InNo+jonathank2013+08.26.2010


 * Chapter 1: France Before the Revolution **

__French People and their Society__

Social Classes · Peasantry o Made their living by farming · Town Working Class o Worked in Towns o Examples: Shopkeepers, traders, craftsmen, builders and laborers · The Middle Class (Bourgeoisie) o  · The Nobility o Land owning ruling class o Titles such as, Duke, Marquis or Viscount

__The Three Estates__ · People did not belong to social classes but to ** // estates // ** · ** // Three Estates: // ** o ** Clergy ** § People who worked in a Church § Own law and courts § Did not have to pay certain taxes § // Examples: // Bishops, cannons and priors, nuns and monks, parish priests o ** Nobility ** § Right to carry a sword § Special treatments in law courts § Did not have to pay certain taxes § Did not have to do military service § // Examples: // King and Queen, Knights, Nobles of the Robe o ** Everyone else ** § // Examples: // Lawyers, doctors, businessmen, merchants, soldiers, craftsmen, shopkeepers, peasants § No Privileges

To To learn more about the Three Estates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_of_the_realm

· By 1789, the Nobles and Clergy became less important. o French people thought the system of estates was outdated.

Poverty · Greatest inequality in French Society was in ** people’s wealth ** o Several million people were so poor they had to rely on charity to live

Unequal Taxation · Two kinds of taxes o Paid directly to the government o Indirect whenever they bought goods · Average family paid between 10% and 15% of its yearly earnings in tax to the government · In addition to paying taxes to the government, peasants had to pay their landlords rent · ** Feudal Rights and Dues ** o Laws when peasants rent land from landlords · ** Tithe ** o Everyone had to give the church around a tenth of their yearly income or produce

__Critics of French Society__

A Philosophe at Work · ** Philosophe ** o A group of writers, journalists and scientists who shared a way of thinking which they called ** // Reason // ** · **[|Lavoisier]** o Discovered how things burn o First thought: anything which burned contained a substance called ** phlogiston ** o Final thought: burned with oxygen

[| The Calas affair] · ** Voltaire ** o Most famous Philosophe o Questioned the powers and belief of the French Church · In 1761, one of Jean Calas (a cloth merchant) sons hanged himself in his father’s warehouse · Rumors were that Jean Calas murdered his son to stop him converting into Catholic Faith · The Magistrates accepted this rumor and killed Jean Calas. · ** Voltaire ** then believed that Jean Calas was innocent and proved it.