French Revolution Research Paper

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Words: 873
Pages: 4
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October7, 2013
Ashley Watts
Period 6
Global
The French Revolution’s Social Affairs

What does it mean to revolt, what does it mean to start a Revolution. A revolt is a rise of rebellion, actions that are taken to gain freedom. A revolution well that is the whole package the revolt to an extreme level, unstoppable violence until the freedom is gained. Revolutions usually start due to years of injustice and no independence. Many countries had revolutions due to unfair conditions and laws, the revolutions that will always be remembered is the American Revolution and the French Revolution. The French Revolution’s main cause was social due to disputes between the different social classes in the French Society. The people chose to revolt because they were not being heard and were being treated unfairly. The outcome of this revolution was in both ways positive and negative. During the French and Indian war, France spent large sums of money to send troops and supplies across the Atlantic. After they lost the war, France started improving the army and rebuilding the navy which was no doubt and expensive project. These events led to the heavy taxes on the third estate. France was made up of three social classes and they were the first estate made up of church officials and clergies who obtained all the privileges, owned 20% of land and basically had more power than the king. The second estate was made up of nobles who were born into their positions, owned 20% of the land and also obtained all of the privileges. The third estate was broken up to three estates the middle class who were close to the nobles but the only difference was they were taxed heavily. Then they were the business people in the other class and the last class was the peasants who worked for the king and the nobles and they were the poorest of the poor. In Document 1 it explains the that there is an injustice on tax paying and they also explained the conditions the people went through for two years which were that the people seemed poor, the lack of bread is terrible and the people complained that the taxes were crushing them. Only the third estate was required to pay taxes due to the privileges granted to them by the king. Although the people cried out they still weren’t heard, these are one of the things that lead to their revolt. The American Revolution encouraged the French Revolution of 1789. Louis XVI, the king of France fully supported the American war of independence because America’s enemy was also France’s enemy at the time. Supporting America added on to France’s debt because the war was expensive. The social ideas of equality and human rights were a motivation for the French Revolution. The French probably felt that if they supported America and they were able to gain their independence then it was possible for the French to gain their independence also. The French Revolution was not started on impulse but was an eruption against the current society and had more to do with the years of oppression of peasants and servants. Document 5 explains that France’s condition was not the only reason the people want to destroy the monarchy but it was due to the many years of
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