French revolution

• The fall of the roman empire.
• It was caused by the unrest of people: there was a divide between slaves and free people, the high taxes placed on roman territories to fund the empire, barbarian invasions and because of the rise of christianity (had people believe that they were all treated equally which threw off the idea of having slaves and made ppl more peaceful).

They were feudalism and mercantalism. Feudalism isa social system that existed in europe during the middle ages in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return. In this system wealth did not accumulate in lower classes it flowed upward to the nobles creating class disparities. The hardest workers made the least money. Religon was a key factor in keeping peasants in check.

Mercantislism was an economic system in which a mother country owned colonies and inhibited trade between them and taxed them in order to make heavy profits and make the colonies dependent on the mother country.

It was the american revolution (1775-1783, called the military years). America defeated the british with the help of the france and others. It was less important than the french revolution because it affected a small pop. in a remote land. The declaration of independence in 1776 (severed the 13 colonies political connections to britian) and the United States constitution in 1787 (established america's gov't and fundamental laws) were documents that came out of the revolution.

It was the american revolution (1775-1783, called the military years). America defeated the british with the help of the france and others. It was less important than the french revolution because it affected a small pop. in a remote land. The declaration of independence in 1776 (severed the 13 colonies political connections to britian) and the United States constitution in 1787 (established america's gov't and fundamental laws) were documents that came out of the revolution.

• The causes of the american revolution were:
• 1. geography - since Britain was so far away, colonies had their own governments already, this made it easier for colonies to do as they pleased
• 2. The colonial mindset - colonialists felt as if they were being unfairly used to better the mother country, there were no advancements and grew sick of mercantilism.
• 3. colonial legislatures - legislatures were passed that allowed the colonies to impose taxes, have an army and pass laws. Over time many viewed these as rights.
• 4. The enlightenment - Many revolutionists has studied writings from the enlightenment which gave them the concepts of limited gov't, the consent of the governed and seperation of powers (seperation of church and state).
• 5. Seven years war - it was very expensive and disputes on who should pay for it led to colonial discontent.
• 6. New taxation w/out representation - The king imposed new taxes and trade deals to pay for the seven years war. Colonists were also banned from importing goods from places other than britain
• 7. proclamation of 1763 - this stopped settlement beyone the appalachian mountains. Britian did not intend to harm colonists with this but many still took offense.
• 8. The coercive acts - A series of intolerable acts that the british passed to punish colonists after the boston tea party

France was a feudalist society with strong influence from the catholic church in which most people lived simple lives. This created a hierarchal pyramid. At the bottom of this pyramid were the peasants/serfs who were loyal to knights, knights were loyal to the nobles who were loyal to the king, the only person the king was loyal to was god. France was an example of absolutism, a form of government in which all power is invested in the ruler. This monarych was not elected and could not be removed form power.

Peasants lived simple agricultural lives with a heavy emphasis on religon and family. Everyday society was controlled by the wealthy elite. Money and power was controlled by poerwful lords and aristocrats, people who were given their status through birth rite rather than hard work.

It was a ruling system in France that existed since the middle ages. There were three classes of people that formed a pyramid of power. At the bottom was the third estate which were serfs/peasants, merchants, artisans and workers. Above was the second estate who were land owners, nobility and lords. Above them was the roman catholic clergy who were not nessacarily more rich but they had more influence due to religon making them more powerful. The only person above the roman catholic clergy was the king. Most people were located in the third estate and money and power flowed to the higher estates while the third shouldered the heaviest taxed leaving the third estate who worked the hardest, broke.

It was the closest thing France had to democracy prior to 1789. Each estate in the ancien regime had one vote. This was unfair as the 25,000,000 peoples votes were equal to just one of the other estates votes, making it nearly impossible for them to change society.

They revolted because social structures were rigid and unfair, making it so those who worked the hardest stayed poor in the third estate. Poverty, famine and poor living conditions plagued the country as the third estate was broke and hygeine was not prominent at this time. The ruling system was unjust (absolute monarchy and ancien regime) leading to power imbalance. Also the third estate had heavy taxes for no reason.

The bourgeosie were merchants that belonged to the third estate. They were at the top of the third estate so they were usually well educated and made some money but lost most of it to taxes. Since they were educated they were able to realize that no matter how hard they worked they could never improve their life which led to resent towards the first and second Estates.

They were broke because of the debt they had from the seven years war and other wars. They also refused to tax the first and second estates which led to even more debt. This forced the thrid estate to shoulder most of the debt and led to famine due to inflation. Inflation is the sometimes extreme raising of prices on goods because demand is too high and supply is low.

Louis was uninterested in being king and did nothing to improve france. Marie Curie was a young queen from Austria (France's enemy) who lived in luxury so she was hated and deemed as unfit. The palace of versailled was an extravagant palace. People's tax money was being used to pay for building it which caused anger among the people who were suffering from taxation and poverty.

The Estates-General was a meeting between the 3 states that seeked to improve frances misfortune, it occured in 1789 (the previous one occured in 1614). Each estate brought a list of grievances, though nothing was settled upon which caused more politcal instablity.

The first estate wanted the constitution to stay the same and believed it was perfect. They believed france is a true monarchy in which a single man rules by law alone and the three orders are equal in power and independent of each other and that Unanimous consent is needed to express the nations will.

The second estate believed frances political instability arises from the fact that it never had a fixed constitution and that this constitution should assure the security of person and property (so the king cannot take their money or land, they were still subject to the absolute monarchy).

The third estate believed the distribution of votes was unequal and that personal taxes should be abolished (and such tax should be borne equally by all classes w/out distinction) and the property of all citizens be inviolable (incapable of being tampered with)and that no citizen lose his liberty except from law.

The National Assembly. It was a collection of representatives from the estates general who seeked to form a constituion. King Louis did not like this and he locked them out of their meeting room so the representatives gathered on a nearby by tennis court and swore to not disband until france has a constitution (Tennis Court Oath). This was marked as the beggining of the french rev. as it was the first stand against the king.

After king louis refused to recognize the national assembly, they continued to gather and defy him. This led louis to assemble his royal troops near paris. Rumours then spread that the king was planning an attack on his own people. So crowds of people stormed bastille, A prison that was seen as a symbol of royal power. This event was important as it allowed commoners to arm themselves (they also freed prisoners) and it was the first open act of violence against the king and was seen as the beggining act of the french revolution. This resulted in a collective conciousness - an awareness shared by many, that united a country and was a defining moment in their history (ex. civil rights mov't, american revolution)

Two weeks after bastille was stormed the national assembly abolished the estates-general and ended feudalism in france. The declaration of the rights of man and citizen was a document passed a month after bastille in order to define the future of france's new society. They believed soceity should have rules so all men are treated equal, which was a revolutionary idea at the time and caused a radical change. It was passed in 1789 and mainly applied to men.