estates General.

The convocation, called for by King Louis XIV, was composed of the three estates, the clergy, nobility, and commoners. This was the first time the Estates General had assembled since 1614. It is here that the Revolution started because the point of Louis XIV calling the assembly was to discuss the levying of new taxes and reform with the three estates. Louis XIV started off the assembly by making a speech in which he declared himself “the peoples greatest friend”. After the kings speech, other speeches followed including ones by "Barentin, the Keeper of the Seals, and Necker, the Minister of Finances, concerning the economic situation in the kingdom. The budget deficit was 56 million. Necker claimed that new taxes would be enough to make up for the deficit” (Chateau de Versailles, p. 1)13. With that being said, the commoners of the third estate, who were the majority of deputies present, realized that nothing was going to change, they were going to continue to be heavily taxed, and they were done with it. One thing became evidently clear from the first assembly of the Estates General in over one hundred years and that was that the commoners needed to take things into their own hands, and that is exactly what they did. On May, 5th 1789 the Revolution had

begun.
After the assembly was called the third estate took matters into their own hands first by reconstituting themselves as the National Assembly, whose main goal was to rid the country of the absolute monarchy in King Louis XIV and create a constitution. Out of this formation of the National Assembly the commoners started dawning tricolor cockades of blue white and red to denote themselves. These cockades of tricolor were tremendously significant because the color scheme became the symbol of the Revolution and later became the symbol and national flag of France itself. However, just days after forming the National Assembly, the members found that the door of their usual meeting hall in Versailles was locked and guarded by soldiers. Thinking that the king was sending them a message to disband, the deputies of the National Assembly moved to a nearby tennis court and took an oath where they vowed “not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established”. This would come to be known as the Tennis Court Oath and was a significant point in the Revolution in the sense that it served as the first time that subjects formally moved to oppose the king, and showed political authority from someone other than the monarch.
Merely one month after the third estate reconstituted themselves and took the Tennis Court Oath, they took one of their first courses of action in revolting against the crown. That came on July, 14th of 1789 in Paris, where they stormed the Bastille. At this point in time the Bastille was was used as an armory and a political prison, that only housed seven prisoners. The high costs of maintaining such building there served such a minimal purpose, and in the Bastille was seen as a symbol of royal tyranny. However, fearing that the Bastille would become a target of the revolutionaries of the National Assembly, Bernard-Rene Jordan de Launay the military governor of the Bastille, transferred weapons and gunpowder from the armory, brought in his men and raised the two drawbridges. Then, on July 14th a crowd of attackers congregated outside of the Bastille and called for a surrender of the building and a release of the arms and gunpowder in it. Negotiations began, but after hours of getting seemingly nowhere the crowd became impatient and stormed the courtyard and broke the chains of the drawbridge and fighting began. After hours of violent and intense fighting Launay ordered a cease fire and offered terms of his surrender. However, his terms were denied and Launay opened the gates of the Bastille and the revolutionaries liberated the Bastille. Launay was taken into to custody to be arrested and tried by a revolutionary council, however he was taken away by a mob and murdered as well as some of his other officers.
The king first learned of the events that occurred in Paris on July 14th, the next morning and realized he had a revolution on his hands. In realizing this, the king and his troops backed down, accepted a tricolor cockade from the leader of Third Estate, and reconciled with the people. However, despite the ostensible reconciliation, many nobles started to flee the country and news of the coup spread throughout all of France. It is at this point that Ancien Regime in France ended. The storming of the Bastille provided revolutionaries with insurmountable momentum that spread throughout the entire country