InNo+shynricpx2013+08.30.10

WORLD HISTORY - InNo pg 12-19 (scanned copy)

=__ Awesome Stuff __= media type="youtube" key="wFc4NG_SBBI?fs=1" height="385" width="480" Great video of the show "Whose line is it anyway": - a dipiction of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

=__ Notes __=

**The Government of France:**
 * France governed by King Louis the Sixteenth (Louis XVI)
 * He was an absolute monarch
 * did not have to share his powers with anyone else (the parliament)
 * Lived in Versailles, a thousand room palace 18 km outside Paris.
 * Thousands of nobles lived with the King as courtiers (help run affairs of France)
 * Marie Antoinette (Kings' wife) was not popular to the people

**Marie Antoinette:** She was not popular because:
 * 1) She was foreign (from Austria); People called her (//Autrichienne//) = Austrian, Chienne = bitch
 * 2) She spent huge amounts of money on cloths, jewelry and gambling, for having favorites at court and also because people think she was unfaithful to King Louis.

**Petit Trianon (1774):**
 * King Louis gave her a small palace in the grounds of the Versailles
 * It was called the Petit Trianon
 * Over the next five years, Antoinette spent loads of money creating gardens around her small palace.
 * In part of the garden she built a village known as Hamlet.
 * Hamlet included of eight thatched cottages, with a barn, stables, and dairy.
 * She spent her money to make Hamlet look old and run-down, like a real village.
 * In the fields, there were sheep, goats, and cows.
 * Many people viewed Hamlet as pointless:


 * __Not everyone criticized her though__



**Use and Abuse of Power:**
 * Sealed letters (//lettres de cachet//)
 * A royal warrant ordering the imprisonment or exile of the person named on it.
 * Written on a single sheet of paper signed by the King, folded, and sealed with wax.
 * Whoever' name is on it would have to stay in prison as long as the King wished
 * This was the most hated aspect of the King's power.
 * The King's ministers could use the sealed letters too
 * A little town called Bar complained that:
 * Sealed letters are a frightening and cruel attack on the liberty of citizens and on public safety. We demand an end to their use.
 * 14,000 sealed letters were issued, mostly against people who disagreed with the government.
 * There were also other ways which the King could impose his authority.
 * The king could do whatever he liked, whenever he want.
 * Time went by... more and more people criticized Louis of being a "despot" / tyrant.

**Financial Problems:**
 * Royal Debt- The most urgent problem facing King Louis was that his government was deeply in debt.
 * They had been in debt for nearly 100 years.
 * They spent more each year than it received in taxes.
 * They must either increase taxes, reduce their spending, or borrow more money to avoid bankruptcy.

**An Attempt at Reform:**
 * The french government had to raise taxes.
 * Calonne = finance minister
 * He drew up a plan to reform taxes.
 * Biggest change would be tax on land
 * all landowners would have to pay
 * Nobles and clergy were exempt from most taxes
 * they could refuse to register it in the Paris law courts///Parlement,// which they controlled.
 * All new laws had to registered by the Paris Parlement, this would delay the new tax from coming into effect.
 * Calonne invited 150 leading loyal nobles and clergymen to discuss + approve the new tax.
 * This "Assembly of Notables" did not have the power to approve new taxes.
 * Estates General/ National Parliament elected by all three estates, had that power.
 * Louis tried to introduce the new tax without their approval.
 * King Louis insisted that he alone had the power, and exiled the entire //Parlement// from Paris.
 * The people of France protested angrily against this.
 * Grenoble, four people died in a "Day of Tiles"
 * a mob of protestors pelted soldiers with tiles torn from the city's rooftops.
 * The protests went on for the next six months.
 * August 1788, Louis gave in and ordered elections to be held for an Estates General.
 * The first meeting was to be on 1 May 1789.

**Summary:** The French people are beginning to show rebellious acts against the King. If the King pushes his power too far, it might spark a full-scale rebellion. The King must start listening to the voice of the people in order to remain in power. King Louis XVI gets the power from the people, he must be reminded of that.

Question: Why couldn't the French government just stop spending as much as they do annually instead of raising taxes? Wouldn't that solve all the issues? List the things the King could stop spending on, and invest in something much more important. eg. Hamlet...