THE 1789 FRENCH REVOLUTION (LONG TERM CAUSES)

1. The unprivileged position of the peasants

By 1789 the number of peasants in France was about 23 m out of a population of 25 m people; although they were the majority they enjoyed the least privileges in the state.

They owned no land and had to live as tenants on land owned by the nobility.i

They suffered a crashing burden of taxation. Despite their low earnings, the peasants had to pay feudal dues to the landlords.

They had to pay for the use of the land lords wine press and his threshing ground.

They also had to pay numerous taxes to the state both direct and indirect including Gabelle tax or tailed tax, poll tax, poll tax, vingtieme tax (20%) of one’s income.

The Gabelle or salt tax had to be paid by everybody above 8 years of age. It was worth 7 pounds of salt a year. They had to pay the tailed which was the tax on land.

They also had to pay capitation tax.

They were also required to pay the tithe to the church; although this was supposed to be a tenth one’s income by 1789 it took away as much as 19% of one’s annual earnings.

Besides these problems, rich hunters were allowed to destroy peasant’s crops as they hunted for leisure. The peasants were subjected to compulsory military service in the army for five years.

They were subject to labor on roads, public works and building or they were had to pay an equivalent tax or carve, they were also subject to arbitrary arrest by use of a sealed letter called lettre de catchet.

They had no access to education or any other posts in the government. By 1789, the grievances of the peasants had grown enormously and since they had no way of addressing their problems, they decided to revolt and over throw the existing system of government in order to establish a new one which they hoped would deal with their problems.

2. The grievances of educated bourgeoisie’s

• They were middle class.

They comprised of teachers, traders, industrialists, merchants etc.

although this class was better off than the peasants, they resented their exclusion from political posts lack of freedom of worship, press, speech and numerous taxes treaty at hindered trade, the poor can policies like the free trade treaty of 1726 with Britain which killed the market for French commodities.

The political and economic grievances encouraged the bourgeoisies to side with the other disadvantaged class to over throw the government, so that in the newly estimate political order. They would enjoy benefits fitting their wealth and education

3. The industry of the nobility

These constituted the second estate but even within this estate, there were divisions into greater, lesser and the nobility of the robe.

The greater nobility comprised of about 100 families.

These included the king’s relatives; they owned the largest and wealthiest land in France. It was from this class that the commander of the army and navy were chosen.

The highest government posts were reserved for them, they alone could represent France as ambassadors, they enjoyed life as absentee landlords and they got a lot of pensions and enjoyed a lot of banquets  the king’s court at Versailles.

They were exempted from taxation and this annoyed the other classes that had no access to power and some who were burdened by tax (vingtieme tax) that was paid by most of the nobles.

It was the persistent refusal of the greater nobility to pay taxes and yet retain their privileges which accelerated the bankruptcy of the French government which allowed the nobility such privileges with the greater nobility and this caused a lot of jealously and discontent which led to the lesser nobility and the nobility of the robe to side with the peasant to overthrow the existing government in order to establish a new order where they would have privileges and political posts

Storming of the Bastille

N.B

Nobles were addressed as My lord, your grace, etc.

4. The unfair system (monarchial despotism) in 1789

The king of France occupied the position of a despotic monarch which ruled by Devine rights.

The king controlled all the matters of the state and the majority of the French man had little say in matters of the state.

The king ruled without a parliament or constitution and the estates assembly which was supposed to be the national parliament had not met in over 160 years.

The king made all the laws of the state as he onetime commented; “the state is myself and something is legal because I wish it”.

The king controlled all the expenditures in the state.

Consequently there was a lot of delay, corruption, inefficiency in every department which angered the majority of the population and made them desire to overthrow the existing despotic monarch, France had a chaotic judicial system where over 3600 codes of law existed in the country.

This caused a lot of chaos and confusion which resulted into unfair arrests in the country which consequently increased the people’s moods to rebel against the existing system.

By 1789, the state had no statement of account; it was the king who decided on state expenditure and the source of the state revenue which resulted into the misappropriation of funds, embezzlement and great extravagancy of the royalty.

