InNo+kathryn_chang+08.30.10

__** My Notes on Pg. 15-19 of the Revolution in France **__
 * King Louis
 * France was ruled by King Louis the Sixteenth in an absolute monarch
 * **absolute monarch**: the ruler does not have to share his power with anyone else/ruler could do whatever he chose to do
 * thousand-room palace of Versailles is 18 km outside Paris
 * thousands of nobles lived with him
 * Marie Antoinette
 * King Louis's wife is Marie Antoinette
 * she is an Austrian archduchess
 * they married when she was fourteen and he was fifteen
 * people especially dislike Marie Antoinette because:
 * she was foreign
 * for spending huge amounts of money on clothes, jewelry and gambling
 * having favorites at court
 * also because they thought that she was unfaithful to Louis
 * the Peasant's dislikes of the Government
 * 1774- Louis gave Marie Antoinette her own small palace in the grounds of the palace of Versailles called the Petit Trianon
 * Antoinette spent huge sums of money creating beautiful gardens, and to make it look like a poor village
 * it made it seem like Antoinette was making fun of the peasants sufferings
 * the unhappy peasants were beginning to grow riotous
 * but some also defend her saying that she had twelve poor families settled in at the cottages and provided them with constant maintenance
 * also that it was an attempt to improve agriculture
 * many people disliked the royal government because they thought that the king had too much power
 * they especially disliked the king's use of '**sealed letters**': a royal warrant ordering the imprisonment or exile of the person named on it, the person stayed in prison or in exile for as long as the kind liked
 * the king's ministers could use them too
 * people everywhere complained bitterly about sealed letters
 * during the reign of Louis the sixteenth, 14,000 sealed letters were issued, mainly on people who disagreed with the government
 * The Royal Debt
 * most urgent problem: country was deeply in debt
 * the government had been in debt for nearly a hundred years
 * they spent more each year than it received in taxes
 * the government either had to increase taxes, reduce their spending, or borrow more money
 * the government decided to increase taxes: decided on a new land tax for landowners
 * nobles and clergy would do all that they could to get out of paying the tax, they could refuse to register it in the Paris law courts, or **Parlament**, which they controlled
 * Calonne invited 150 leading nobles and clergymen to Paris to discuss and approve the new tax
 * Calonne thought because they were the only loyal supporters of the king, they would give it their approval without much argument
 * The '**Assembly of Notables**' however refused to agree to the new tax
 * they claimed that they did not have the power to approve new taxes
 * said only the **Estates General**: kind of a national parliament elected by all three estates, had the power
 * Louis tried to introduce the new tax without their approval, but they were refused
 * also said that only the Estates General had the power
 * Louis exiled the entire **Parlement** from Paris saying that he alone had the power to approve new taxes
 * people everywhere in France protested angrily against this
 * some were violent
 * the protests went on for six months
 * August 1788- Louis gave in, ordered elections to be held for the Estates General
 * 1 May 1789- the date of its first meeting

People hate the government, King Louis, and Marie Antoinette. They hate King Louis because he has too much power and sends out sealed letters that exiles or arrests the person who's name is on the letter. They hate Marie Antoinette because she is foreign (Austrian), for spending huge amounts of money on clothes, jewelry, and gambling, having favorites at court, and also because they thought that she was not faithful to King Louis. They hated the government because King Louis has too much power and he gave Marie Antoinette a small palace called Petite Trianon, inside of the palace of Versailles, which she made into a supposedly poor town, which kind of made fun of the poor people's suffering. Also because the country was in debt for about a hundred years, Louis decided on a new land tax that everyone refused to pay. All the Parlement refused to accept the new law and said that only the Estates General had the power to approve a new tax. Louis exiled the entire Parlement saying that he too had the power to approve new taxes which made everyone mad and start protesting. The protests were violent and lasted six months. Then Louis gave up on August 1788 and then ordered elections to be held for the Estates General on 1 May 1789.
 * __ Summary and Questions __**

If the Nobles and the Clergy's are supposed to pay the land taxes how come the peasants were protesting? Wouldn't having the land tax even out the difference in the first and second estate and the third estate?

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