Causes Of French Revolution Essay Research Paper

Causes Of French Revolution Essay, Research Paper

The French Revolution happened in France around the period 1789-92 (although these dates are disputed by historians), and resulted in the overthrow of the French monarchy and the Ancien R.gime (the system of government). The monarchy in France had been established for many centuries, and the causes of the Revolution were deeply-rooted, including the problems with the Ancien R.gime, the growth of nationalism, the influence of philosophers, and the example of the American Revolution. In the short term, there were other factors that precipitated the French Revolution, and these included the character of Louis XVI (the reigning French monarch at the time), the Bankruptcy of the French Crown, and, in the very short term, the economic and agricultural problems of 1788 and 1789.

Of all the long term causes of the French Revolution, the Ancien R.gime was perhaps the most deeply-rooted. The Ancien R.gime was the old system of government, the old order of things, before the Revolution, and it divided French society up into three “estates”: the nobles, the clergy, and the common people (ie. everyone else, which included both peasants and the middle classes). The first and second estates were privileged in that they paid no tax at all, and for this reason, the monarch did not have a problem with their support: they were, in effect, propping up the Ancien R.gime. The first and second estates also owned the larger proportion of land: although there were only 300 000 of them out of a total population of 25 million, they owned three fifths of the land in France.

The excesses of the French Crown meant that the third estate was being crushed by the financial burden. They were taxed in almost every conceivable way, from a vingti.me tax, to a capitation tax, to customs taxes. The punishments for tax offences were high. The high taxation and bad conditions of peasants gave them the incentive to do away with the Ancien R.gime.

The middle classes of the time found perhaps more grievances with the Ancien R.gime than the peasants. The middle classes resented being lumped in the third estate with the peasants, and resented being excluded from positions of office, such as in the army, navy and diplomatic services. They were unable to openly criticise the government without risking harsh punishment; they lacked religious freedom; they wanted lower taxes for Free Trade.

In addition to this, the monarch exercised complete power in France; France was an autocracy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the will of the sovereign was law (“The thing is legal because I wish it” – Louis XVI). Critics of the government could be arrested via a royal writ (a lettre de cachet) without trial. Earlier on, the French provinces (.tats) were each represented by their own parlement, but these had declined by the 18th century. The States-General (which bore a closer resemblance to England’s parliament) had not been called since 1614. Lastly, the parlement of Paris, which registered the King’s edicts, was the only body left that could have opposed the King, but by the 19th century had no real power to reject the edicts.

The upshot of this was that there no formal opposition to the government, and the masses had no say in government. The monarchy had the power to grossly misgovern the country; one of the causes of the Revolution.

England’s monarchy was different to the French monarchy in this respect; it was a constitutional monarchy, and so England’s monarch was limited in his powers by a constitution, and by parliament, and was effectively only a figurehead. This was the sort of government the French middle classes were looking towards: they did not want to abolish the monarchy, they merely wanted to limit his powers and have a say in government.

More inspirational to the French, though, was the American Revolution. At the time of the French Revolution, the American War of Independence had happened only recently, with the Declaration of Independence happening in 1776. America had become a democratic republic after a war sparked off by unfair taxation (in a similar way to how the French third estate was overtaxed). During the Seven Years War (1756-63), in which France helped Britain fight against America, many ideas key to the US Constitution were brought home by French soldiers fighting in the war. The French were inspired when they saw the American ideals working so well.

The US Constitution had also, in turn, been influenced greatly by various philosophers in France who were critical of the Ancien R.gime, and included their ideas. These philosophers included Voltaire (1694-1778), who was critical of existing institutions in France, especially the Church (“If God did not exist, you would have to invent him”), and attacked religious persecution, unfair taxes, and torture (all things forbidden by the US Constitution, and the later French “declaration of the rights of man and the citizen”). Montesquieu (1689-1755) suggested that the English constitution was suitable for France, and advocated checks and balances in government (with separate legislature, judiciary and executive; an idea again implemented in the US Constitution). Rousseau’s (1712-1778) “Social Contract” put forward the case for direct democracy (as opposed to representational democracy), and, although this idea was never realised in France or Amer