History

In 1789 the French Revolution began a new age in the European political life. It created new political ideas. The saying “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” soon spread to other European countries and later to the rest of the world. The three main causes of the French Revolution were the inequality between the estates, unfair taxes, and the American Revolution.

Three percent of the Clergy and the Nobles owned forty five percent of the lands. While the third estate with ninety five percent of the people only owned fifty five percent of the lands. The middle class, peasants and city workers were very upset about this because only three percent of the upper estates owned forty five percent of the lands while the third estate could use all the land that isn’t needed as much in the higher social classes as it is in the lower class.

“I was joined by a poor woman who complained of the hard times. “The tallies and feudal dues (rents owed to the lords) are crushing us” said Arthur Young (Document 1). The observations that Arthur had made during his travels reveal that the peasants in France in 1787-1789 indeed seem to be very poor. Even the children looked raggedy. Bread was scarce and the price of the bread raised above the peoples affordability. Majority of the third estate was starving and doing everything they could to make ends meet just to survive while the clergy paid no taxes and nobles paid very little if any. People in the third estate demanded that the French government have the equality to vote, limited and equal taxes, regular meetings of the Estates General so all can attend, you have to be proven guilty of a crime to be imprisoned and the right to a trial.

“The Revolution had been accomplished in the minds of men long before it was translated into fact...” said historian Albert Mathiez (Document 4). He believed this statement was true because of what the middle class people knew about Enlightenment ideas and were educated on the fact. The working class...