-+Ho+Soo's+Notes+(France+15-21)+08.30.10

=**The Government Of France**=

Awesome Parts
This is a picture I drew of King Louis XVI

This is a picture I drew of the Sealed Letter.

This picture shows how serious the debt problem was by 1786.

**Citations**

Barbara. "Google Image Result for Http://mommylife.net/archives/2010/07/02/marie Antoinette.jpg." Web log post.// Google//. Mommylife, 2 July 210. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. mommylife.net/archives/2010/07/02/marie antoinette.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mommylife.net/archives/2010/07/the_truth_about_5.html&usg=__vw7FVRdjJdwO7R5fS5Dy7jetnic=&h=508&w=395&sz=86&hl=en&start=0&sig2=G6n2TTPUCmXRw8wzZR5ajw&zoom=1&tbnid=axIZZ1bdHEU57M:&tbnh=180&tbnw=144&ei=zOJ8TNnzH4vSuwP_0axk&prev=/images?q=Marie Antoinette&um=1&hl=en&newwindow=1&rlz=1R2ADFA_koCN348&biw=1259&bih=671&tbs=isch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=139&vpy=104&dur=1188&hovh=255&hovw=198&tx=126&ty=148&oei=zOJ8TNnzH4vSuwP_0axk&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0>.Barbara. "Google Image Result for Http:__//__mommylife.net/archives/2010/07/02/marie Antoinette.jpg." Web log post. //Google//. Mommylife, 2 July 210. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. mommylife.net/archives/2010/07/02/marie antoinette.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mommylife.net/archives/2010/07/the_truth_about_5.html&usg=__ //vw7FVRdjJdwO7R5fS5Dy7jetnic=&h=508&w=395&sz=86&hl=en&start=0&sig2=G6n2TTPUCmXRw8wzZR5ajw&zoom=1&tbnid=axIZZ1bdHEU57M:&tbnh=180&tbnw=144&ei=zOJ8TNnzH4vSuwP_0axk&prev=/images?q=Marie Antoinette&um=1&hl=en&newwindow=1&rlz=1R2ADFA_koCN348&biw=1259&bih=671&tbs=isch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=139&vpy=104&dur=1188&hovh=255&hovw=198&tx=126&ty=148&oei=zOJ8TNnzH4vSuwP_0axk&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0>.//

By the 1780s, people in France now wanted changes in the way France was governed. King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette got total control over France. As time passed by, people started to dislike them both especially Marie Antoinette. She threw money all over the place, and most importantly, she was a foreigner and people thought she was unfaithful to Louis. Louis gave Marie Antoinette her own small palace which many people think that she ruined the whole thing, by making it look like village and wasting alot of money. Soon after, France had to face great financial problems. The French government had a huge dept. King Louis XVI tried to reform the taxation but the clergy and nobility won't help him. Louis insisted that he alone had this power, and exiled the entire Parlement from Paris. People then started to protest, and some were violent. In August 1788, Louis gave in. He ordered elections to be held for an Estates General. The date of its first meeting was to be 1 May 1789.
 * Summary**

Why didn't Marie use her power to settle people down? This is a picture of Marie Antoinette
 * Questions**


 * Notes (pg. 15- 21)**

- Writings of philosophes such as Votaire started to change public opinion. - By the 1780s most educated people agreed on a number of basic ideas and values. - More humane, torture-free system of law. (favoured toleration of non-Catholics such as Protestants and Jews) - Overall, wanted to change France's governing system
 * Changes in Public Opinion**

- France was governed by King Louis the Sixteenth, absolute monar. He could do whatever he chose whenvever he pleased. - He governed France from the magnificent, thousand-room palce of Versailles. (1000 of nobles lived with him in the palace, serving him) - Louis Married a Austrian archduchess named Marie Antoinette. (married in 1770, when he was 15 and she was 14) - As time went by, French citizens started to dislike them especially Narie Antoinette.
 * The government of France**

Why?- She spends huge amounts of money on clothes, jewellery and gambling, for having fovourites at court, and, especially,because they thought she ws unfaithful to Louis. - One was the fact that she was foreign. - People even made jokes with her name beaning 'bitch'. - In 1774 Louis gave Marie Antoinette her own small palace in the grounds of the palace of Versailles. - She spent huge amounts of money creating beautiful gardens around the Petit Trianon. - She built a village, known as the hamlet. (eight thatched cottages, with a barn, stables, and dairy) - All were made to look old and run-down, like a real village. - Many people at the time thought the whole idea of the farm was pointless and silly. - However, not every criticised Marie for building the village. - Her foster- brother stated that she settled twelve poor families, taking upon herself to provide them with constant maintenance. - Some modern historians believe that she improved the agriculture. "The farm was run on commercial lines and brought in on average 6,000 livres per year."
 * Marie Antoinette**
 * -** Many people disliked her for many reasons.

- People thought the king had too much power. - They didn't like the king's use of 'sealed letters (royal warrant ordering the imprisonment or exile of the person named on it. It was written on a single sheet of paper, signed by the king, sealed on wax. The person whose name appeared on it stayed in prison or exile for as long as the king wished) - People especially hated the fact that the king's minister could use them. - People everywhere complained bitterly about sealed letters. - People in a little town called Bar complained that, "Sealed letters are a frightening and cruel attack on the liberty of citizens and on public safety. We demand an end to their use." - During the reign of Louis XVI, around 14,000 sealed letters were issued. (mainly against peple who disagreed with the government) - Some were sent into exile in distant parts of France. Some were put in jail. - A great range of other powers allowed Loui XVI to do what he liked whenever and wherever he liked. - People criticised this, and accused Louis of being a 'despot'. (Dictator, or tyrant)
 * Use And Abuse Of Power**

=**Financial Problems**= - Louis' most urgent problem facing him was the fact that his government was deeply in deby. - France government had been in debt for nearly a hundred years. (They spent more each year than it receivedin taxes) - In 1786, Calonne (minister charge of finances) informed Louis that the government was close to financial collapse. - They must either increase taxes, or reduce their spending, or borrow money.
 * The Royal Debt**

- The government had only one way of avoiding bankruptey. It would have to raise taxes. - Calonne, reformed the tax system. - The biggest change would be a tax on land which all landowners would have to pay. - The nobles and clergy, would do all they could to get out of paying it. - They could refuse to register it in the Paris law courts, or Parlement, which they controlled. - As all new laws had to be registerd by the Paris Parlement, this would delay the new tax from coming into effect. - Calonne invited 150 leading nobles and clergymen to approve the new tax. - 'Assembly of Notables', refusd to agree to the new tax. They claimed they did not have the power to approve new taxes. - They said, only the Estates General, a sort of natinoal parliament elected by all three estates, had that power. - The nobles in the Paris Parlement, refused to register it. - Louis insisted that he alone had this power, and exiled the entire Parlement from Paris. - People everywhere in France protested. Some protests were violent. - In Grenoble, four people died in a 'Day of Tiles' when a mob of protesters pelted soldiers with tiles torn from the city's rooftops. - Protest went on for the next six months. - In August 1788, Louis gave in. He ordered elections to be held for an Estates General. - The date of its first meeting was to be 1, May, 1789.
 * An attempt at reform**