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George Rude's opinion on the assembly of Notables:
"The Notables refused to endorse ministerial reforms because their own cherished fiscal immunities were threatened."
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Simon Schama's opinion on the assembly of Notables:
"Though they are often dismissed as the tail-end of the old regime... the Notables were the first revolutionaries."
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William Doyle's opinion on Calonne at the assembly of Notables:
"Callonne had made many enemies... if Calonne's proposals had have come from anybody else, there is little doubt the Notables would have welcomed them more warmly."
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William Doyle's opinion on the King's "lit de justice" of 8 May 1788, replacing parlements with plenary courts:
"The judicial reforms announced were the last attempt by the French monarchy to remain absolute"
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Simon Schama's opinion on the "Day of Tiles at Grenoble" June 1788:
"It signified the breakdown of royal authority... it warned the elite... their encouragement of riot might very easily be turned against themselves... it delivered the initiative for further political action into the hands of a younger, more radical group."
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Albert Soboul on the Cahiers:
- -Believes the Third Estate were the ones asking for the most radical changes in their cahiers, while nobility where clinging to privileges
- -"But the bourgeoisie's ambitions, grounded in social and economic reality, were thwarted by the aristocratic spirit, that pervaded laws and institutions"
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Alexis de Tocqueville says about the drawing up of Books of Grievances:
- -Calling of Estates-General created surge of optimism; made people expect change
- -"The most dangerous time for a regime is the moment it offers some form of reform or improvement"
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William Doyle on the drawing up of the cahiers:
"Inevitably in this process, many of the concerns of the King's poorer subjects were edited out."
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Peter Jones on the cahiers of the Third Estate:
- -Believes peasant demands were NOT filtered out of cahiers by bourgeiosie
- -"Evidence shows that peasants were prepared to amend the documents submitted to them when they imperfectly coincided with local needs"
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Simon Schama on the Opening of the Estates- General:
"The more the first two orders swaggered... the more they alienated the Third Estate."
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Schama, on the 12 July 1789 when mobs authors customs houses after Necker was fired:
"during that aongle night of largely unobstructed riot and demolitian, Paris was lost to thr monarchy"
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Rude on who conquered the Bastille:
It was Third Estate members who conquered the Bastille, mostly craftsmen, cabinet makers, cobblers & shopkeepers
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Schama on the King's visit to the National Assembly after the Bastille
"the King's visit was so astonishing, so disconcertingly naked that it amounted to abdication."
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Rude, vs Doyle on causes of tension in the old regime
- Rude: Due to underlying class tensions: "the conflict had its roots deep in the old regime"
- Doyle: no uderlying causes, it was an "accident"
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