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Social injustice during the french revolution
Injustice in the french revolution
Social injustice during the french revolution
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Social injustice had always been an uncorrected shortcoming for France from the early 19th century to the present. While the social injustice that appeared in the form of French religious persecution was much more visible during the early 19th century than in the reasonably tolerant 21st century, as seen in the contrasting cases of the Anti-Sacrilege Act in 1825 and the About-Picard Law in 2001, social injustice was a ubiquitous presence in many religious institutions of France. In a different degree of paramountcy, the social injustice manifested in the style of French political inequalities remains to be a perennial prejudice against the “forgotten man”, one clear-cut case being the anti-Semitic and espionage controversy of the Dreyfus Affair in the modern 20th century. In the same way, the social injustice seen in the economic discrimination in France was so prominent that literary works such as Les Miserables by eminent novelist Victor Hugo and its more modern philosophical counterpart, La Misère Du Monde by prominent French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu continually emphasized on the French economic inequalities between the inferior social classes and bourgeois-esque citizens. While religious persecution in France was more visible in the 1800s than that of recent times, the social injustice seen in the case of political inequalities and economic discriminations remained more or less the same throughout the 19th and 21st centuries. The social injustice of religious persecution seen in France during the 19th Century was much more visible than that of the 21st Century. In the case of official state legislation, the Anti-Sacrilege Act passed by King Charles X in 1825 significantly defined the French policy of religious intolerance d... ... middle of paper ... ...Print. Jeanneney, Jean-Noël. ""Quand Le Sacrilège était Puni De Mort En France"" L'Histoire June-July 2006: 68-72. Web. McKay, John P., Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler. A History of Western Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. Print. Morrisson, Christian, and Wayne Snyder. "The Income Inequality of France in Historical Perspective." European Review of Economic History (2000): 59-83. Print. "Paris burning: the price of social injustice."Age [Melbourne, Australia] 8 Nov. 2005: 14. Student Resources in Context. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. Randall, Vernellia. "Racial Discrimination: The Record of France." Racial Discrimination: The Record of France. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. Young, Arthur. "The Condition of the French People." The Library of Original Sources, Vol 7. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: University Research Extension Co., 1907. World Book Advanced. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
The French people were quick to blame the government for all the misfortune they possess, yet ignored the potential evil or crisis the social body was heading towards within themselves. Because of the rapid sequence of horrific events in the beginning of the French revolution, it prevented the subversive principles to be spread passes the frontiers of France, and the wars of conquest which succeeded them gave to the public mind a direction little favorable to revolutionary principles (2). French men have disgraced the religion by ‘attacking with a steady and systematic animosity, and all it is there that the weapon of ridicule has been used with the most ease and success (2). Metternich was not in support of the French
Before the presence of equality came into play, some laws favored the rich over all others, and some only affected the poor; however, the growing middle class ended up being caught in the crosshairs of the two. During the Revolution, leaders went to protest this inequality, and in doing so went on to draw inspiration from the very ideas brought upon by Enlightenment thinkers, which in turn were the very building blocks of France’s 1789 Declaration of the Rights of
The social condition in France before the French Revolution was very poor. The society was divided into three estates: first estate, second estate, and third Estate. The first and the second estates were made up of the Clergy
The French Revolution was a major transformation of the society and political system of France, lasting from 1789 to 1799. The social structure caused major segregation between each echelon, or Estate. There were many grievances among the Third Estate on the coming of the French Revolution. The Third Estate was made up by the merchants, peasants, laborers, and the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie was the prominent class that were able to address the Third Estate grievances. The Third Estate’s grievances were unequal taxation, financial problems, and food scarcity.
Under the King Louis XVI, France was divided into three Estates; majority belonging to the third Estate. This document ended the old rules and made equal rules for every individual, regardless of your Estate, because they felt that ignorance, neglect, or corruption of government is the sole cause of public calamities. (Lualdi; 118) The rights of the men and citizens were: Men are born and will remain free with equal rights, everyone has right of liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression, no individual can practice on the law which has not stated directly from the nation, any individual is free to do anything which is not harmful to other citizens, laws can only prohibit harmful actions, no person should be accused or arrested unless they have been proved of doing something against the law, no criminal should be punished more than the law prohibits, everyone has freedom to state their opinion and have different religious views, public military forces will be responsible for the security of the rights of citizens, and a common contribution is essential for maintenance. (Lualdi; 119-120) After publishing these laws, King Louis XVI was over thrown, because people did not like him. These laws brought peace and liberty for everyone in
France’s working class was suffering because of bad harvests. The Guild system didn’t allow for farmers to row what they wanted. This caused increased economic pressure on the entire country, but because of Louis XVI’s tax structure it placed an especially large amount of pressure on the working and middle class.
