Dylan Obrien Recent Works

Brianne Daly

Mrs. Braskamp

ACP Global Civilization

March 4, 2015

French Revolution Has Failed Its People

It started with the inequalities in society between the three estates and the widespread hunger and record cold, leaving a majority of the French people angry and starving. Another factor to consider was the poor leadership from Louis XVI, who was indecisive and too easily persuaded. This neglect to the country as well as lavish spending led to the financial crisis. The French were in a lot of debt yet they continued to borrow money. Lastly, the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers sparked interest in the common people. It changed their perspective on government so that they started to question their leader’s choices. All of these contributed to what we call the French Revolution. The French Revolution promised its people for “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity” in spite of that it failed to do so.

The French Revolution failed its people to provide liberty, because of its disreguard for the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The third estate had to deal with the worst long-term effects of the Revolution because they had to pay a majority of the taxes, they were most of the workforce, and they had very little weight in the decisions of the estates. The system was corrupted because each estate had one vote. This was entirely unfair because the third estate was 97 percent of the French population. In addition, the first and second estates worked together because they had the same interests. This resulted in the third estate being outvoted by the other two every time. In document three, it is said that, “...everything would go considerably better without the two others...”(Document 3) meaning that the third estate would do better if the first and second did not exist. The third estate proved themselves self sufficient as they continuously pulled the weight for their nation through their actions. These unjust laws led to the creation of the Declaration...