The French Revolution (1774 – 1789)

Political Order in France before Revolution

Social Order before Revolution

Long-term Causes of Revolution

New Social Movements and Ideas before Revolution

Short-term Causes of Revolution

l
Political Order in France before Revolution
Adcock pg. 5 - 12

Elements that made up the King’s authority

Absolute monarchy

- Most important aspect of power: theoretical basis of authority: the set of understandings
about the King as an absolute ruler
- Demonstrated most strongly by Louis XIV - long reign (1661-1715)
- Spokesman Jacques Bossuet: ‘the king is, and ought to be absolute…
- France – no written constitution
- Definition of royal power - in documents (e.g. The Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom) and in
accepted practices
- King has power to pass laws, appoint ministers, declare war, impose taxes, control currency

The theory of rule by divine right

- Power reinforced by religious belief of French monarch receiving power directly from God
- Monarch deemed infallible and rules by ‘divine right’
- Bossuet: ‘King… is the image of God, who sets the whole of nature in motion’
→ To criticise the king was to criticise God
- Divine nature displayed in traditional ceremonies - cured ill by a touch of his hand
- King - control of the functions of government (e.g. declaring war and making peace)
- Ruled through cabinet of ministers - Council of State, he issued orders to
- Few ministers dared to reveal problems or suggest unpopular policies
→ King replace ministers at will
- King’s personal authority carried into provinces by royal governors (intendants)
→ Chosen by him to implement royal policy in area
→ King’s understanding of nation only as good as reports from ministers and governors

Limits to the King’s power

- King ruled with absolute power, but still respect national’s traditions and laws (could not rule
with despotism, with violence and disrespect)
- Ruled alongside provincial assemblies (established in the decade before 1787 to meet in the
large towns of regional France) and others
- Historian Doyle: no groups actually challenged royal power (1614 – 1789)
→ Still placed constraints, with most significant parlements – highest laws courts

Parlements (highest laws courts of appeal) challenge royal authority, 1771-1174

- 13 supreme law courts checked and registered royal laws

- Process ensured all courts received and understood copies of laws
→ Never intended as check upon King’s powers
- Courts given power to make a remonstrance – a private memo telling king registration
delayed, due to identification of some technical problem in wording of law
- During Louis XI
→ Judges decided they should act to moderate King’s power
→ Began to use remonstrance to expression political opposition to monarchy
- Key point occurred between 1750’s and 60’s
 → Parlements had power to prevent Louis XI from increasing taxes and creating other
law courts
→ In provinces: parlements stood up to King’s governors
- 1770: King prepared to fight opposition
→ Ordered chancellor to strip courts of powers, settling opposition
- 1774: new King Louis XVI – tried to win back parlements by giving them back old powers
→ Parlements cautious, didn’t immediately resume opposition, later caused fur
problems

Contradictions and inefficiencies of the old regime

- People suffered from the inefficiencies, inequalities, and contradictions in old regime
- Historian Doyle:
→ Clarifies that structures of old regime were not a system government, rather several
overlapping systems, competing
- Old regime chaotic mix of administration, justice, taxes, and religious institutions
- No equality: dependent on address and systems enforced in such area

Importance of public perception of King

- Absolute political authority supported by public perception regarding role - must be created
- Historian Burke shows
→ Louis XI created the structures of monarchical power also convincing imagery
- Louis XI create ‘little academy’ – responsibly for creating a coherent set of representations
(designed to reinforce impression of monarch’s power)
→ Included collection of paintings, statues, and literary works to glorify the ‘Sun King’

Public belief in King’s competence

- Common assumption that King – capable of ruling competently

→ Reinforced by production of oil paintings, showing King working
- Therefore, King could rely on some public faith in abilities
- But if serious issues become public, his credibility would be weakened

Dynasties
- Monarchs enjoyed prestige of belonging to a dynasty
- Each decade of rule reinforces weight of continuity and tradition
→ Successive monarchs are strengthened through belonging to dynasty

Louis XIV

- Called ‘sun king’ – as powerful as the sun

- Height in monarchy - respected
- Created palace of Versailles
- First part of the 18th Century, made many reforms

