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French Revolution Dbq Essay

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The French Revolution was a time of radical and social upheaval. Conditions in France both economically and politically caused much discontent among the people of the Third Estate. Which not only included peasants but during this time was made up of everyone that wasn’t a noble or of king-like status, such as merchants, artisans, and the middle class (bourgeoisie). After the Enlightenment, the people of France began to question their government and society. Especially the people of higher class in the Third Estate. This all in all led up to the French Revolution after years of inequality and unfairness in the country. Although the French Revolution had come from many different elements built up over time, the primary cause of it was ideas from …show more content…

Many people questioned this inequality including François-Noël Babeuf, a French tax collector, who was able to show exactly how some people did not agree with the way things were, as he states in a letter to his friend. Asking if Nature and God desired for one individual to have more than another or if our roles in life truly make up who you are as a person and what we deserve to have (Document 2). This shows the influence of the Enlightenment, considering the Enlightenment came to life in France in the late 1700s and this letter was written in 1787. Displaying just how the people of France were impacted by the new ideas and theories of this time period. Asking questions of the inequalities that took place and finding new …show more content…

During this time there was a law of “1 estate 1 vote” which made the Third Estate votes meant nothing as the 1st and 2nd worked together to get many laws passed without regard for about 97% of their population, this is something that also helped aid the Revolution. In 1789, Jacques Antoine Creuzé-Latouche, a French lawyer, wrote about their account of the king’s reform proposals presented to the Estates General, stating that some new laws/rights of these arrangements which favored the clergy and the nobility and were greeted by them with cries of “Long live the king!” while there was unbroken silence and no response from the deputies of the Third Estate (Document 4). This shows the imbalance of power, the 1st and 2nd Estates were able to overrule the majority of the population easily as long as they agreed. Most of the laws made and passed affected the Third Estate more than anyone and they had no choice in the matter. After a while people of the Third Estate made demands to try to help with balancing out the power, by asking for no more “1 estate 1 vote” and for their numbers to be doubled. Even with this King Louis XVI was able to give them their 2nd demand which didn’t change anything in the end. Which is also a major cause of the French Revolution. The idea of balance in power is a very enlightened idea and people began to think of this

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