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The French Revolution - Online Term Paper

The French Revolution

The Ancien Regime (Old Order)
French society was divided into three estates, or classes:
-First estate: the clergy (church)
-owned about 10% of all the land;
-exempt from taxes
-Second estate: the nobles (including the King)
-had the rights to top govt. jobs
-owned land but sometimes had little income
-Third estate: everyone else (the masses)
-bourgeoisie (middle class/merchants)
-peasants
-urban workers (very poor)

Problems
-heavy taxation on the 3rd Estate
-peasants still expected to perform medieval duties (i.e. the corvée – unpaid labor on roads and bridges)
-poor harvests led to a rise in food prices
-only nobles had the right to hunt for ...

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National Assemblt was locked out of their meeting hall—so they met at an indoor tennis court and vowed to meet until they had agreed upon a Constitution – the “Tennis Court” Oath.

The Storming of the Bastille (July 14th)
-There were rumors that the King would dissolve the Assembly.
-On July 14, 1789, a mob broke into the Bastille, where they believed weapons to be stored and battled with the prison guards.

Moderate Phase – 1789-1791
-turned France into a constitutional monatchy
-famine in 1789 – starving peasants attacked nobles who were trying to re-impose Medieval dues
-National Guard formed in Paris – middle-class militia formed as a reaction to royal troops
-Paris Commune – radical group which organized protests and violent action
-National Assembly realized something had to be done. Nobles voted to end their special privileges.

Declaration of the rights of Man
-National Assembly issues the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” in August ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/7/2011 03:45:46 PM
Submitted By: howyoudoiin
Category: European History
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 882
Pages: 4

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