Louis XV

- Leader who believed he needed to be out with his people

→ On the battlefield in Austrian war

Louis XVI

- Arranged marriage to Marie Antoinette

 - Weak, indecisive

Paternalism
- King was ‘father’ and protector of his people
- Master gave, people expected to show deference (respect) in return, but Master must also
show deference
- Modelled through King and people relationship
- Traditionally, people go directly to their ruler to seek assistance in cases of misfortune
- Created a season trust, reinforcing belief in royal legitimacy and competence
Social Order before Revolution
Adcock pg. 15 - 23

Corporate society and privilege

- Old regime – corporate society (society in which certain groups can legally enjoy different
conditions and laws, which do not apply to the rest)

Privilege

- Key concept: privilege (private set of laws)

→ Could be honorific e.g. noble’s right – wear sword in public
- Usually entitled owner to significant concessions
→ Legal: nobles and priest tried in special courts made up of like people
→ Fiscal (most significant) : certain groups negotiated with King to pay little tax
- Result: no equality, all treatment depended on group and privileges associated

Culture of deference
- Cultural of deference (polite submission and respect)
- People accepted rich and powerful – superior
→ Instinctively paid respect, by changing the way the spoke and behaved (in presence)
- French society still structured upon old-fashioned classification – estate
- Estate – larger categories base upon definition of peoples’ role to fulfil in society
→ According to categories created in Middle Ages, outdated by 1780s

Three Estates
- First Estate (169 500)
→ Clergy – every rank - Archbishops to priests
→ Task: traditionally to pray and keep kingdom free of evil influences
- Second Estate (125 000)
→ Nobility: powerful to minor
→ Traditional task: fight for king and maintain enough resources to contribute to army
in war time
- Third Estate (26-28 million)
→ Everyone else
→ Bourgeoisie (2 million), Artisans (2 million), Landowning and tenant farmers (5
million), sharecropping farmers (11 million), day labourers (5 million), Serfs (1 million)
→ Medieval: primarily peasant farmers, but later artisans, doctors, shopkeepers
→ Had a supportive role – carrying the first two estates

Two privileged estates

First Estate

- only 0.6% of population, yet owned 10% all land

- Church hierarchy small – 1000 high clergy (archbishops)
→ Generally born into it
→ Very wealthy
- Lower clergy
→ Included cures (parish priests) and vicaries (assistants)
- Church – special right to apply tithe (1/10 of somebody’s income given to a church)
 - Exempt from royal taxes – only voluntary donation of 1% of income
→ Little of this went to parish priest

Second Estate

- 0.4% of population, but owned 30% of the land

- Had some tax exemptions but still paid others
- Nobility of the sword (noblesse d’epée)
→ Aka old nobility
→ Families that traced their ancestry back centuries to military achievement
- Nobility of the robe (noblesse de robe)
→ Recent nobility of high civil servants
→ King allowed wealthy bourgeois to buy positions and title

Third Estate

- Largest most complex, majority of population

- 22 million – countryside, 6 million – urban
- Towns: wealthy bourgeoisie (wide range of people such as merchants and wealthy bankers to
middling people of the professional classes such as lawyers)
- 2 million bourgeoisie, 10% of population

Bourgeoisie – possible revolutionary class

- Families – fortunes in commercial and industrial expansion of 18th century

- 1780 – most industry and enterprise – bourgeoisie owned
- Greatest aim: to become noble
→ Investment in finance and land – allowing them to become rentiers, completely living
from investments
- Successful bourgeoisie – hope to purchase venal public office

Urban Workers

- 2 million
- Many artisans, traders, industry
- Worker very general term – anyone from labourer to master of workshop
- Significant because of their concentration in towns
→ many literate, most militant (an aggressive defender of a cause)
→ later form powerful crowds in cities

The peasants

- Vast majority of workers lived in the country

- Broad range of wealth
- Some owned land, but many forced to rent extra land from first or second estate people
- Subjected to financial weight e.g. feudal dues
Long-term Causes of Revolution

- Ancient regime (French society and government before the 1789 revolution)
→ Many deep-rooted problems
→ Affected successive royal governments
- Problems influenced
→ Governing, particularly taxation system
→ Ordered, yet deeply divided structure of French society
→ Gradual spread of ideas – started to challenge social structure
- Key natures of society before 1789
→ Structure of royal government
→ Taxation system
→ Societal structure
→ Enlightenment