It was the financial chaos which led to the bankruptcy of the French government and necessitated the calling of the estates general assembly in May 1789 which resulted into the revolution.

5. The influence of the philosophers

These were great men in France who wrote about the situation of France in Europe and criticized the French political, social and economic system.

The philosophers included voltage, Montesquieu Rousseau and encyclopedists led by Denis Diderot etc.

VOLTAIRE (1694-1778)

He wrote a lot of literature, drama and poetry and history. He wrote against the Catholic Church, he especially wrote against religious intolerance and educated for freedom of worship still supported the rule of the king.

He educated for the reform of the existing system rather than the revolution and he didn’t support the rule of the majority as he commented one time, “I would rather be ruled by one than 100 rats”.

This contribution was negative.

MONTESQUIEU (1689-1775)

He was a lawyer who wrote a book the spirit of laws. He was widely travelled and this gave him a breeder outlook in life.

In his written he attacked the absolute dower as the king and I advocated for a system like that of England where there was separation of power with the state, having the judiciary, an executive and legislature so that checks and balances would be established to ensure democracy.

He said that those who make laws should not administer them because they would be tempted to make oppressive laws for their benefit. His contributions were positive.

ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)  

He made the greatest contribution. He wrote about religious, education and politics in France.

He criticized the practice of divine despotism and proposed that people should have the right to participate in the political affairs of the country.

In his book social contract (Du contract social) he seeks a justification for the fact that men though born free is everywhere in chains.

He also says that the rural people should be sovereign because the rulers lived to do their will.

He said that the relationship between the government and the people is like a social contract where the government had two fulfill certain obligations towards the citizens and if it failed to fulfill them, it deserved to be overthrown.

Rousseau said that “every man is entitled to take part in making decisions which everyone is required to obey, that citizens had a right to make laws and to choose to do so on their behalf.

He emphasized that since man is born free, he shouldn’t be fettered by laws made by fellow man and therefore should have freedom of worship, expression and political association.

DENIS DIDEROT

He was an editor in chief of the encyclopedia to be unaccounted of all exciting knowledge.

Some evaluation contributions of the encyclopedia included the economists who advocated for the abolition of taxation except that on land to be paid by the nobility and clergy.

They wrote and criticized the existing system in France in all aspects. They attacked the corruption in government despotism etc.

The writing of philosopher in totality when read and interpreted for the masses created a a mood to rebel against the existing system.

The writings showed the injustices which people sought to get rid of.

However their role was indirect because by 1789, most of them had died and yet the majority of the French men were therefore could not read.

It was only because conditions were very hard that the massive listened to the interpretations of the writings of the philosophers given by the Bourgeoisies, that they decided to rebel against the king and his government in order to establish a new order.

6. A bankrupt government

By 1789 the French government was bankrupt.

The poor economic policies, the unfair taxation, extravagancy at the kings court at Versailles, the numerous customs duties which hindered trade, the productive methods.

The heavy expenditure abroad lack of financial discipline, all led to the inability of the government to remain sovereign.

The bankruptcy of the French government made the king to appoint and dismiss his financial controller for example

Turgot and Necker and Brienne so often that finance problems continued to mount and in 1789, it became necessary to call the estates general assembly to discuss the issue of new taxes in the hope of halting the bankruptcy of the states.

It was the estates general meeting held in May 1789 which sparked off the revolution

7. The character of the King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, Louis the XVI occupied the position of despot without being despotic in character.

He did not have the necessary will to carry out reform which was unpopular to the nobility for example he dismissed Necker and Turgot when they tried to carry out tax reforms and to cut down the privileges of the nobility.

He was inconsistent in his policies; sometimes he would allow reforms and later cancel them if the nobility and his wife protested.

He also believed in divine Kingship and therefore refused to establish a representative government which led to an accumulation of peoples grievances against his government.

Louis paid little attentions to state matters and by 1789 he was out of touch with the problems of his government that had the people dissatisfied.

He allowed the nobility to escaped taxation, he tolerated extravagancy at his court all of which led to bankruptcy of the government and inevitably led to the revolution.

