Note+eunyoungpx2013+ Aug.26.10

**France Before the revolution Note pg2~12**

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 * 1) 1 family of peasants


 * 1) 2 family of town workers
 * 1) 3 A bourgeois family #4 A noble family

(pictures from text book)

.................................................. (left-Antoine Lavoisier ) (right- Voltaire) Lavoisier and Voltaire were one of the most famous philosophes in France.

=** **=

//** The three estate **//
//4 social class//: -There were 4 social class but according to the French law, people belong to estates
 * 1) the peasantry
 * 2) the town working class
 * 3) middle class or bourgeoisie
 * 4) nobility

 -did not have to pay certain taxes || -got special treatment in law courts. -did not have to pay certain taxes -did not have to do military service || only 1st and 2nd estate people had no privilege on taxation.
 * < Estate ||< People in this estat ||< number of people ||< Main privileges ||
 * < 1st(clergy) ||< archbishop, bishop, canons, priors, nuns and monks ||< about 130,000 ||< -had own law court
 * < 2nd(nobles) ||< king&queen, royal blood, dukes, knights, ||< between 120,000~350,000 ||< -had the right to carry a sword
 * < 3rd(other people) ||< lawyers, doctors, merchants and peasants ||< about 27 million ||< ﻿none ||
 * even though 3rd estate people were more poor and had hard time paying taxes

-Three estates were once very important in French society. In middle age, nobles had been soldiers in wartime and clergy ran the country's education and religious life, so king gave nobles and clergy their estate and privileges. However, in 1789, nobles and clergy became less important in country so people start to think that system of estate is unfair.

//**Poverty **//
Inequality in French: -some nobles and bourgeoisie were very rich but most of people were poor ex. poor people-> an entire family lived in a single room and beds had no covers and people had to rely on charity

-too much taxes -not enough money to buy enough foods because of the price of the products.

//**Unequal taxation **//
1st- taxes paid directly to the government 2nd- indirect taxes that people pay when whenever they bough certain products.
 * Two kinds of tax:**

-Average family paid 10%~15% of their earnings for taxes to government. However some people did not have to pay taxes. ex. nobles and clergy were exempt for tax on land or income and many other taxes. -peasants had to pay money to their landlords(nobles and clergy)-> **feudal dues** -everyone in a parish had to give the church a **tithe** tithe:average family paid between 10%~15% of tis yearly earning to church.  (table from textbook)

=** **= -most people did not question about how their society was organised but educated people(philosophes) question about how their society was organised. //**Philisophes**//- a group of writers, journalists and scientists

//**A philosophe at work **//
//**Lavoisier**//- he was famous for discovering how things burn but Lavoisier found out that this is wrong. -Lavoisier's scientific work: he built an experimental farm to try new farming methods and in 1787 he suggested a number of reforms.(which helped poor people)
 * at this time most of scientists believed that anything that burned contained //phlogiston//.

**//The Calas affair//**
Voltaire- a writer who questioned about the power and beliefs of the French Church. "Calas affair"- Jean Calas was a cloth merchant who was a protestant. One day his son hanged himself in Calas's ware house. Then, people start to think that Calas killed his son to stop his son from become Catholic, so magistrates accepted the rumor and executed him. However, Voltaire actually thought that Calas is innocent and thought that French society have problem.

**//Changes in public opinion//**
Result of many educated(philosophes) people's writing, public opinion began to change



 * Why did king continue to give privileges to nobles and clergy even after they became less important in French society?
 * How did philosophes start to question about French society?
 * Why did magistrates easily accepted the rumor?


Before the French revolution, peasant were having hard time due to taxation and high price of the products. Even though peasant were the one who had hard time, only Nobles and clergy had privileges on taxation because they played important role in middle age. Also, peasant had to pay more tax than nobles and clergy because they had to pay money to their landlords(nobles and clergy). During this time, most of people did not question about French society, but many educated people question about society and write about societ. Result of philosophe's writings, public opinion changed.

** Fun!! **
more about Lavoisier [] [] []

more about Voltaire [] [] []