Challenges of ancien regime 1774

anciens regime

Context

• bourbon royal fam ruled France - Louis XVI

  • royal court = Versailles (near Paris), splendour, lavish parties (royal court factions wld compete for kings favour)

• absolute monarchy (power x restricted by law/constitution)

  • no elected representative body to check king’s power

• divine right of kings (to oppose him wld = sin against God)

• ancien regime - French soc structure pre ‘89 rev

Monarch powers

• only person who cld initiate new leg

• arbitrary arrest + imprisonment

  • lettre de cachet (arrest warrant) = w/o trial

  • later seen as symbol despotism = using absolute power in cruel/oppressive manner

Ministers

• appointed, dismissed + called on by monarch

  • x obligated to act on advice

• controller general = in charge of state finances

Parlements

• local councils + law courts

  • ensure ppl performing civic duties (otherwise prosecuted)

  • regional administrative centres, most important one = in paris

• important local nobles, higher clergymen

• x elected

• cld refuse to register/implement laws if against ancien regime values

  • monarch cld overrule - lit de justice

    • risk being accused despotism, hard to ensure law being implemented

1st, 2nd estates

• 1st - clergy, cath church

  • exempt direct tax

  • higher clergy - positions oft passed down thru inheritance

• 2nd - nobility, royalty

  • aristocratic titles earned thru inheritance

    • limited soc mobility

  • exempt - nearly all direct tax, some indirect tax, compulsory military service

  • exclusive hunting/fishing rights

  • cld grant monopolies - excl control over product/service

    • eg wine, bakeries

• → resentment

3rd estate

• maj pop, most = peasantry

• pay tithes (1/10th persons earning) to church to fund services

  • incl poor relief, edu/hospital facilities

  • church = privileged, some felt tax used to ⭡ wealth of higher clergy

• x pol voice, rights, freedoms

• many = subsistence levels

  • some trapped under feudalism

    • pay dues to landowners in return for land

    • will never be wealthy enough to buy own land/rise in hierarchy

• poor unskilled workers = overcrowded dirty city slums

• higher paid skilled workers = org into guilds

  • groups of diff trades, protect shared interests

• bourgeoisie = educated, lawyers etc

• expected to contribute large amount to econ - taxes, duties

  • corvee - unpaid labour eg repairing roads/bridges

Enlightenment

• intellectual movment, europe, 16-1700s

  • long term cause of instability (begun decades before L in power), helped create rev sentiment

  • ⭡ criticism of est order

• french enlightened thinkers = philosophes

  • reason, logic, evidence (x trad ideas religion, superstition)

    • applied scientific rev methods to soc problems

  • ancien regime inequality

  • freedom from unreasonable govt (torture, censorship, press, religion)

• educated bourgeoisie = discussed new pol ideas eg in salons (intellectual gatherings), paris coffee houses

• suppressed -

  • needed royal license to own printing press

  • royal censor (all new publications = granted approval from officials), list banned books

  • authors prosecuted - Rousseau (warrants post novel ‘Emile’, fled to Britain, lived in exile), Voltaire (Bastille prison)

• spread of ideas -

  • limited to urban areas (Paris, lots bookshops, literacy levels)

    • x isolated rural areas, peasants (illiterate, working)

  • illegal operation printing presses

  • black market (brought from Geneva = liberal press control)

Rousseau

• ‘The Social Contract’

  • furthered ideas of locke - king has obligations to subjects

  • equal rights, soc shld collectively decide laws (demo)

• republican (anti monarchy) - only serves interests ruling class

• against feudalism

Voltaire

• praised english govt system (more liberal)

  • seen as attack on french monarchy - essay banned/burnt

• republican

• freedom of speech

• critic of church

Who did enlightened ideas appeal to?

• 3rd estate

• nobility youth

  • disliked old fashioned ideology (‘boring’, ‘gothic’)

  • appealed by spirit of liberty

  • x fully took it seriously (short sighted - x saw it as smth that wld threaten lifestyle in long term)

Duke of Orleans

• royal fam member

• spread radical ideas paris

• intellectual gatherings at his palace

  • became base for printing pamphlets (royalty exempt from censorship laws)

American Revolution

• french fought w US against britain

• US saw it as fight against monarchy/tyranny

  • self govt, consent of governed, popular sovereignty, liberty

  • inspired eg by work of Locke

• influenced french soldiers (eg General Lafayette)

• encouraged enlightenment