,I

Worksheet C-lThe Old Regime: The People

FROM A CARTOONIST OF THE DAY: FROM A GREAT WRITER OF THE DAY:

From Nathaniel Plan and Muriel Jean Drummond. GIU' World 'T1rf'OlIlh

thw Ales (En&Jewood Cliffs. NJ.: Prenti~·HaI1, Inc.• 1967). p. 3n.

Rousseau, tha great writer of the

Enlightenment, wrote the followingdescription of his meeting with aFrench peasant.

"Having lost my way •••! went

into a peasant's hut •••! offered topay for my dinner. He gave ~eskimmed ~ilk and some coarse bread

made of barley; saying that it wasall he had. I ate hungrily, butdid not get enough to satisfy my

appetite.

'7he prasant watched me

closely. After a while •••he openeda little trapdoor near the kitchenand went down some stairs. He soon

reappeared with a nice brow~ loaf

of bread •••a piec~ of ham, and abottle of wine. 70 this he added~n omelette.

'~en !offered again to payhim, his worried look returned. He

\ refused to take ::IY money •.•he toldme that he hid his wine and bread

so that he would not have to paythe excise tax and that he was a

lo~t man if anyone suspected thathe had money. I never forgot whathe said."

:'mm Yfilton Belasco ana Thomas G. K.1,\-uneaus. 0ur Wesrern Henra~e'Sew York: C.;unonci~e BOOK<:,) •• :;>'0), ~. 'J7.

l),anv,leqN ~4.7~O.000 ~~on•. 10. auroen at :axel 14" .oan 'niS c:ua.~ir(l :statl

'.80u'9I1O ••••.

prateAlonasa."'ar~.ns. Jnd~.asantSl

-----~ - I

L ~ned H! 01 ~:"t" ,ana: ,;;,!,_: no ~n: ::Cllec:tlld!u~s(Jituov ,J.,es,.

z. .'Aonooouzea aOOOlntments In state 31'IQ r!"t'llitarV !.""'IC8.

1. OwnN 1/5 at tII. land: paid no :ax •• : l:O'I_~d Cl'lurcn:utl/tIr.,.

2. 3upetVliOKl education MId pucllcaaon at III ~COICS and,amanletL

1. ~eQISt_ bl~s. mamaqes ana e3ull'tS.'. ilearesenlN tn. offiCIal stal. -"'9,on.

'10.000

130.000

Humoer

rriE ?RIVILSGED AND '.JNPRIVIL:GE!) ::.ASSES

~...

S<lCand estate;:-.:c:iWrfl

;>r;vtleQOKI~r$testata

lC:arqy,

,\ilONARCH.'40Bl!S AND eISHO~GOVERNMeNT OR"lC:ALS. P!'!OF-SSIONALS.•••eRCHANT'S. ~OR :'40SU:S. ?ARISH P!'!IESTS.'HEALTHY P~~BORV.S. ~NDI..ESS P'!ASANTS. SCilVANT'S'JNEMP\.OYE) AND CRIMINALS

:'~om (i=c L.:1nwana. ?~'?tcnt "f :V""d Historv 'Boston •. \1ass.: .~ynlna 3acon. :nc .•• 97'"), ,. :62.

\

Worksheet C-7

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Fact Sheet: Old Regime

The First Estate (clergy), exempt from taxes, comprised one percent of thepopulation but owned ten percent of the land. It was able to collect a tithe

(ten percent church tax) from the people. Some of the poorer members ofthe clergy, who served in the countryside and smaller towns, tended tosympathize with the members of the Third Estate.

The Second Estate (nobility) comprised two percent of the population but

owned 35 percent of the land. Exempt from most taxes, these people couldcollect rent from the poor peasants who worked their lands. The nobles

did not believe that they were in any way responsible for the well beingof the Third Estate. Many of the wealthiest had bought their titles from

past kings; many held titles they had inherited as far back as the Middle

Ages. Some of the idealists among the nobility did understand the com­

p~aints of the Third Estate.

The Third Estate comprised 97 percent of the population and controlled 55

percent of the land. This part of the population was so heavily taxed thatmany of them could not afford to farm the land (it would have cost them so

much in taxes that they could never raise enough crops to break even).

Many were using farming methods and equipment that went back to the Middle

Ages. They had to pay taxes to the nobility for almost everything. Theyhad to work on the government's roads each year for a couple of weeks

without pay.- They could not kill rabbits, birds and other game to use

for food bp.cause the nobility shot them for sport (hunting). They also had

to pay taxes to the church. In addition, prices were rising much faster

than their wages or the prices they got for what they produced on the farms.

