Unit 8 Module 1: Decades Before the Frev

When Louis XVI ascended the throne in 1774, what did he inherit?

He inherited a large and constantly growing national debt.

What was the debt that Louis XVI inherited incurred by?

Much of that debt had been incurred financing wars and maintaining the military. Moreover, France lacked an adequate banking system, and most of the national debt was short term and privately held.

Was France's taxation system helpful when it came to dealing with the debt?

No, it offered little help.

Why did nearly all the direct taxes fall on the French peasantry?

They fell on the peasants because French nobility, clergy, and bourgeoisie controlled the bulk of France's wealth and had been long exempt from most taxes.

Was there a consistent set of rules for collecting taxes throughout France?

No, there was not a consistent set of rules for collecting taxes. Unless something was done, royal bankruptcy loomed ahead.

To stave off financial ruin, who did Louis XIV appoint as his minister of finance?

He appointed the Physiocrat Jacques Turgot, a friend of Voltaire, as his minister of finance.

Turgot proposed what to stave off financial ruin?

He proposed to abolish guilds, eliminate restriction on the commerce in grain, institute a small new tax on landowners, and cut down expenses at court.

Who engineered the dismissal of Turgot from his position as minister of finance?

People who benefited from the old system that Turgot proposed against soon engineered his dismissal, and his modest reform measures were rescinded.

What happened after Turgot was dismissed?

After he was dismissed, a succession of ministers tried all kinds of temporary solutions to stave off financial ruin, but to no avail.

Desperate for a solution to the financial crisis that his ministers couldn't figure out, who did Louis call in 1787?

Desperate, Louis called an Assembly of Notables in 1787 and pleaded with these selected nobles, clergy, and officials to consent to new taxes and financial reforms.

Did the Assembly of Notables consent to the new taxes and financial reforms that Louis pleaded for?

No, they did not consent, as did the judges (all members of the nobility) in the parlement, or law court, of Paris when Louis turned to them.

Instead of consenting to the new taxes and financial reforms that Louis pleaded for, what did the leading nobles and officials from the Assembly of Notables demand?

They demanded a meeting of an old representative institution, the Estates General. They fully expected to control these proceedings and thereby assert their own interests (which was to not consent to the new taxes and financial reforms), which Louis gave into.

Why was one of the most troubling conflicts the relationship between the monarchy and the nobility?

For centuries, the French nobility had been the foundation on which the monarchy established its rule. However, the nobility was also the monarchy's chief rival for power, and it had grown increasingly assertive during the 18th century.

Through institutions such as the parlements that they controlled, nobles resisted?

Through these institutions, nobles resisted ministerial efforts to tax them. More and more, nobles claimed to be protecting their rights as well as France itself from "ministerial despotism".

For what two reasons did the nobles refuse the monarchy when it turned to them for financial help?

First, the nobles wanted to protect their own financial interests. Second, they used the financial crisis to assert their independence, arguing that they represented the nation. They established a price for their cooperation: a greater share of power, which the king refused.

Why did Louis think that he could find allies within the middle class in his standoff with the nobility?

He thought that he could find allies within the middle class because in the past, French and other European kings had occasionally turned to wealthy members of this class for support.

How had the middle class changed?

The middle class now nursed its own set of grievances.

How had the growing middle class benefited from France's prosperity and population boom after 1715?

Many talented, wealthy, and ambitious members of the middle class managed to gain the high offices, titles, and privileges enjoyed by the nobility. Others rubbed shoulders and shared ideas with the nobility in salons and did their best to copy the nobles' style of life, finding ways to avoid paying heavy taxes.

Despite how the middle class had benefited somewhat, what did numerous members of the bourgeoisie hold grievances about?

Numerous members of the bourgeoisie - particularly younger administrators, lawyers, journalists, and intellectuals - had encountered frustrating barriers to the offices and prestige enjoyed by the nobility. They had also grown impatient with the monarchy's failure to enact reforms that would benefit them specifically.

As a result of their grievances, people from both the middle class and the nobility had begun?

They had begun expressing ideas and using highly charged political terms that profoundly threatened the monarchy.

What were the effects of having the key ideas of the Enlightenment spread to the nobility and middle class?

When nobles asserted their own interests against the king, they often used Enlightened language and ideas that attacked monarchical absolutists as unjustified tyrants and that accused the king's minister of "despotism". Middle-class people shared these Enlightened sentiments and later extended them to demand their legal equality.

Explain the gap that opened between rosy expectations and frightening realities.

Before 1770, France had enjoyed a long period of prosperity. This growing wealth created the expectation that economically, things would keep getting better and better. After 1770, a series of economic depressions struck, turning these high expectations into bitter disappointment and frustration.

What happened as a result of the bad harvests that the countryside suffered in 1788?

The price of bread soared, and with it came hunger, desperation, and starvation. Peasants crowded into the cities in search of jobs and help, but the agricultural depression had already spread there and had thrown thousands of laborers and artisans out of work. Peasants and urban workers eventually turned to violence, attacking bakeries and stores of grain.

Who did the peasants and urban workers (the populace) blame for their plight after the bad harvests?

They blamed governmental figures and "parasitical agents" of the Old Regime for their plight.

By 1789, many pamphlets and cartoons portraying what circulated throughout France?

Many pamphlets and cartoons portraying the connection between suffering and France's privileged orders circulated throughout France.

What were the increasing demands throughout the West in the years before 1789?

They were increasing demands for political participation and governmental reform. The movements were led by ambitious elites.

True or false: The French people's disrespect for their own king made the situation in France worse.

True: The French people's disrespect for their own king made the situation in France worse.

Why were Louis XV and Louis XVI, descendants of Louis XIV, unpopular?

They were unpopular because unlike their European counterparts, they never managed to forge an effective alliance with the nobility or consistently assert their authority over it. Nor did they succeed in enacting reforms or even give the impression of being "enlightened" monarchs.

True or false: Louis XVI's unpopular Austrian wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, increasingly drew fire for her supposed extravagance and indifference to those below her.

True: Louis XVI's unpopular Austrian wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, increasingly drew fire for her supposed extravagance and indifference to those below her.