Royal Government
- Before 1789 – absolute monarchy ruled by Bourbons
- Authority of French crown unlimited
- King only responsible to God, answerable to no-one on earth
→ Known as absolutism
- In absolutism – personality and characters of ruler crucial
→ Set the tone for style of government
- Before revolution in 18th century – 3 kings
→ Louis XIV
→ Louis XV
→ Louis XVI

Limitations to power

- Kings still bound by laws and customs of kingdom

- Also had to consult council of ministers to make laws
→ Most important Controller-General – in charge of royal finances
- Each minister dealt with King on individual basis
→ Didn’t form part of cabinet system of government
- Provinces – government carried out by the intendants (officials directly appointed by and
answerable to the Crown, mainly responsible for police, justice, industry, finance etc.)
→ Had expansive power in the Généralités (34 areas France divided into for purpose of
collecting taxes etc.)
- 1774 – Louis XVI acceded to throne
→ New king had good intentions, but never came to term with state’s financial
problems
→ Louis weak, indecisive leader – opposite of what absolutism needed (strong)
- 1770 – Louis married Marie Antoinette
→ Daughter of Austrian empress
- During accession – couple popular, but later dissipated
→ Due to series of scandals and Marie’s extravagance
- Portrayed negatively as ‘Australian whore’
- Government debts grew – Queens fondness for gambling and expensive construction projects
 → suggested – widely out of touch with ordinary people
- Believed by many revolutionaries
→ influenced King so he avoided granting them concessions
- Supporters labelled ‘Austrian Party’
→ Suspected of preferring her homeland and sacrificing France

Leader: Louis XVI

- Very smart man, yet lacked character strength to combat powerful factions within his court
- Failed at crucial times to give necessary support to reforming ministers
- Clearly aware of need to resolve pressing problems
→ But failed to back ministers reforming plans – leading to dismissal of improvements
- Summoned Estates-General
→ Sign of desperation
→ Again, failed to provide leadership
- Initiative taken by Third Estate
→ Louis forced to react to events rather than control them
- Further undermining of position through
→ attempting to leave France and revelation of his true thoughts on revolution
- Increasing reliance on Marie Antoinette confirmed lack of leadership skills
- Overwhelmed by financial crisis and his inability to solve it

Taxation system
- Taxation system in France chaotic and inefficient

Tax collection

- Collected by tax farming (system where government agrees tax assessment figure for area,
collected by a company with rights (through bidding) to collect it)
- Farmers-General
→ Company that collected indirect taxes for government
→ Paid state agreed sum, kept anything extra for themselves
- Consequently:
→ Government never received enough to cover expenditure, borrow frequently
→ Interest rate payments on debt – large part of government expenditure

Tax Description Indirect (taxed on services Who was taxed

used)/direct (on incomes)
Taille Land tax – the main Direct In theory: Third Estate
direct tax In reality: some granted
exemption by Crown,
mainly peasants taxed
Vingtiéme 5% tax on income Direct Third Estate
Capitation Tax on people – Direct In theory: Second and
frequently called poll Third Estates
tax
Gabelle Salt tax Indirect Everyone
Aidas Tax on food and drink Indirect Everyone
Octrois Tax on goods entering Indirect Everyone
a town
 - Taxes collected by officials - bought right to hold positions through venality (sale and
purchase of certain jobs, which could be inherited by descendants)
→ Therefore, could not be dismissed
- Corruption and wastage
→ Resulting in Crown receiving inadequate income
→ Taxpayers knew much of tax paid never reached the treasury

Turgot – Controller General (1727-81)

- Turgot appointed as Controller General (1727-81) on Louis XVI accession

→ Influenced by ideas of the philsophes (group of writers and thinkers, formed core of
French Enlightenment), embarked on reform
→ Attempt to abolish trade guilds and the corvée (unpaid labour service to maintain
roads)
→ Reform tax system provoked large amount of protest from parlement
- Louis for harmony’s sake, withdrew support and Turgot left office

Effect upon Crown

- Bulk of royal revenue - taxation

- Exemptions - Crown denied adequate income to govern country with
- To meet war demands - Crown forced to borrow money
- Issue of taxation
→ Weakened crown
→ Created resentment among Third Estate, bore burden of tax payment

French society during the ancient regime

- On eve of revolution population approx. 27.5 million
- French society in 18th century divided into three orders known as Estates of the Realm
- First two estates – lots of privileges that were used to disadvantage the Third
- Division between estates – long-term cause of revolution

