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Notes

The Estates General

The nobles and clergy allowed the King to call an Estates General. Thought that it would block his plans to tax them through the voting system

The Voting System The Estates General met when the King waned to consult it. Rarely happened, last meeting was at 1614. Made up of 250 members from each estate, met in three separate rooms, each estate had just on vote. Third estate found it unfair that they could be outvoted and asked to have their numbers doubled. In December 1788, the King agreed, the country was going to go bankrupt and had to do all to prevent this from happening

The Food Crisis Countryside also had mass hunger. Caused by freak weather, 13 July 1788 a massive hailstorm destroyed a lot of the crops all over central France, followed by drought. Weather did not improve after this, after drought was coldest winter they had in memory, rivers froze, mills could not grind flour, blocked roads stopped food form reaching markets. When snow melted, floods ruined large areas of farmland. Price of bread dramatically rose up. A loaf of bread now costs 15 sous in February 1789. Families had to spend nearly all their earnings on bread. Could not buy anything else, making many other businesses fail, unemployment also rose, adding to hunger, riots and strikes all over the country.

The Complaints Lists Elections for the Estates General were held in spring 1789 because of the rise in problems all ovr. Voters elected deputies to speak for them, voters also drew up lists of changes that they wanted the Estates General to discuss with the king. Over 60,000 were drawn up. Some demands were tax-free salt, suppression of the right to the mill, the right to kill crows.

The Estates Meet The first meeting took place on May 5th 1789. Over a thousand deputies met in the largest hall in Versailles. After long speeches, the King and chief ministers asked the three estates to split into separate meeting halls. Third estate was unhappy about this, by doing this, each estate had a single vote and the nobles and clergy could outvote them. They refused to discuss anything in separate groups and would only take part in the Estates General if the nobles and clergy joined them in a single “National Assembly” The nobles and clergy refused, causing weeks of argument. Third estate claimed that they would start the work of Estates General by themselves if they did not join them. This defied King Louis XVI, this caused him to angrily order a Royal Session of the Estates General. King Louis XVI was losing control of the events at Versailles, and on June 19th, the clergy decided to join the third estate. The next day, the third estate met the clergy in the meeting hall, only to find its doors locked and guarded by soldiers while the workmen prepared for the King’s Royal Session.

The Tennis Court Oath This angered and excited the deputies of the third estate, fearing that King Louis XVI would break up their assembly by force. Was raining that day, so the third estate took shelter upon the nearest empty building they could find, which would be a tennis court less than two minutes away. The third estate took an oath in there that they would carry on meeting until they changed the way France was governed. When the king held his Royal Session on June 23rd and ordered them to meet in separate estates, they refused to move, saying, “We shall only leave at the point of bayonets”. King Louis XVI was faced with such determination that he gave in to them ordering them into a single assembly, making the National Assembly part of France’s legal parliament. This event seemed like a revolution, but in actual fact, the “revolution” had only just begun.

Question 1:

|| -First and Second Estate had large amounts of wealth and were exempt from several taxes ||= The Third Estate || - The Third estate was exempt from none of the taxes. ||= The Third Estate || ||= -The peasants not only had to pay govenrment taxes but also had to "repay" the landowners - Had to pay fees to use equipment. - The judicial system was biased and tortured prisoners ||= Everyone || ||= -King and Queen controlled almost everything - Sealed letters could send anyone to prison - Could impose laws and taxes whenever they wanted. Why French People wanted to change the way France was run: The French found that the laws were unfair, such as the Jean Calass incident, where because he was a protestant, the judges were more biased and decided to find him guilty when he was not. The King was also very unfair towards the Third Estate, giving them no privileges and making them work the hardest. The King also had a large portion of power, they had the ability to do whatever they wanted in the country, the Queen also spent unnecessary amounts of money for her own luxuries.
 * =  ||= Things that people disliked ||= ||= Kinds of people who disliked things ||
 * = Society (Source 6) ||= - Unequal privileges
 * = Taxation (Source 12) ||= -The First and Second estate were exempt from a large portion of taxes.
 * = ||= Feudal rights and dues (Source 13) ||=  ||
 * = The Third Estate ||
 * = Law (Source 16) ||= - They did not have a strong judicial system, people were easily sentenced to death without seriously looking into the problem.
 * = ||= Government (Sources 20,26 and 31) ||=  ||=  ||
 * = All except the King and Queen ||