InNo+tinapx2013+26.08.10

 Awesomeness (:


This Venn Diagram shows who are the people that needs to pay tax and who are the people who are exempt from the tax. You can see that the categories for nobles and clergy taxes is empty, this is because there are no tax that the nobles pay that the peasants don't. It is more common that nobles and clergy evade taxes while the peasants pay their taxes regularly.



This is a picture of the luxurious lifestyle of the French Nobles



And in contrary with the nobles, this is the life of an average peasant family.

MilliNotes:

Milli Millions of French people took part in a violent revolution throughout the summer of 1789. · The end of the revolution destroyed their centuries old system of law and government. · They tried to transform their society, religion and economy in the decade that followed. · The French society was separated into different classes: o The peasants, which include country people who farm for their living. o The towns people, which lived in the town and work at shopkeepers, traders, craftsmen, builders and laborers etc. o A bourgeois family, meaning middle class, were between nobility and workers and peasants. o And the last is the noble family. The nobilities wer often landowners, and the ruling class. They had titles such as Duke or Viscount in front of their name to differ themselves from the “commoners”. · At the time, people belong to estates instead of classes. · There were three estates: o The clergy, people who made a living by working in the Church. o The nobility o And ever body else · They were separated into estates because some had more privileges than others. o Clergy and nobility had privileges or rights, and they had numerous advantages including not paying certain taxes. · Nobles had been soldiers with the job of fighting for France. · The clergy ran the country’s education and religious life. · Therefore, in return, the king that given them their own estates and privileges. · Later on, the nobles have less responsibility for war, there fore the people thought the system of estates was outdated and unfair. · People’s wealth in French society was by far the greatest inequality. · While some of the nobles and middle class were incredibly rich, most people were poor. · Millions of people were so poor they rely on charity to stay alive. · There were two type of taxes: o Taxes paid directly to the government o And the indirect taxes which people paid whenever they bought certain goods. · Of the taxes paid directly to the government, the nobles and clergy avoided paying those taxes, or paid very little. · Many nobles and clergy were landlords. They lease their land to peasants and collect rent. · In additional to paying feudal dues, everyone in a parish had to give the Church a tithe. This meant giving the local church around a tenth of their yearly income or produce. · There were a handful of educated people questioned their way of life. o They were the “philosophes”, a group of writers, journalists and scientists who shared a way of thinking which they called Reason. o They believed that the only way of knowing if something was true was to observe and test it. o They didn’t want to accept anything as true without testing it. · Lavoisier was a scientist who was famous by discovering how things burn. o He decided the original theory was wrong after several tests. o He suggested instead that things burned when burning material combined with a recently discovered gas, oxygen. · In addition, he was also involved in social and political issues. o He built a farm to try out a new farming method, hoping to improve crops. o He also proposed a number of reforms to help the poor in 1787. · One of the other famous // philosophes // was the writer Voltaire. o He questioned the power and beliefs of the French Church o Be later become involved in a sad case of injustice- the Calas affaire

Summary: The notes today talked about the society background before the French Revolution in 1789. It showed that the French society was divided into three estates. The peasants, the clergy and the nobles. The clergy and the nobles had privileges and need not to pay certain taxes while the peasants have to pay more. There were a group of people in the French Society that like to think about what they are taught. They were called the //philiosophes//. They questioned their way of life and didn't take anything for granted without observing and testing it. These //philosophes// include a scientist named Lavoisier and writer Voltaire. Lavoisier discovered oxygen.