Causes of The French Revolution

Influences of the American Revolution

Colonists, borrowing ideas from Enlightenment thinkers, decided to rebel against the British government.
They protested:

1. Colonial governments (put in place by the English King) 2. “No taxation without representation” 3. Defended the right to assemble

Wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776
French nobles were inspired and volunteered to fight (ex. The Marquis de Lafayette)

France and the American Revolution

King Louis XVI agreed to help the colonists in order to get back at the British for winning the Seven Years War (The French and Indian War) in the colonies.
France sent 12,000 soldiers and 32,000 sailors to help the colonists in the war.
French warships help force the British surrender at Yorktown.

Causes of the French Revolution

Unfair Social Divisions (The Three Estates):

1. First Estate (Clergy – Church Officials) 1% of the population, own 15% of land – pay no taxes 2. Second Estate (aristocracy – nobles) 2% of population, own 25% of land – pay no taxes 3. Third Estate – divided into two groups – the bourgeoisie (middle class) and the peasants (80% of the population) – owned 60% of land, paid all of the taxes

Unfair tax system – the Third Estate paid all of the taxes
Government debt

1. From wars against England and the luxurious lifestyle of the monarchy 2. Banks refused to lend the king more money

Prices of the cost of living were going up * Bread, a staple in the French diet, costs over half of an individual’s salary * Poor wheat crops cause bread prices to soar * Bread riots