First Estate

- The clergy
- Consisted of members of religious orders (monks and nuns) and the clergy (parish priests)
- Issues contributing to church being unpopular with people included
→ Plurality (holding of more than the one bishopric or parish by an individual) and
absenteeism (
→ Tithes
→ Exemption from taxes
→ Power over the people

Plurality and absenteeism

- Younger sons of noble families enter Church

- Occupied high posts (bishops and archbishops) providing large incomes e.g. 400,000 livres
- Parish priests - very little money e.g. between 700 and 1000 livres
- Some bishops were bishops of more than one diocese (area served by a bishop) (plurality)
- Many never visited their diocese (absenteeism)
- Made church very unpopular with ordinary people
 → Considered bishops were more interested in cash than religious and spiritual needs of
the people

Tithes

- Wealth of church – came from land owned and tithes paid to it

- Largest single landowner in France – 10% of the land
- Tithe: charge paid to church yearly by landowners, based on a proportion of crops they
produced
→ Charge varied widely, most parts of France about 7% of the crop
- Supposed to provide for
→ Parish priests
→ Poor relief
→ Upkeep of church buildings
- Instead much went into pockets of bishops and abbots
- Resented by peasantry and ordinary clergy
→ Most common grievance mad in their cahiers (lists of grievances and suggestions for
reform drawn up by representatives of each estate) in 1788
- Income produced by tithe provided Church with 50 million livres each year

Exemption from taxes

- Most important privilege - added to unpopularity

- Income from property great – around 100 million livres per year towards the revolution
- Church instead agreed to make annual payment – which it determined – (don gratuit)
→ Under 5% of church’s income and could afford much more

Power over the people

- Catholicism official state religion – France very religious

- Influence of church considerable
→ Powers of censorship over books critical of church
→ Provided poor relief, hospitals, and schools
→ Kept a list of births, marriages, and deaths in parish
- Church acted as a sort of Ministry of Information for government – communication very poor
→ Parish priests informed congregations about various policies etc.

Second Estate

- Nobility most powerful

- French nobility number in hundreds of thousands
→ 1789 figures between 110,000 and 350,000
- Within nobility – great variations in wealth and status
→ Most powerful: 4000 court nobility, restricted (in theory) to those whose noble
ancestry – traced back to before 1400. In reality – those who could afford the high
cost at living at Versailles (royal palace of the Bourbons)
→ Second – noblesse de robe: legal and administrate, including 1200 magistrates of
parlements
→ Remainder – majority – lived in country in different states of prosperity. Under law a
landed estate inherited by eldest son, younger sons fended for themselves – joining
the Church, army, or administration
 - Main source of income: land
→ Owned between 1/3 and ¼ of France
- Nearly all main position in state – held by nobles

Privileges

- Tried in their own courts

- Exempt from military service
- Exempt from paying the gabelle
- Exempt from the corvée (forced labour on roads)
- Received a variety of feudal dues (financial or work obligations imposed on the peasantry by
landowners)
- Exclusive rights to hunting and fishing
- Monopoly right (banalities) – operate mills, ovens, wine presses

- Privileges of land ownership and tax exemption resented by ordinary people

→ Saw Second Estate as avoiding their share of tax burdens borne by others

Taxation exemption

- Greatest privilege – exempt from taxtion

- Until 1695 – no direct taxes for nobles
- Even with introduction of new taxes – still paid very little
- Exempt from most expensive tax – taille

Provincial nobles

- Provincial nobles – strongly attached to privileges

→ Unlikely to be wealthy
→ Represented significant part of their income
- Felt if they lost tax privileges and their seignerial rights – face ruination
- Determined to oppose changes threatening position

Joining the nobility

- Various ways of becoming noble besides inheritance

→ Main way: direct appoint from King or buying certain offices that carried hereditary
titles
→ Called venal offices – 12,000 in service of Crown
→ Carried titles – could be bought, sold, inherited like property
- Some limitations to nobility
→ Not allowed (in theory) to take part in industrial or commercial activities, could suffer
derogation, but many did anyway (not widely enforced

