InNo+France+before+the+Revolition+p.+21-25+michellel2013+09.03.10

1)

2) The government was very unfair to the third class. They were the least wealthy, but yet had no special privileges and had to pay all the taxes. Since the third estate was most of France's population, of course they would want a change to make their life better and easier.

3) E, B, I, G, A, C, D, H, F The government spent more each year than it received in taxes, so... the government was deeply in debt, so... the government went bankrupt so... the Finance Minister planned to raise money with the new tax land. But.. an assembly of nobles and clergy refused to agree to the new tax, so... Louis XVI ordered a meeting of the Estates General, hoping it would agree to the new tax. But... the Third Estate deputies took over the Estates General and turned it into a National Assembly, so... Louis XVI decided to hold a royal session of the Estates General, and warn the third estate not to defy him, but... the deputies gathered in a tennis court and swore an oath that they would continue to meet.

4)__Reasons why Louis XVI and his government were unpopular by 1789:__ Political: Social: Economic:
 * People thought the king and his ministers had too much power (e.g. lettres de cachet)
 * People disliked the fact that Marie Antoinette was Austrian
 * Nobles disliked the government's plan for a new land tax because they would lose their privileges of tax exemption
 * People disliked Marie Antoinette's extravagent spending
 * Many people blamed the government for high prices and unemployment

5) I think economic reasons were the biggest factor leading to the government's unpopularity. The royal government spent more each year than it received, causing their government to go bankrupt. The solution they looked to was to increase land taxes, which greatly affected many of the French people. Since the majority of the French population is made of the third estate (poor families) and they had no special privileges whatsoever, these new taxes would be unfair and affect them the most. Some even had to pay their taxes with their yearly earnings of crops, and the more poor the people became, the more people became unemployed. This was certainly one of the big factors that lead to the peoples' discontent towards the government.

6) I believe if Louis XVI had not married Marie Antoinette, the French people will still eventually be unhappy with some aspects of their government, but his government wouldn't be as unpopular. There were many reasons why the people of France did not like Marie Antoinette: she was a foreigner, she was thought to be unfaithful to Louis, and spent a ton of money for her own interest and entertainment. Louis spoiled Marie Antoinette and gave her a lot of money to do whatever she wanted, even when their government was in debt. This definitely contributed to why the government later on became so unpopular, because while Marie Antoinette was building pointless things and wasting money, there were other people in the society suffering from food crisis, increase of taxation, and unemployment.

**__The Estates General __**
 * Nobles and clergy welcomed the King's decision to vote for an Estates General
 * The thought they would be able to stop the taxes because of the voting system used by the Estates General

**The Voting System **
 * When the Estates General met in 1614, it was made up of around 750 members, about 250 from each of the three states
 * They met in three separate rooms and each estate had just one vote
 * The third estate ( everyone else) now complained that this voting system was unfair
 * The nobles and clergy would be able to out-vote the third estate
 * They asked the Kind to double their numbers in the Estates General
 * By the time the King agreed to these demands, the government was bankrupt
 * New finance minister Jacques Necker advised him to double the third estate
 * He hoped that the Estates general would vote for new taxes

**The Food Crisis **
 * Finance wasn't the only problem, in the countryside, it was developing a food crisis
 * This crisis was caused by freak weather
 * On July 13th 1788 a massive hailstorm destroyed many crops over central France
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Then there was a drought
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Therefore the harvest in 1788 was really poor
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The drought was followed by the coldest winter in living memory
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Rivers froze which stopped water mills from grinding flour
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Blocked roads prevented food from reaching markets
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">When snow suddenly melted in the spring, floods ruined a lot of farmland
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Price of bread went up because of the weather
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The poor families were now spending almost all their earning just on bread
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Since they spent all money on bread, they stopped buying other things
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The factories that made clothes, shoes, candles and fuel lost business and many wokrers lost their jobs
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This added the hunger, which led to riots and strikes in many aprts of France

**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Complaint Lists **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Estates General elections were held in spring 1789
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Voters were asked to draw up lists of changes that they wanted the Estates General to discuss with the king
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Over 60,000 lists of complaints, showing that French people wanted major changes
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">These complaints caused a lot of excitement
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">When the Estates General met at Versailles in May 1789 people had a lot of expectations for it
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It seemed to people that the King cared about their problems and was going to take action to solve them

**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Estates Meet **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">First meeting took place on May 5th 1789
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">When people were going to split up into three separate halls where each estate had a single vote, the third estate said this was unfair and said they would only take part in the Estates General if the clergy and nobles joined them in a single "national assembly"
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The nobles and clergy refuse to do so
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The third estate said if at the end of the week the nobles and lergy had not joined them then they would start the work of the Esteate Generl by themselves
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">King Louis was angry because the third estate was refusing to work by his rules for teh Esates General
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">So he ordered a Royal Session of the Estates General
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">He intended to warn the third estate to not defy him ay more
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Louis was losing control of events at versailles
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The clergy decided to join the third estate
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But when the third estate deputies arrived at the palace to welcome the clergy into their meeting, they found the doors locked and guarded by soldiers
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Inside workmen were preparing it for the king's Royal Session

**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Tennis Court Oath **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This made the deputies of the third estate angry
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">They were scared Louis would break up their assembly by force
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Since it was raining, they took shelter in the nearest empty building which was a tennis court less than two minutes away
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Inside,they took an oath to carry on meeting until they had changed the way France was governed
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Therefore, at the Royal Session on June 23rd, the thrid esate refused to move when the King asked them to go into their separate halls
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">They said " We shall only leave at the point of bayonets"
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Louis decided to give in to them
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">June 27th he ordered the nobles and clergy to join them in a single assembly
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the National Assembly became France's legal parliament
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">To many people back then, these events seemed like a revolution

// **Questions:** //
 * // What resulted in the complaint lists? //
 * // Why didn't the government help solve the food crisis? //
 * // When the third estate refused to have separate meetings, why didn't Louis do something about it? //

//** Summary: **// //﻿ Many French people disliked the way France was governed, and thought it was unfair to the third estate. The French government was also in deep debt. This section of the chapter talks about the voting system and the Estates General. It also talks about the food crisis in France, which led to unemployment, which caused riots and strikes to happen. For the elections for the Estates General, the voters drew up lists of complaints. People had great expectations when the Estates General met in Versailles because it seemed that the king was actually interested in their problems and wanted to take action and solve them. During the Estates meeting, the three estates were told to split up. But the third estate refused to because if each estate had one vote, then it would be unfair since the third estate would be out-voted by the nobles and clergy combined. The third estate refused to discuss anything as a separate group, only if the clergy and nobles joined them. This was going against the king's orders, so Louis ordered a Royal Session. Then, the clergy decided to join the third estate. The third estate arrived to greet them the clergy, but the doors were locked and guarded by soldiers. They thought that Louis would break up the assembly by force. Since it was raining, they found shelter at a nearby empty tennis court. There, they took an oath to carry on meeting until they changed the way France was governed. The dramatic oath tied them together in a common cause. When the king ordered the estates to have separate meetings, the third estate refused. Louis gave in to them, and ordered nobles and clergy to join them in a single assembly. The National Assembly then became France's legal parliament. Many people thought this was the revolution, but the revolution was just beginning. //