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On these days we discussed the French Revolution, perhaps the critical event in the history of Western Europe. Recall that the French King Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) had epitomized the ideal of an absolute monarch. When Louis died in 1715, France was at the height of its power. However, deep financial troubles were about to surface. Louis XIV's successor, Louis XV (r. 1715-1774) tried, but failed to reform the French system for raising revenues. During his reign, France went into debt fighting numerous foreign wars, and lost nearly all of its American possessions to the English after the Seven Years War (1756-1763). Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792) sought to re-establish the French presence in North America by intervening on the side of the Americans in the American Revolution from 1778 to 1781. But this pushed the French government even deeper into debt. Louis' finance minister, Jacques Necker, was less reform-minded than his predecessors, and argued that the main problem was that the treasury was being depleted by royal pensioners. However, Necker's successor, Charles Alexandre Calonne, aims to resolve the financial difficulties with two reforms. First, Calonne proposes to transform peasant services (the corvee) into simple cash payments. (Throughout the Middle Ages, peasants were obligated to perform labor for the crown a certain number of days per year -- for example, building roads. Calonne proposed to end this practice and replace it with simple taxation.) Second, Calonne proposed to introduce new land taxes to be imposed on all landowners regardless of their social status. This second proposal threatened to end a coveted aristocratic privilege, so Calonne had to seek the support of the aristocracy and the clergy for his plan. In 1787, Calonne convened the 150-member Assembly of Notables to ratify his new tax plan. But the Notables refused. Instead, they demanded a greater role in government and the reappointment of Calonne's predecessor, Jacques Necker. The Notables also insisted on auditing the monarchy's financial records and denounced the lavish court spending. More importantly, the Assembly of Notables argued that they were not vested with authority to consent to new taxes. This, they said, was a right enjoyed only by the medieval institution known as the Estates General. Louis XVI is forced to back down. He replaces Calonne with the Archbishop of Paris (one of the Notables), and convenes the Parlement of Paris to ratify his tax plan. But the Parlement also insisted that new taxes could be ratified only by the Estates General. As the financial and political crisis deepened, it was becoming clear to the aristocracy and wealthy commercial class that they had the king in something of a bind. Local aristocratic parlements began calling for a restoration of the privileges they had enjoyed before Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV. In 1788, Louis XVI finally agrees to convene the Estates General, and to reappoint Necker as his finance minister. This concession represents the end of absolute monarchy in France, but what would take its place was still anyone's guess. I described the three estates of the Estates General. The First Estate was the clergy. Although they were a small group (numbering about 100,000), they owned 10% of all the land in France. They did not pay regular taxes, although they were expected to make a "voluntary gift" to the Crown every three years. The Second Estate was the nobility. They numbered about 400,000, but owned 25% of the land. They were very lightly taxed, and enjoyed age-old legal privileges. Everybody else belong to the Third Estates, some 25 million commoners. The Third Estate was comprised chiefly of peasants and the urban poor, but there were a growing number of prosperous, educated members of the middle class (the bourgeoisie). This bourgeoisie would become the leaders of the Third Estate and drive much of the French Revolution. Louis' decision to convene the Estates General caused extraordinary excitement, but it also raised thorny questions about power, class and privilege. How would the Estates General operate? Would voting be by head (i.e., everyone had one vote, in which case the representatives of the larger Third Estate would have real power) or by chamber (i.e., each chamber had one vote, in which case the smaller First and Second Estates could veto the Third)? The Estates General threatened to sharpen the lines of separation between the orders and exacerbate class conflict. Moreover, the calling of the Estates General had the effect of raising political consciousness and heightening expectations for change among ordinary people. All citizens were invited to meet in their local parishes to choose electors (who would then choose the representatives) and to draft grievance petitions (called "cahiers") that set out their views. There was a proliferation of pamphlets, setting out different political agendas, with some openly attacking the privileges of the Second Estate (the nobility). The Estates General finally meets on May 15, 1789, but Louis XVI and Necker had left all of the thorny questions about voting unresolved. Negotiations among the three estates breaks down, and on June 17, 1789, the Third Estate proclaims its intent to form a separate "National Assembly." About a third of the clergy joins the commoners, and Louis XVI orders the rebellious delegates to be locked out of the meeting hall. Deputies of the Third Estate them move to an indoor tennis court, where they take an oath not to separate until they have won a French constitution. This Tennis Court Oath (June 20, 1789) signaled an important shift in French politics and society, and an assault on the feudal privileges of the Old Regime. Concerned about the turn of events, Louis XVI addresses all three estates on June 23, 1789. He promises: (1) equality in taxation; (2) civil liberties, and (3) regular meetings of the Estates General. But he also insists that "the ancient distinction of the three orders be conserved in its entirety," and that voting in the Estates General be by estate rather than by head. Some are appeased by the king's remarks, but most are not. Louis is then forced to recognize the National Assembly -- at least for the time being. Unbeknownst to the Third Estate, the king has secretly ordered 20,000 troops to come to Paris to crush the rebellious delegates. The French Revolution was about to turn violent. |