Third Estate

- Consisted of everyone who did not belong to First or Second Estates

- Extremes of wealth evident within

Bourgeoisie

- Top end – bourgeoisie (middle-class urban dwellers, made a living through their intellectual
skills or business practice)
 - Wealthiest – merchants and traders – through France’s overseas trade
- Others included financiers, landowners, doctors, civil service, often venal office holders
- Rising numbers evident
→ Threefold increase over 18th century to 2.3 million
- No conflict with nobility until start of revolution
- Felt that its power and wealth should be reflected in political system
→ Bore substantial part of tax revenue paid to crown
→ Simmering resentment = revolution

Peasantry

- 85% of population, with wealth and status – varied

- Top end: large farmers
→ Owned their land and employed labourers to produce food to sell
- Labourers – existed as subsistence levels
- 18th century – labourers and farmers did well as agriculture good (especially 1770s)
- ½ peasants – sharecroppers – farmed but not owned land and gave ½ crops to landlords
- ¼ peasants – landless labourers

Serfdom

- Serfdom (system in which people were the property of the landowner)

- Bottom of social structure
→ Children unable to inherit anything, with paying lots of cash
- Poor peasants – lived in chronic uncertainty
→ Bad weather, illness – push them into begging, stealing and only occasional
employment

Grievances

- Bore the burden of taxation – extremely resentful

- Had to pay tithe to Church, feudal dues to lord and taxes to State
- All land – subject to feudal dues (e.g. corvée, champart (paid in grain), lods et vents (changing
ownership of land))
- Peasants also tried in seigneurial cort – lord both judge and jury
- Taxes paid to state – taille, gabelle and capitation
→ Increases dramatically between 1749-1783 – pay for involvement in wars
- Taxes – took between 5-10% of peasant’s income
- Heaviest burden – rent paid to landlords
→ Increased a lot during 2nd ½ of 18th century due increase in population
→ Increase demand for farms, resulting in landlords able to raise rent
- Increase financial burden upon peasantry – great source of resentment

Urban workers

- Remaining part of Third Estate

- Small property owners and artisans (skilled worker or crafts man) known as sans-culottes
- Majority worker lived in towns
→ Crowded unsanitary housing blocks (tenements)
→ Unskilled and poor
- Skilled craftsmen - organised into guilds
 - Paris 1776 – 100,000 workers, 1/3 of male population, belonged to guilds
- Standard of living – falling, average prices of living increase by 65% but wages only by 22%
- Worsening economic situation (preceding revolution) caused resentment, contributed to
long-term causes
→ Explains readiness to become involved in popular demonstrations that brought about
revolution

The Enlightenment
- Emerged 18th century, intellectual movement of writers and thinkers
- Movement questioned and challenged range of views and ideas accepted
→ Particularly about religion, nature, and absolute monarchy
- Analysis of society – reason and rational
- Intellectuals in France known as philosophes (writers)
- Wrote about problems of day and attached surrounding prejudice and superstition
- Radical effect: creation of general questioning spirit – which could be turned critically on
contemporary society

Aims of the philosophes

- Apply rational analysis to all activities

- Not prepared to accept tradition or revelation as reason for doing anything
- In favour of liberty – speech, press, trade, arbitrary arrest – and equality before the law
- Didn’t accept literal interpretation of Bible,
→ Anything that could not be explain by reason (e.g. miracles) as superstition
- Condemned catholic church – wealthy, corrupt, intolerant

Impact on revolution

- Not necessarily opposed regime – therefore not revolutionary

- Ideas attacked all assumptions – which impacted revolution
- Challenged and undermined church – key pillar
- Ideas and approaches – influenced many future revolutionaries
New Social Movements and Ideas before Revolution
Rising expectations of the bourgeoisie
- Crucial: feel not able to play a role in matching nation’s life with their ideas, talents, abilities

Ideas of utility and merit

- Important social idea:

→ development of belief that birth shouldn’t determine person’s social importance
→ Instead utility (usefulness) and merit (combination of personal abilities)
- Rejected prestige of noble birth
→ Allowed aristocrats – promoted to high government positions, church, and army
- Emphasis on social usefulness and merit traced from philsophes (critical thinkers)

Flashpoint: Bourgeois reconsiders societal structure

- 1768 – bourgeois concluded that traditional hierarchy needed to be changed

→ First Estate: abolished (clergy unimportant), nobility: could move up to First Estate
→ Most useful class – bourgeoisie – form Second Estate or Bourgeoisie Estate
→ Third Estate: working people including artisans
- Depicts the way of slow development of a social group’s awareness of its identity and worth

