The French Revolution was a period of time where people sought to spread the ideals of liberty and equality. However, Louis XVI, the absolute monarch at the beginning of the French Revolution before power was taken away from him, wanted to remain the head of the country and wanted to pursue his own interests rather than fund the interests of France. Members of the Third Estate did not agree with his actions, therefore being the reason that the French Revolution ever started. The hatred for the absolute monarch, Louis XVI, by the people played a large role in the cause of the French Revolution because they wanted to form a new way of government that didn’t give power solely to one person.
The people of France believed that Louis XVI was politically …show more content…
Before the French Revolution emerged, The Old Regime, a way of differentiating between social classes, existed and was split into three Estates. The First Estate included the clergy, and the Second Estate consisted of nobility. However, the majority of the population--98 percent of all French citizens--were categorized into the Third Estate. The First and Second Estates had special privileges that weren’t offered to the Third Estate, including the exemption from paying taxes. Included in the list of opportunities that the Third Estate wasn’t presented with was the power to have a say in drastic decisions by voting. While the Third Estate was allowed to vote alongside the First and Second Estates, they were only permitted to have the same amount of votes as the First and Second Estates combined even though they outnumbered the two estates by a longshot. This caused the bourgeoisie in the Third Estate to grow upset with the others and push for a new form of government that allowed them to have more say in important elections and votes. The Third Estate broke out against the higher classes and ultimately caused the French Revolution because they wanted things to be fair, which was not the case at this point. They believed that “If the privileged order were abolished, the nation would not be something less but something more” (qtd in ____). Equality soon came into play with this ordeal for the fact that the Enlightenment ideals promoted equality and liberty, which were being denied in this instance because the king was above everyone else. To get on the right track and spread equality, the people of France first had to demonstrate these behaviors, and to do this, the Third Estate fought against the other estates in hope of establishing a different form of government that allowed the bourgeoisie to possess more power when it came to making important decisions, thus allowing
The people of France believed that Louis XVI was politically …show more content…
Before the French Revolution emerged, The Old Regime, a way of differentiating between social classes, existed and was split into three Estates. The First Estate included the clergy, and the Second Estate consisted of nobility. However, the majority of the population--98 percent of all French citizens--were categorized into the Third Estate. The First and Second Estates had special privileges that weren’t offered to the Third Estate, including the exemption from paying taxes. Included in the list of opportunities that the Third Estate wasn’t presented with was the power to have a say in drastic decisions by voting. While the Third Estate was allowed to vote alongside the First and Second Estates, they were only permitted to have the same amount of votes as the First and Second Estates combined even though they outnumbered the two estates by a longshot. This caused the bourgeoisie in the Third Estate to grow upset with the others and push for a new form of government that allowed them to have more say in important elections and votes. The Third Estate broke out against the higher classes and ultimately caused the French Revolution because they wanted things to be fair, which was not the case at this point. They believed that “If the privileged order were abolished, the nation would not be something less but something more” (qtd in ____). Equality soon came into play with this ordeal for the fact that the Enlightenment ideals promoted equality and liberty, which were being denied in this instance because the king was above everyone else. To get on the right track and spread equality, the people of France first had to demonstrate these behaviors, and to do this, the Third Estate fought against the other estates in hope of establishing a different form of government that allowed the bourgeoisie to possess more power when it came to making important decisions, thus allowing