InNo+samuelguo0801+8.31.2010

InNo samuelguo0801 8.31.2010 media type="youtube" key="6pjSusddxXk?fs=1" height="385" width="480" This is a video about Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI's wife, mentioned in the notes below.

Notes:

Marie Antoinette >> Summary:
 * Government of France: **
 * Governed by Louis XVI
 * Absolute monarch
 * Lived in a thousand room palace, with nobles that served him and helped him run the nation
 * His wife was Marie Attoinette
 * At first they were popular with the french public, but they soon disliked Marie
 * People disliked her for a couple of reasons
 * She was called Austrian women, sounded like 'bitch' in french
 * She spend large amounts of money on cloths and gambling
 * i n 1774 Louis gave her her own small palace
 * She spent large amounts of money building a garden around the palace
 * built a small village on the garden
 * people thought the village was silly and pointless
 * cracks were painted in to the wookwork to make it look old
 * plaster was delibrately chipped away from the walls
 * inside the cottages had every convenience
 * Meanwhile peasants were growing riotous
 * Some people didnt think that the village was a complete waste of time
 * With twelve cottages, twelve poor families could live in those cottages
 * It wasnt exactly a toy, but a farm, and the farm made a profit of 600 livres a year
 * Use and abuse of power **
 * Peopel also disliked the king for having too much power
 * They disliked his sealed letters
 * on the sealed letters, was a single name of a person that the king wanted in exile as long as he wishes
 * they hated that the ministers could use sealed letters
 * people complained bitterly about these letters
 * sealed letters were terrorizing and a cruel attack on public safety
 * during the Louis's rule, more than 14,000 sealed letters were issued
 * people liked this less and less
 * by 18th century, they were calling him a tyrant and a dictator
 * Financial problems **
 * the french government in debt for more thatn 100 years
 * each year it spent more than it earned in taxes
 * in 1786, financial minister told Louis that they were close to financial collapse
 * They must either raise taxes or go in to bankruptsy
 * Attempt at reform **
 * Finiancial minister drew up a reform tax plan
 * all land owners had to pay
 * Most nobles were exempt from taxes
 * Could refuse to register it with Paris law courts, which they controlled
 * Calonne invited 150 nobles that were loyal to king to persuade them to agree to the new land taxt
 * they refused it
 * They said that they didnt have the power to approve new taxes
 * Louis went on to reform the tax without their approval
 * The Paris paliament refused to register it
 * he exiled the entier parliament of paris
 * People grew violent from this
 * for people died in the 'day of tiles' when villages threw tiles on roofs down at soldiers
 * in August 1788 louis ordered elections for the estate general
 * Questions:
 * 1) What were some of the reasons that the French people disliked Marie Antoinette?
 * 2) Describ the features of sealed letters and how poeple felt about them
 * 3) What was King Louis's plan to solve the financial problem?
 * People dislked Marie Antoinette
 * People disliked Louis greatly because he abused power, demonstrated through sealed letters
 * France is in financial trouble
 * Louis issued the reform on taxes, and nobles are not happy about it.