He involved France in useless external wars like 7 years (1756-1763) in which France lost her colonies in Canada and India; he involved France in the American war of independence. These aspects of his external policy worsened the financial situation in France and finally led to the revolution.

He also allowed French writers freedom of movement especially to England which led to inter-location interferences that led to the revolution of 1789.

In addition to his problems, he was unfortunate to have a queen who was politically sensitive. She was too strong minded to be sensible, was extravagant and was a foreigner.

The influence of the queen on the King was so strong that Mirabeau commented by 1789, the king had only one man around him, his wife.

The queen encourage the nobles to refuse to pay taxes while at the same time insisting on their privilege as financial controllers who might have averted the financial crisis that led to the revolution of the 1789.

N.B

The king was too weak minded to be stable and the queen was too strong minded to be sensible.

Image of French_Revolution-1792-8-10

8. The American war of independence

King Louis XVI had sent a French army to America in the 1770s to help the Americans in their struggle for independence from Britain.

The American war of independence led to the revolution in the following way

He accelerated the bankruptcy of the state because over 7m French lives were spent during the war with no gains at all.

The soldiers who participated in the American war of independence came back filled with democratic ideas like no taxation without representation.

They also had an example of how an unjust government should be dealt with.

Some of the soldiers felt that if they had been sent to America to shed blood for what they considered as small cause (the British might tax them an extra duty of pounds) and they felt that the French men were justified in overthrowing the government whose unfairness towards the people was of greater magnitude.

In order to finance the American war of independence, the government had borrowed from the bourgeoisies and by 1789 as not planning to react to those loans and this led the bourgeoisies to mobilize the other discounted groups to which was economically sound and would pay their money.

9. The rate of the catholic church

The church was the greatest controller of the means of production that is up to ¾ of the total mass of fertile land.

The church also controlled education facilities. Students had to sit exams set by the church and the pope had influence in state affairs.

The church also used to collect tithe from the congregation and yet it did not reciprocate back in form of improving their conditions.

The clergy was the most superior estate in France and also practiced religious intolerance Catholism was the state religion and it was illegal to worship any religion. Defaulters of this law found their way to prison or were even killed.

SHORT TERMS CAUSES

1. Economic distress especially after 1786;

In 1786 France had signed a free trade treaty with England in which English goods would enter France untaxed.

The resultant unfair competition from English goods caused the industrial sectors to cut down the number of their employees that led to wide scale unemployment.

Larger number of people flocked to the towns in search of employment which they did not find and ended up making mobs that became the prime movers of the revolution.

1. Bad economic policies had led to inflation which was not matched with the increase in people’s wages and this resulted into poor living standard and disgust towards the government

iii.        Coupled with these problems, France experienced a severe winter in 1788 and even the southern part of Marseilles was frozen making it impossible to import grains from other countries which led to starvation.

1. The heavy taxes, poor agricultural production coupled with poor weather which destroyed the crops in the fields led to wide spread of famine and yet the government did not make any move to alleviation the suffering of the people.

So the people’s discontent against the government grew and made them desirous of overthrowing the government to establish their needs.

1. The meetings of the estates general assembly (May 1789).

The estate general as the national parliament had not met for over 160 years.

The following the advice of Necker, the king summoned the assembly whose meeting was scheduled for May 1789 prior to the meetings; the representation of the various states had been asked to collect cahiers (lists of grievances) from the people they represented.

The third estate of the peasantry had put forward grievances like the desire for abolition of laws, equality in all etc. moreover the third estate was given double representation and for once they thought their problems would be dealt with, but when the estates general met, instead of a single sitting, the King insisted that the only issue which would be separate sitting according to estate and insisted that only issue which would be increasing taxes to deal with the economies situation in France.

The third estate reports being aware that separate sitting would not help in addressing their grievances insisted of a single sitting by inviting other classes to join them.

After two weeks of wrangling, the members of the 3rd estate declared themselves the national assembly and vowed that they now made the people’s government and would not separate until they made a constitution for France.

The defiance of the 3rd estate representatives towards the orders of the king marked the beginning of the revolution other factors.

Dismissal of financial controllers

Role of the army

Unfair system of taxation