French Revolution Essay
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he lower classes played a highly significant role in the French Revolution. Terminologically, they were referred to as the Third Estate of France. This Estate, comprised of about 97% of the population, bound together to bring an end to the Old Regime of oppression and subjugation.While the privileged First and Second Estates were growing and becoming ever more useless, the Third Estate’s bitter feelings and resentment toward the other two Estates was intensifying to the point of explosion. This uprising of feelings brought about mass riots and demonstrations, such as the Storming of the Bastille. The French Revolution should be considered a middle-class revolution because of their continual push for universal human rights.
The French Revolution starts with the first phase from 1789 to 1792. In this phase, the Estates General meeting rose. This was the first meeting since 1614 and included many delegates from each of the three estates. They all agreed that France was mis governed and that the meeting should be intended to address the financial problems in France, especially tax revenue. The meeting included cahiers which were 615 letters of complaints which condemned absolutism, demand a written constitution, no taxes without public approval, and unified laws.
A major problem with voting was that it was done by estates, not members. This meant that the Third Estate will always be outvoted two to one concerning taxes. The goal of the Third Estate was for their voice to be heard through creating a new constitution. This means that they intended to revolt and break away. From this idea arose three radical groups.The Jacobins were the most radical. Theyre going to push to kill the king, and they wanted a republic. The Girondins pushed for war to unify the country. This meant that all the radical groups would have a common theme. The Sans-Culottes were middle class people and they were upset because things for them hadnt changed. The Jacobins in the Girondins both pushed the revolution into it’s radical phase. The radical phase will lead to political changes, violence, and war.
The days of the Old Regime of France were numerous and took their toll on the Third Estate. The First Estate was comprised of clergymen who owned only 5-10% of France’s land. This Second Estate encompassed all of the nobility of France. These two classes, combined, accounted for only about 3% of the country’s population. However, a large percent of the people in these classes were exempt from taxes and duties. In order to regain financial stability from all the failed wars in the past, the French monarchy began resolving the fiscal crisis by implementing a taille (head tax) that was imposed heavily on the lower classes. The Third Estate was understandably furious and felt that because they made up the vast majority of the country’s population, only they had the right to govern France. This led to the many protests and riots. The numerous riots and demonstrations of the French Revolution served to incur damage not only to the physical buildings and people involved in the rebellion, but also to the power of the Old Regime.
The first major riot was the Storming of the Bastille, which was a prison in Paris that had, for years, symbolized the iron grip of the Old Regime. On July 14th, 1789, a giant mob of angry Third Estate citizens attacked the prison viciously. In the end, the riot was successful nevertheless; the lower classes had clearly expressed a message of tremendous resentment and fury against the injustices of the Old Regime. Perhaps the most important role of the Third Estate in the French Revolution was that of a continual push for freedom and rights. Many of the major changes in legislature involving universal rights and democracy occurred between 1789 and 1791. In 1789 the third estate demanded that the estates general be transformed into the national assembly with each member, not a state, having one vote. The king rejects to the proposed national assembly; causing the Third Estate to take two revolutionary actions. They declared themselves the National Assembly, and The Tennis Court Oath pledged to provide France with a new constitution. From 1789 to 1791, the work of the National Assembly was controlled by the bourgeoisie, so the National Assembly legislates against the Old Regime abuses.The Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1790 was considered the greatest tactical blunder of the revolution because the assembly created a national church. There was an opposition in the French church