Ho+Soo's+Notes+(France+before+the+Revolution.+2-12)

**Visuals**
1. Clergy (people who made a living by working in the Church) 2. Nobility (landowners, wealthy people) 3. Everyone else (Farmers, peasantry, town working class etc…) ||
 *  **The Three Estates **

This cartoon I drew showing the three estates. As you can see in the picture, clergy and nobilities were wealthier and had more privileges than the normal people (everyone else)

This is a cartoon I drew of Jean Calas on the Wheel. His facial expression shows his nervousness and anger at the same time because he was innocent.

**France Before The Revolution pg. 2-12 Notes**
- Summer of 1789, French people took part in the violent revolution - People used violence to change the way they lived. - By the end of the year, they had destroyed their centuries-old system of law and government.
 * Introduction**

- People belonged to a different social class 1. __Peasants__ (about 20 million French people), people who made their living by farming 2. __Town Workers__ (about 2 million "), e,g, shopkeepers, traders, craftsmen, buildes and labourers. 3. __Bourgeois__ (About 2 million "), meaning the middle class between the nobility and the workers and peasants. 4. __Noble__ (Between 120,000 and 350,000 French people), land-owning, ruling class. *Titled as, Duke, Marquis or Viscount.
 * French People and Their Society**

- According to French law, people didn't belong to classes to but estates. - There were three estates, 1. Clergy- people who made a living by working in the Church. 2. Nobility 3. Everybody else - The first and the second clergy had more rights and privleges. - Greatest privileges were their finiancial privileges. They didn't have to pay certain taxes.
 * The Three Estates**

First estate (about 130,000 people), Main privilileges: - Had their own law courts - Did not have to pay certain taxes

Second estate (Between 120,000 and 350,000 people), Main privileges: - Had the right to carry a sword - Got special treatment in law courts - Did not have to do military service

Third estate (About 27 million people) Main privileges: - None

- During middle ages, nobels and clergy had to fight for their country. - By 1789, the nobles and clergy were less important than they had been in the middle ages. Nobles, no longer had the sole responsibility for war. - So then, most French people thought the system of estates was outdayed and unfair.

- The greatest inequality in French society was in people's wealth. - Nobles and bourgeosie were incredibly rich while most people were poor. - Some of them were so poor that they had to rely on charity to stay alive. - In 1790 a government committe worked out that a family of five needed at least 435 liveres (pounds) a year to provide for its basic needs.
 * Poverty**

- People who were poor still had to pay taxes. - Two kinds of tax 1. Taxes paid directly to the government 2. Indirect taxes which people paid whenever they bought certain goods. - The average family paid between 10% and 15% of its yearly earnings. - Some people however, did not have to pay taxes. - When the rich people paid taxes, they paid no more than anyone else. They had no difficulty in paying tax. - Peasants also had to pay money to their landlords. - Feudal rights and dues - As well as paying feudal dues, everyone in a parish had to give the Chursh a tithe Tithe: Giving the local church around a tenth of their yearly income or produce. - It was hard for most of the people to pay all these money.
 * Unequal taxation**

- Most French people did not question the way their society was organised. - Some educated however, did question it. They refused to accept anything as true without questioning it.
 * Critics of French Society**

- Scientist Lavoisier (philosophe) discorvered how things burn. - He suggested instead that things burned when burning when burning material combined with a recently-discovered gas, he named this gas oxygen. - Lavoisier involved himself in social and political issues. - He builit an experimental farm on his estate to try out new farming methods, hopoing to show farmers how to improve their crops. - In 1787, he proposed a number of reforms to hlep the poor, introducing old age pensions and building new hospitals.
 * A Philosophe At Work**

- Voltaire (philosophes, writer) questioned the power and beliefs of the French Church. - The Calas Affair- He showed his views most clearly when he became involved in sad case of injustice. - Calas was put to death because of the rumour. - Voltaire believed that Jean Calas was innocent. - Voltaire took up the Calas case because he thought i showed up some major wrongs in French society. 1. Religious intolerance - the refusal to allow non-Catholics to follow their own religion 2. Cruelty of the law which allowed Calas to be tortured to death.
 * The Calas Affair**

Before the French revolution, the third estate, everybody else were treated very unfairly. They had to pay more tax than the Nobliity and the Clergy estate. After the Cart Wheel execution incident (John Carter who was innocently executed), the French citizens were starting to get angry. Voltaire then thought there were major wrongs in French Society.
 * Summary**

Why didn't the French citizens question their government?
 * Questions**