Enlightenment During The French Revolution

In 1770 France was built of 3 estates. The first two estate were the privileged estates. They had access to high officials. The first estate was formed by the Roman Catholic Church. They owned 10 percent of the land in France.

The French Revolution was the third estate’s fight against the government of France in an attempt to get rid of unfair taxation and their bad leader, Louis XIV. It happened because there was a bad harvest, financial crisis, other countries and areas were introducing democracies, Louis XVI was a bad leader, and society itself was unfair. The goals of the revolutionaries were to gain a say in government, have a more equal divide in social classes and their responsibilities, and to have a better ruler, which were not achieved for over 25 years. Because of this, the French Revolution was not a success, as the events and government in France that followed the revolution directly contradicted the main goals people fought for.

According to Locke, the duty of the government is to protect the natural rights of the people. If the legislation failed, the people had the right to overturn it. The French Revolution is an example of this happen. Citizens who were part of the third estate believed that the government was not looking out for their best reasons, so they started a revolution to change

In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.

The second estate had to pay taxes but not as much as the third. Also, the spending of money carelessly by the king and queen, further damaged the country. Their expenses were made up with goods and keeping and building the royal palace. this shows all the financial problems France faced during the revolution. Overall, the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte made things

The first estate said that the constitution never needed reform (The Clergy). They believed that the nobility ought to be assured of their prerogatives and distinctions in the state (The Clergy). It was influenced by enlightenment and intellectual ideas. Such as popular sovereignty and inalienable rights. Some wanted moderation others did not and the ideas of the enlightenment were that they could change the world and make it a better place.

Overall, the French Revolution occured because of horrendous treatment of the third estate. Unfair taxation, an obvious bias towards the upper classes, and an inadequacy of change for the better was what caused it to happen. Unfortunately, a vast amount of lives were lost to this hopeless

In 1783, only six years before the French Revolution broke out, the Americans successfully rebelled against the English king. This proved that a revolution could actually happen and that rebelling against Louis XVI could have positive effects. The success of the American Revolution inspired them (Document 5). During the Enlightenment, major philosophers like John Locke emerged and questioned the role or power of the government. Born after the English Civil War, John Locke discussed how people had natural rights like life, liberty, and property, which needed to be protected by the government.

France suffered from many political problems, causing chaos in France. One major problem in France was the government itself. At that time, many governments

In 1789, France was precariously balanced on the edge of chaos. King Louis XVI was ruling monarch of France. King Louis’ youth depicted him as reckless, thoughtless, and unwise. A series of bad financial and political decisions, lead to his unpopularity among the people of France. King Louis was young, distracted and misguided.

Rebellion Against Government Many words are associated with the word “rebellion.” These words may include “disobedience,” “anarchy,” “instability,” or “teenagers.” A word that should be included in that group is “justified.” Throughout history, people have often been deprived of the rights and freedoms that they deserve as citizens.

These include the transition of an absolute monarchy to a constitution one (and ultimately, in the mid-19th century, to no monarch at all), a migration of belief from the asserted divine right of kings to one of popular sovereignty, the jettisoning of corporate privileges of the nobility and church, and with it, a civil equality in taxes and rule of law and in religious belief, and the establishment of merit and talent in lieu of birth hierarchy as the basis of societal structure. The French Revolution had major effects on different groups of people including the monarch, the nobility, the clergy, peasants, urban workers, slaves, and women. The tumult of the last decade of 18th century France had profound effects on these different groups, some gaining political equality, others political freedom, and others pronounced suffering, loss, and even public execution. There were winners and losers as a result of the French Revolution.

Thus, Philosophes like Voltaire, Rousseau, John Locke and Montesquieu, created new ideas about the different types of possible governments and societies, such as human rights, citizenship, & democracy. Eventually, these ideas began spreading throughout France. Similarities between the French and Haitian Revolution: In France, the Enlightenment helped influence the French Revolution because the third estate, noticed that their basic right wasn’t being met. Specifically, the bourgeoisie, which was the growing merchant/professional class were well educated and familiar with the writings of philosophes like Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.

In this paper I discuss the four phases of the French revolution and how they influenced one and other, these phases consist of The National assembly/ The Constitutional Monarchy, The Reign of Terror, The Directory, and the Age of Napoleon. The First phase of the French revolution is the National assembly or Constitutional Monarchy. " Constitutional monarchy, system of government in which a monarch shares power with a constitutionally organized government.

Evidences The French revolution start off with giving more power and control to the Third Estate or the lower classes of France. The French revolution started in 1789. The Third Estate made up most of France 's population including: lower, middle and working class. The First and Second were the delegates and nobility.