REVOLUTION 1 FRANCE 1774 Louis 15 dies o Leaves France worse off then before Finances in the hands of kings always seem to fail Louis 14th o The more revenue Colbert could bring in the faster Louis spent it o Colbert mercantilist o Government control s finances Tax base o The population divided into 3 catagories Estates 1st estate is the church 2nd estate is the nobility 3rd estate everyone else Taxes 1st estate own more of France than anyone but the king pays in taxes 0 o Voluntary contribution every 5 years 2nd estate the nobles o Tiny minority but shares huge wealth with the king and the church Taxes 0 3rd estate over 90 of the population o Least wealth Taxes almost all Taxes on o Land o 10 taxes on church o Imports o Household items o Gavel Tax on Salt th o Louis 14 spent money on Mistresses Other fun Army Navy Wars of Conquest o Slowly and never enough or especially profitable Canada Parts of West Indies Toehold in India Louis 15th on the throne in 1715 Big rival English 7 years war 1756 1763 Big lose for France o Lost o Canada o West indies o Lost influence in India Louis 16th o1774 o Has inherited the throne plus all the economic problems of yearly two centuries o Meanwhile England is booming But there s trouble to come from the New World The English colonies mostly had legislatures based upon parliament So the concept of Representation was basic Colonies at war with France since the 1670 s Mostly a few French and lots of Native Americans Until 1755 Colonies had to defend themselves o Seven years War 1756 1763 1st world war British sent troops and ships French defeted but who will pay o Colonies But colonies said we are not represented in Parliament therefore we are not paying British tried o all sorts of taxes o sent troops o got increasingly violent opposition Open war 1775 1783 o French seeing a chance for revenge join colonists in 1778 o Victory leads to Republic for US more debt for France o But smart people in France looked at revolution and thought hmmm ummm in French o French Budget 50 debt service 25 army in Navy 5 Louis 20 left over May 1789 1st meeting of time Estates General o Since 1614 Two competing agendas Finances king s agenda Representation in government 3rd estate s agenda 1 Failed estates general 2 2years failure of harvest 3rd estate farming o It own governments o What will the king do
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