Do Now• Materials you need: Revolution Comparison Chart, writing

utensil• Get into your designated role positions as per your ticket:

– Tickets with “P” are peasants. Please sit on the ground in front of the manor with the number that matches the number on your ticket (face the front of the room).

– Tickets with “C” are clergy. Please sit at the desks marked Clergy.

– Tickets with “N” are nobles. Please sit at the manor with the number that matches the number on your ticket.

– The ticket with “CG” is the Controller General. Please sit at the desk marked Controller General.

– Tickets with “K” and “Q” are the King and Queen. The King will sit in the chair on the table and the Queen will sit in the chair next to the table. Put on your crowns!

Simulation Norms

• Participate to the best of your ability• Be open-minded• Respect other people’s opinions and ideas• Do not interrupt the speaker• No profanity, insults, harassment • Follow role expectations (for specific roles)

Background

• Look at Step 1 on your role card.• Read the background information about France

during the reign of King Louis XVI.

Step Two

The Three Estates

1st ESTATE______________________

2nd ESTATE_______________________________

3rd ESTATE

1 – Bourgeoisie: wealthy merchants and skilled workers (4%)

2 –Workers: poorly-paid servants, cooks and personal attendants (8%)

3 – Peasants (85%)

EVERYONE ELSE! 97% of the population. Paid all

the taxes.

Nobility. 2% of the population. Paid no taxes

Roman Catholic clergy. 1% of the population.

Paid no taxes.

The French Revolution (1789)

What was the government before the revolution?• The government in France had long been an

absolute monarchy. King Louis XIV ruled with divine right and passed the rule onto his grandson, King Louis XVI.

• King Louis XVI ruled France with his Queen, Marie Antoinette.

French Revolution

What was the problem?1. King Louis XVI ruled with divine right and absolute power2. Enlightenment ideas were spreading and the people

wanted change!3. France was DEEP in debt:

a. The cost of wars (Seven Years War, American Rev.) was expensive

b. Unequal taxation of three estates (1st and 2nd paid NO taxes, 3rd estate paid ALL taxes)

c. King Louis XVI and his court lived in luxury and spent LOTS of money! (Just like his grandpa King Louis XIV)

4. French people were starving because of bad harvests throughout the country

5. King Louis ignored the needs of his people. He didn’t want to deal with problems of the country.

French Revolution

So what happened?• To solve the debt problem, King Louis XVI

wanted to tax the previously untaxed 2nd Estate.

• The struggle to pass taxes was unsuccessful. So King Louis decided to call a meeting of the Estates-General in May 1789 to resolve the issue. (It was the first meeting of the Estates General in 175 years!)