Textbook Chapter Notes Blue sections Green subsections Red important 08 28 2014 Chapter 12 Old regime in crisis Long term causes of the French Revolution Louis XV tried to bring down the parliament and a establish a new law courts that would be more subservient to him After his death Louis XVI reinstated the parliaments which retained their right to register royal edicts He wasn t all that bad Increasing complaints about the noble privileges monopolies and corruption fed the enlightenment It must be understood that commoners were not the driving force of the revolution but their dissatisfaction helped create a litany of demands for reform The monarchy s worsening financial crisis is what accentuated the situation Resistance strongest resistance came from the poorer of the nobility The poorer nobility also tended to be the oldest of nobility They were referred to as the nobles of the sword o The richer of the nobility who bought their positions were referred to as nobles of the robe Rising prices and rents along with a series of bad harvest 70s 80s Seigniorial reaction Financial Crisis Serious financial crisis short term cause of French Rev Debt from aiding in American was of independence 3 4ths of state expenses went to maintaining the army and navy and to paying off debts accumulated from the war of Austrian succession and the seven years war Monarchy was living beyond its means The problem lied in the very nature of its fiscal system France had no central bank the monarchy depended on private interest and suffered from a cumbersome assessment of fiscal obligations and inadequate accounting French debt was higher than Britain s Necker minister of finance o Floated more loans and people wanted him fired o New one Charles calonne showed how wrong Necker was but did not aid in debt but rather make it worse o Calonne proposed to overhaul the entire financial system He denounced the dominance of custom that had for so long prevented reform and encumbered commerce He called for an assembly that he thought would support them but that didn t happen They rejected his tax reform proposals and refused to countenance the idea that nobles should be assessed land taxes o Nobles convinced the king to sack calonne Which he did The First stages of the revolution Many members of the assembly were willing to accept fiscal reform as long as they were guaranteed more privileges They also wanted more assemblies of the estates general King was in a difficult position where he needed to reduce toe non tax privileges of the nobles without appearing like a tyrant But on the other hand if he gave the nobles what he wanted then the nobles would think they had some form of control and threaten his reign This dilemma would lead to the spawning of the first staged of the French revolution Convoking the Estates General Fact the noble revolt began the French Revolution It started when the parliament of Paris was exiled because they did not pass Louis land and stamp taxes All nobles throughout France revolted against them having to pay taxes Understand this revolt was not against the monarchy itself but against what the nobles deemed as an abuse of the rights and privileged of the nation committed by an increasingly despotic crown Resolution the monarchy was seeking compromise They agreed to withdraw the land and swamp taxes as long as the tax on income remained first assessed in 1750 to pay for the seven years war Asshole move Louis he ordered new loan edict without the approval of parliament After being told by the duke of Orleans Louis responded with this is of no importance to me it is legal because I will it Crossed the line here between absolutism and despotism o Ordered arrest of two of the most radical members of parliament edicts o Suspended parliament o Created a single plenary court that would register all his royal The assembly of the clergy who had assembled to decide the amount of its annual gifts to the crown protested the abolition of the parliaments Riots occurred in several cities How Louis reacted announced he would convoke the estates general on May1 of the following year in hopes he would avert royal bankruptcy if the estates would agree to the imposition of the new taxes o To warm the nobles up he reappointed necker they liked him Instead the estates general helped unify public opinion against the king FIRST ACT OF THE REVOLUTION the nobles forcing the crown to convoke the estates general o How would the voting happen if each section had a single vote no reform would happen since it the top two estates were against reform Parliament who had to very much happiness been reinstated decided each estate would have a single vote So the parliament was helping the privileged get their way The patriot bay a coalition of bourgeois members and some liberal nobles that began to oppose royal policies These patriots denounced the vested interest of the court and the nobles close to it They created political publications that transformed these debates into national political issues Society of the Thirty a group that included liberal nobles from very old families Example the marquis de Lafayette a French hero from The American war of Independent as well as a number of commoner lawyers held high positions in the third estate They met to discuss debate and distribute the liberal political pamphlets that would educate and rile up the masses In their pamphlets the proposed that the third estate should be entitles to tice as many representatives in the third estate Emmanuel joseph sieyes o first what is the third estate Everything Second what has it been heretofore in the political order Nothing Third what does it demand To become something herein who represented each estate in the estates general o fist estate 2 3 of those elected to the first estate were parish priest many of whom had humble origins and resented the privileges of the bishops and monastic orders o Second estate some of the younger representatives elected to the second estate were relatively liberal They wanted institutional reforms in the organization of the French monarchy that would permit them to check the power of the king similarly to how the parliament in England served to check on the English crown the king agreed to double the number of representatives of the third estate but declines to give all members and individual vote The king asked only the first two estates as well as the local assemblies to draw up lists of grievances which