Other Social forces – challenge from liberal nobility

Bourgeoisie

- Aware/articulate regarding their social value, also challenging restriction’s imposed on them
- Many revolutionary leaders: bourgeoisie, revolution’s achievements most beneficial to them
- Historian Schama:
→ First person - Third Estate = nation – aristocrat Count d’Antraigues (not bourgeoisie)
- Historian Daniel Wick:
→ Liberal nobles prominent - pre- and first revolutionary period, numbers significant
- Aristocratic nobles also involved in the cause
- Old regime was losing confidence in its self – ‘loss of confidence in the regime’

Aristocratic salons

- Source of opposition to regime

- Meeting in their homes w/ nobles concerned state of nation gather with sympathetic people
- Opposition also occurred when traditional tensions with nobility (e.g. court and provincial)
joined with new political attitudes

Clubs

- Next evolution of salons e.g. Society of Thirty (formal club discussing intellectual thinking)
→ Met in Paris from November 1788 until March 1789
- Opinions discussed
→ Altruistic (unselfish in relation to others) e.g. Lafayette
→ Royal court: wastefulness, opulence
→ Liberal ideas: philosophical concepts (society structure)
- Significant: faction within nobility withdrawing from the Crown leaving the royals
unsupported, slow shift in thinking
Short-term Causes of Revolution

Foreign policy
The Seven Years’ War

- Since 15th century – France hostile relationship with both Britain and Austria
→ Britain: France’s only series colonial rival
→ Austria: rival for dominance of mainland Europe
- France and Austria – solved differences and allies in Seven Years’ War (1756-63)
→ French forces (in India and North America) defeats by British
→ Some overseas empire lost in 1763

The American War of Independence

- French government dreamt of revenge upon Britain

- Opportunity came when Britian involved in fight with its Northern American Colonies
- Resulting American War of Independence (1776-1783) – supported rebels
→ Providing military and financial support, including Lafayette
- Intervention – helped defeat UK and created USA

Treaty of Versailles (1783)

- France unable to recover lost territory

- Treaty of Versailles (1783) – satisfy honour
- At time: few foresee cost of war upon revolution
- War cost lots of money
→ Short-term: worsened already weak financial situation of Crown
- French soldiers (who fought in war) – exposed to ideas e.g. liberty and democracy
→ Returned home – demanded similar rights for French citizens

Financial crisis
- Main short-term cause of revolution
- Most important aspect of crisis
→ Huge deficit (result of when expenditure is greater than income) government building
up
- 20th August 1786 – Calonne (Controller-General), told Louis XVI – government on verge of
bankruptcy
- Revenue (1786) – 475 million livres, expenditure – 587 million livres
→ Deficit 112 million – almost ¼ of total income
- Increased in 2 years to 126 million – 20% of total expenditure

Reasons for the deficit and financial crisis

War

- France at war for twenty years

- Cost of helping American colonist defeat British government = approx. 1066 million livres
- Necker – finance minister, financed the way by raising loans
→ Didn’t directly lead to revolution
→ Lack of elected parliament to guarantee loans didn’t give lenders confidence
Tax

- Crown not receiving much of tax revenue

- Until it covered control of finances – no basic reforms could occur
- Privileged classes – unused source of revenue
- However, powerful resistance to any change in taxation from nobles (provincial)

Reform

- Joly de Fleury (Necker’s successor) saw the destruction of France’s finances

- Treasury: 160 million livres short for 1781, 295 million livres short for 1782
- Fleur and Calonne (successor) undid Necker’s work
→ Resumed practice of selling offices (abolished under Necker)
→ Both borrowed more heavily than Necker
- 1786: loans drying up - Calonne forced reform tax system
→ Main proposal: replace the capitation and the vingtiéme by single land tax
 Tax on land and not on person – affecting all landed proprietors (church etc.)
 No exemptions: everyone pays
→ Second part: aim at stimulating economy so future tax revenues would increase
 Proposed abandoning controls on grain trade
 Abolishing internal custom barriers (prevented free movement of grain
across France)
→ Final: restore national confidence so new loans for short term could be raised
 Calonne hoped parlements less likely to oppose registration of his plan
 Plan to display national unity and consensus

Failure of the reform process

- Estates General – obvious body to summon to approve reforms, as representative of nation

