France+Before+the+Revolution+(Pg.+4-14) JonathanK2013+08.26.2010

=France Before the Revolution [Pg. 4-14]=

**French People and Their Society**

 * 28 million people before revolution

**Social Classes**
 * **Peasants**
 * Country people
 * Made their living by farming
 * 20 Million people
 * **Town Workers**
 * Shopkeepers, traders, craftsmen, builders and laborers
 * 2 Million[[image:Bourgeois.png width="186" height="183" align="right" caption="Bourgeoise"]]
 * **Bourgeoise (Middle Class)[[image:NOBLE_FAMILY.png width="174" height="153" align="right" caption="Nobility"]]**
 * 2 Million people
 * **Nobility**
 * Land owning ruling class
 * Titles such as, Duke, Marquis or Viscount
 * Between 120,000 – 350,000 people

**Three Estates: Clergy, Nobility, Everyone Else** aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa || Privileges aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa || - Not have to pay certain taxes || - Special treatment in law courts - Not have to pay certain taxes - Not have to do military service || o Nobles: Fight for France o Clergy: Ran country’s education and religious life o Nobles: No longer had the sole responsibility to fight o Clergy: French people thought their system of estates was outdated and unfair
 * Estate aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa || Population aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa || Jobs
 * Clergy || 130,000 || archbishops, bishops, cannons, priors, nuns, monks, parish priests || - Had their own law courts
 * Nobility || 120,000-350,000 || King and Queen, Nobles of the sword, royal blood, dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, barons, knights, nobles of the robe || - Right to carry sword
 * Everyone Else || 27 Million || Lawyers, doctors, businessmen, merchants, soldiers, craftsmen, shopkeepers, peasants || None ||
 * In the **Middle ages**, Nobles and Clergy were **important** in French Society
 * By **1789** **,** the Nobles and Clergy were **less important**

**Poverty**
 * Greatest inequality in French Society was in **people’s wealth**
 * Nobles and Bourgeoisie were rich, other people were poor
 * People had to depend on charity to stay alive

**Unequal Taxation**
 * Two kinds of taxes
 * Paid directly to the government
 * Indirect whenever they bought good
 * Average family paid between 10% and 15% of its yearly earnings in tax to the government
 * In addition, peasants had to pay their landlords rent
 * **Feudal Rights and Dues**
 * Laws when peasants rent land from landlords
 * Examples
 * Right of the Oven
 * Right of the Mill
 * Right of the Press
 * Right of the Hunt
 * Right of the warren
 * Right of the dovecote
 * Market Rights
 * The Corvee
 * The Cens
 * The Champart
 * **Tithe**
 * Everyone had to give the church around a tenth of their yearly income or produce

**Critics of French Society**

**A Philosophe at Work**
 * ** Philosophe **
 * A group of writers, journalists and scientists who shared a way of thinking which they called ** // Reason // **
 * ** // Believed the only way to know if something was true is to observe and test it // **
 * **Lavoisier**
 * Discovered how things burn
 * First thought: anything which burned contained a substance called phlogiston
 * Final thought: burned with oxygen

**The Calas Affair**
 * **Voltaire**
 * Most famous Philosophe
 * Questioned the powers and belief of the French Church
 * In 1761, one of **Jean Calas** (a cloth merchant) son hanged himself in his father’s warehouse
 * R umors were that Jean Calas murdered his son to stop him converting into Catholic Faith
 * T he Magistrates accepted this rumor and killed Jean Calas.
 * Voltaire then believed that Jean Calas was innocent and proved it.

**Changes Public Opinion**
 * By 1780s, public opinion began to change
 * Want more humane, torture-free system of law
 * Favored toleration of Non-Catholics such as Protestant and Jews
 * Wanted a say in how the country was run

Summary: There are 3 Estates in the French Society, the Clergy, Nobility and Everyone Else. The Nobility is the highest class followed by the Clergy and then Everybody Else. the Clergy and Nobility gets a lot more privileges like not having to pay taxes compared to Everybody Else. There are three different taxes that everybody else has to pay, the direct tax to the government, the indirect tax to the government and the 10% to the church (Tithe). The Calas Affair was When Jean Calas was falsely accused of killing his son and a few years after he was executed, Voltaire (A Philosophe) proved his innocence

Questions: Why did it take so long for Everybody Else to realize that this system of Three Estates was uneven for them?