Hugo’s social commentary focuses on three main concepts that he believes must be reformed in the French society: criminal justice, education and the treatment of women. By showing the unreasonable punishments both Valjean and Fantine shows how the social structure has turned innocent and good people into criminals.
During the period of 1789-1799 people lived much differently than individuals do today and there were many reasons for this. During the French Revolution there was a large amount of taxation for certain class groups, “While average tax rates were higher in Britain, the burden on the common people was greater in France” (GNU, 2008, pg. 2). Due to these large taxations on the peasants and lower class and not on the clergy and nobles it caused excessive conflict between the classes. Not only was taxation a cause of conflict between classes but so was the corrupt monarchy of France. The main causes of the French Revolution were over taxation, class conflict, and corrupt monarchy.
Herbert, Sydney. The Fall of Feudalism in France. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1969. Print.
Throughout France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries majority of the population consisted of peasants who lived in rural areas across an estimated thirty thousand different villages. The lives of these peasants consisted of hard physical labour that usually took place on farms that they rented from a seigneur . “Life was a struggle to grow enough to feed families and meet obligations. Crop yields were relatively low, and the average villager did not own enough land to live comfortably on what it could produce” . This paper will cover peasant revolts in France during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as their suppressions. Two different kinds of revolts will be looked at, tax revolts and religious revolts. The two kinds of revolts will then be compared and analysed.
Marking a significant beginning stage of the economic downturn was the Seven Years’ War, a battle that saw few positive achievements, but several losses both in terms of land and money, which had been acquired through loans that would establish France’s first significant debt. The reign of Louis XVI would further this debt, while also creating a greater divide between the estates of France by placing the heavy burden of repaying much of the new debt on the poorest class of France, the Third Estate. Participation in another war, only ten years prior to the French Revolution would create even more debt for France as they entered the American War of Independence, again with funding from loans that would need to be paid soon thereafter. Throughout this period of debt creation within France, society worsened in many ways due to the inability of the nation, from royalty to the Third Estate, to evolve economically, socially and agriculturally. With this overall sense of decline throughout France, a nearly unanimous desire amongst France’s Third Estate, the most populous, was to pa...
The social differences in France were very unreasonable. People openly argued that “social differences should not be defined by law, as they were in the old regimes order” (2). In France, much of the inequality came from the social class system. It led to angry peasants and tons of revolting. This could have been avoided if France maintained equality for all estates, as it would have been rational. In addition, the clergy and nobles were given many rights which “included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church” (109). This was very biased as they were able to get the highest jobs, not because they earned it, but because of their social stature. Meanwhile, commoners or bourgeoisie, were not granted those jobs even if they had the ability to do them. This caused much of the third estate to become mad which led to uncivilized manner in France. If the government had just given equal rights and granted jobs by merit opposed to social class rankings, there would have been less drama between the estates and everything would have been
To understand the impact of The Social Contract, the “general” ideas and ideals of the time period must first be understood. Pre-Revolution France was dominated by extremely powerful Clergy and Monarchal Governments ruled by kings and aristocrats. This stranglehold on power, as well as complete control over economic goods, allowed the upper-classes to thrive and flourish, even as the masses suffered through poor harvests and the after-effects of war (both “The Seven Years War” and “The American Revolution” had huge economic impacts on France). Growing re...
French culture and society has evolved from many different aspects of French life. From the mastery of French cuisine to the meaning of French art, the French have changed and evolved in many ways to produce a specific modern culture, the dignified culture of the French. One thing that parallels the progress and continuation of French culture is the role of women throughout France. Compared to other nations, the role and rights of women in France were confronted earlier and Women’s suffrage was enacted earlier. The role of women in France, because of the early change in perception of women, enabled France to develop faster and with less conflict than other competing nations.
The bad living conditions of France and its depressed economy was one of the primary drivers for the French Revolution. The people of France were so poor that they had no shoes to wear and no food to eat. The poverty of France breaks its economy at its root. The economy got so bad that “By December 1788, there was a nationwide revolt against food shortages and rising prices, which continued to spread till the summer of 1789, when there was another bad harvest”(Todd 528). One ...