→ However, rejected: unpredictable
- Hand picked assembles of Notables by Calonne and Louis XVI
→ Anticipated to be a pliant body – willing agree to reforms
- February 1787: Assembly of Notables met
→ However, become clear wouldn’t collaborate or agree to reforms
→ As privileged class representatives: most to lose from reforms
→ No opposed to all change – agreed all should pay taxation
→ Claimed: nation’s approval needed for reforms – urged summoning of Estates
General
- Calonne dismissed April 1787, after Louis XVI realising strength of opposition to him

Political Crisis
- Calonne replaced Brienne, Archbishop (and Notable)
- Assembly of Notables: no more cooperative under Brienne
- Brienne retained Calonne’s land tax and introducing new plans following on from Necker
→ End to venial financial officials
→ New central treasury
→ Law codified in printed form, accessible to those who needed
→ Educational reform
→ Religious toleration
 → Reforming army (less expensive, more efficient)

Exiling of Parlements – 15th August

- Parlement of Paris refused Brienne’s reforms – said only Estates-General could consent to
new taxes
- Louis’ reaction: exile parlement to Troyes – 15 August
→ Reaction considered high handed
→ Result: aristocratic revolt – most violent opposition government had ever faced
→ Riots where parlements met and nobles assembled (unauthorised) to discuss
supporting them

Opposition to Crown

Economic harvests
Bad harvests

Food shortage
Marie Antoinette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette

Madame Déficit
- Named due to her lavish spending
→ Gambling problem, which used royal money
→ Lavish headpieces and clothing
→ Diamond necklace
- Contributing to bankruptcy due to spending – adding to the country’s spending
- Cause of France’s deficit

La Petite Trianon
- Secret hideaway for her and friends gifted by Louis XIV when she married Louis XV
- Symbolic of her separation from ‘common’ people of France

Diamond Necklace
- Made for Mistress of Louis XV, who was exiled after King’s death
- Tried to sell to Marie Antoinette – who did not want it
- Handmaiden and other people were impersonating Antoinette’s signature – to buy necklace
for much less than it was worth
→ Defrauding royal jewellers
- Made Marie highly unpopular with all class – especially Bourgeoisie and Third Estate
→ Sealed her fate as an unpopular queen
France’s Financial Crisis becoming Political
Adcock pg. 45 – 56

Creation of a crisis – nation’s financial problem

- Financial crisis of old regime began 20th August 1786
→ With Calonne informing Louis XVI – financial situation serious
- Key cause: four wars between 1733 – 1783: costing France 4000 million livres
- France: borrowed 1250 million livres since 1776
→ Annual deficit of 112 million on total revenue of 475 million livres
- Only solution to crisis: total reform of tax system
- Financial crisis = Fiscal crisis – system of revenue and expenditure at risk

Perception of royal wastefulness

- People believed crisis mismanagement and excessive expenditure

→ Thought – solved by: appointing right finance minister and asserting control over
royal spending
- Public perception: inaccurate
→ Wrongly blamed court’s lavish spending due to rumours about Antoinette’s
luxurious taste
- Reality: royal court only absorbed 6% of budget
→ Perception exaggerated by jealous nobles – who lost Queen’s favour

Old regime tries to reform itself

- Dominate grievance 1780s – perception nation = financial crisis but would/could not achieve
necessary reforms to solve it

Turgot (1774 – May 1776) – warning voice ignored

- France’s financial could not have occurred if Turgot been listened to

- Warned state would have to economise or face bankruptcy
- 1775 – 1776: France wanted to assist American colonies for revenge
→ Warned King to not become involved
→ ‘The first shot will drive the state to bankruptcy’ – right

Necker (October 1776 – May 1781) – appearance of Fiscal reform

- Necker inherited national finances in urgent need of reform

→ Realised people didn’t want austerity (policy of reducing luxuries and living simply)
- Necker avoided new taxes, existing taxes sufficient if collected properly
→ Correctly judged tax farming = wasteful
- Juggled accounts – give impression of financial recovery
→ Borrowed 520 mil livres finance war, hiding interest payments normal expenditure
- Criticised: Necker created ‘Financial summary for the King’
→ Appeared show France paid no new taxes
→ Credit of 10 million livres of revenue over expenditure

