His. 102: Intro. to Western
Civilization
French Revolution
Instructor: Michael D. Berdine, Ph.D.
Pima Community College – West Campus
TTh, 10:10-11:25am, Tucson H205
Fall 2003
http://wc.pima.edu/~mberdine
French Revolution
Overview
• The year 1789 witnessed two far-reaching events:
the ratification of the Constitution of the United
States of America and the eruption of the French
Revolution.
• Compared to the American Revolution, the French
Revolution was more complex, more violent, and
far more radical in its attempt to reconstruct both a
new political and a new social order.
French Revolution
Background
• The long-range or indirect causes of the
French Revolution must first be sought in
the condition of French society.
– Before the Revolution, France was a society
grounded in the inequality of rights or the idea
of privilege.
– Its population of 27 million was divided, as it
had been since the Middle Ages, into three
orders, or Estates.
French Revolution
Background
• The First Estate consisted of the clergy and
numbered about 130,000 people who owned
approximately 10% of the land.
– Clergy were exempt from the taille, France’s chief tax.
– Clergy were also radically divided:
• The higher clergy, stemming from aristocratic families, shared
the interests of the nobility;
• While the parish priests were often poor and from the class of
commoners.
French Revolution
Background
• The Second Estate was the nobility, composed of
about 350,000 people who nevertheless owned
about 25 to 30% of the land.
– The nobility had continued to play an important and
even crucial role in French society in the 18th century,
holding many of the leading positions in the
government, the military, the law courts, and the higher
church offices.
– The nobles sought to expand their power at the expense
of the monarchy and to maintain their control over
positions in the military, church and government.
French Revolution
Background
Second Estate (cont.)
– Moreover, the possession of privileges
remained a hallmark of the nobility.
– Common to all nobles were tax exemptions,
especially from the taille.
• The Third Estate, or the commoners of
society, constituted the overwhelming
majority of the French population.
2
French Revolution
Background
Third Estate (cont.)
– They were divided by vast difference in
occupation, level of education, and wealth.
– The peasants, who alone constituted 75 to 80%
of the total population, were by far the largest
segment of the Third Estate.
• They owned about 35 to 40% of the land, although
their landholdings varied from area to area and over
half had little or no land on which to survive.
French Revolution
Background
Third Estate (cont.)
– Serfdom no longer existed on any large scale in
France, but French peasants still had
obligations to their local landlords that they
deeply resented.
• These “relics of feudalism,” or aristocratic
privileges, were obligations that survived from an
earlier age and included the payment of fees for the
use of village facilities, such as the flour mill,
community oven, and winepress.
French Revolution
Background
Third Estate (cont.)
– Another part of the Third Estate consisted of
skilled craftspeople, shopkeepers, and other
wage earners in the cities.
• In the 18th century, a rise in consumer prices greater
than the increase in wages left these urban groups
with a noticeable decline in purchasing power.
• Their day-to-day struggle for survival led many of
these people to play an important role in the
Revolution, especially in Paris.
French Revolution
Background
Third Estate (cont.)
• About 8% of the population, or 2.3 million people,
constituted the bourgeoisie, or middle class, who
owned about 20 to 25% of the land.
– This group included merchants, industrialists, and
bankers who controlled the resources of trade,
manufacturing, and finance and benefited from the
economic prosperity after 1730.
– The bourgeoisie also included professional people –
lawyers, holders of public offices, doctors, and writers.
French Revolution
Background
Third Estate (cont.)
– Many of the members of the bourgeoisie had their own
set of grievances because they were often excluded
from the social and political privileges monopolized by
the nobles.
– At the same time, remarkable similarities existed
between the wealthier bourgeoisie and the nobility.
• By obtaining public offices, wealthy bourgeoisie could enter
the ranks of the nobility.
• During the 18th century, 6500 new noble families were created.
French Revolution