The government debt had tripled from 1774-1779 (half of it coming fromFrance's participation in the American Revolution).

- Banks were refusing to lend the gov~rnment money even at 40 percentinterest.

~~~~~~·-Thc~-',~i:rrte_~-Qf~1~788-1-78~ -1,·{,~S ~Q bitter th2:.t-- the Seine f-roze o'!~r· 2.:~d

people from the countryside came to Paris to demand government relier.

- By the Spring of 1789, the price of bread had almost doubled from 1787

due to the bad drought of 1788 and the cold winter which stopped grain

from being shipped. Bread was the main part of the diet of the French

and the worker was used to paying about half of his earnings ror bread;now almost every cent he earned went for bread.

- Louis XV! called the Estates-General into session for the first ti~e in

over 150 years in order to raise ~oney through taxes and hopefully to

quiet the demands of the people who were starting to riot in the streets

or Paris. Anticipating a discussion of the nation's problems, each estatewrote its ow~ cahier (letters of comulaint to discuss conditions they' ..;vished changed) :0 the king. After being assigned to one or the three

~st3.tes, '.vr:':e a ':2.hie~ presenting the list or g-r:e'/anc;s. '.vith ~he

gover:unent which you think your group '....ould have had.

:>.

/" Subtheme C The French Revolution

The Old Regime: The Economic Scene

(p'age 1 of 2)

Worksheet (-2

FROM A LETTER OF PROTEST TO THE KING: OTHER REPORTS:

I

~

It ••• I was joined by a poor womanwho complained that France was asad country •••• She had but aIIIOrselof land. one cow. and a poorlittle horse, yet she had to paya franchar (forty-two pounds) ofwheat and three chickens •••to one

nobleman; and four franchar of oats,

one ch~cken. and one franc to

another, besides very heavy •••.other taxes.

"•••This woman ..•might have beentaken for sixty or seventy .••but

she said she was only twenty-eight .•.it speaks, at thi-ffrst- sight,of hard and severe labor •••• To

what are we to attribute this? To

government ••.•"

The capitaineries (certain districts

in which the king granted huntingrights to nobles only; even thepeasants who owned this land couldnot hunt on it) are a dreadful

scourge. The owners of the landcannot even kill wild boar, and

herds of deer destroy their crops.

Sire. we must acquaint you withthese truths:

- The first is the farmed taxes

(taxes paid to a business companycalled the ''TaxFara.It which bought

" from the government the privilegeof levying taxes) which are burden­some on account of the cost of

administration and the profits ofthe Farmers of the revenue.

- Your Majesty must be aware thatin addition to taxes on individual

commodi ties (goods). the'production .of certain of them is forbidden.

Your subjects. for instance. areforbidden to grow tobacco while

millions are spent on it each yearby foreigners •.

- There are regions where themanufacture of salt is confined to

certain privileged persons •••whileagents of the Tax Farm call togetherthe peasants to throw salt back into

the sea•••The hith price of sa!tdeprives people of the benefits of

salt as a seasoning and as a preser­vative.

.---. ~_Nothing~is_more noteworthy jnFrance than the construction

of roads. The government hasbelieved that the corvee (forced

labor without pay) was necessary todo this great work; yet the corvee isnot authorized by any law of theland.

)

THE FRENCH BUDGET: 1788

Expenses

Interest on debts

Court

Other purposes

Total

Francs

318,000,000

35,000,000

276,000,000

629,000,000

Revenue 503,000,000

Defid t 126,000,000\.

Subtheme C The French RevolutionWorksheet C-3

Government Under the Old Regime

THE KING'S POWER ESTATES-GENERAL

Each estate has one vote.

The Estates-General is the lawmakingbody in France which hasn't met in 150years. It is called together. This is howit works; it is divided into three estates:

Voting is by es~ate, not by individu­

als. In order to pass-a law, twoestates and the king must approve it.(See'diagram.)

vote

ThirdEstate

(Commoners)

1vote

Second

Estate

(Nobles)

1vote

First Estate (Clergy) - 300 members

Second Estate (~obles) - 300 members

Third Estate (Commoners) - 600me~bers; includes bu~inessmen,

lawyers, doctors, universityprofessors.

First

Estate

(Clergy)

\\

-From Visualized Modern History (New York: William H. Sadlier, Inc.),p,26.

I 600

300 I 3~0 m::Jembers.

mem ersme!~bers

= 1200 "_Estates-General _, _-:_~.,~_ .__ .'-_._-~ .•...•.-."--

CAHIER

47