Calonne (1783 – 1787) – attempt at reform

- Total cost of involvement in American war – 1066 million livres

 - Calonne didn’t restrict court’s lavish expenditure
→ Believed visible spending = confidence in financial situation of regime
→ Unaware people saw it as main cause of crisis
- 1786: Calonne’s ‘Plan for the Improvement of Finances’ presented to Louis XVI
→ Recommended replacement of various income taxes by one uniform tax
→ Land tax – according to income paid by all w/out exception
- Thought – wasteful for tax famers to collect indirect taxes for government
→ Local assemblies calculate local tax liability and collect it
- Estimated streamlined tax system = 35 million more livres
→ Encourage economic activity: abolish internal tax barriers and external tariffs
→ Increase revenue in short term: new loans
- Appealed to Assembly of Notables for guidance

Financial crisis becomes political crisis

Aristocratic revolt, 1787 – 1788

- Privileged orders resisted royal government’s attempts at fiscal reform

- Resistance crucial: government unable to make further laws from international financiers
→ Unless lenders could see Crown had support of a body (e.g. parlements)
- Revolt: trigger to French Revolution
→ Draw in bourgeoisie, urban working classes and peasants in multiple rebellion

Assembly of Notables, 22 February 1787 – 25 May 1787

- Assembly of Notables – almost completely noble

- Supported equality of taxation in theory – acknowledging no one should not pay tax
- Few voted to keep their privileges
- Supported Calonne
→ Representative assembly allocate and collect tax
→ Accepting principle of taxation by representation (the idea that a government has
made law after consulting with the either to population or elected representatives)
- Economic self-interest of large landowners – obstructed reforms
→ Land tax fall heavily on them
→ Agreed to fiscal responsibility, but criticised system, advocated for alternatives
- Nobles remained against Calonne – dismissed on 8th April 1788

Importance of meeting

- Crucial to development of revolution situation

→ Transformed nation’s finances from state matter to question of public opinion
- Meetings closed: creating speculation
→ To meet public curiosity – leaks of information
- Whole event demonstrated seriousness of financial problems

Brienne’s attempted reforms

- Retried Calonne’s idea of provincial assemblies calc and collecting taxes

→ Modified it to please notables
- Notables now far more militant
→ Demanded permanent committee – audit royal spending
 → King refused
- Assembly refused to authorise new taxes
→ Argued only body able – Estates-General
- Brienne: realised could do nothing with Assembly – closed it

Damage

- Monarchy seemed unable to handle nation’s finances

- Nation aware of seriousness of problem
- Talk of principle of ‘no taxation w/out representation’
→ King no longer – right to simple oppose taxes with approval of representatives
- Brienne: present new laws to parlements – avoid Estates General

Flashpoint: King’s battle with parlements July 1787

- Struggle with parlements began July 1787, with a refusal to register a law
- Parlements – only pass laws when see royal accounts
→ King – parlements have no authority, ordered law to be registered
- Parlement retaliated: disobeying royal command – stating no authority to sanction
perpetual taxes (occurring over and over) only Estates-General could
- Resistance dangerous – especially with public having full knowledge
- Salons unanimous parlements – continue resistance
- Large crowds forming outside parlement (Paris)
- King feared strength of new public opinion
→ Ordered for parlement to Versailles (he – order registration)
- Parlement met following day to discuss
→ Crowds gathered to express support
- Situation – explosive, King ordere parlement to leave Paris
→ Retire to Troyes
- Ordered police to close clubs, stop crowds, repress pamphlets, keep streets clear at night
Political crisis becomes revolution
Adcock pg. 59 – 75

Hopes and grievances of Working people (1788-89)

- Calling of Estates-General and cahiers – intended to resolve fiscal and political crisis
→ Instead worsened it
- Calling created increased optimism (for reforms)
- Raising hopes:
→ Dangerous in stable times, but much worse in crisis
- People:
→ Thought whatever Estates-General did – better than current situation
→ Danger: when people don’t know what to expect, tend to expect everything

Makings of a food crisis

- Difficulties which effected labourers – worsened

- 13th July 1788: storm devastated ripe crops
→ Resulted in grain shortage
- Result: increased price of bread
→ July 1789 – price of bread increased steadily to highest level since Louis XIV
- Typical working family: spent 30 – 50 % of income on bread
- Poor peasant family spent 65 – 90% on bread
- Starvation threatened