A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution: Part One

The French Revolution was one of the most pivotal historical processes of the past three centuries. While the American Revolution can be viewed as a bit of an accident that did not reflect a response to genuinely harsh conditions, the French Revolution was a revolution that was borne out of significant domestic hardship. What follows is a beginner's guide to what transpired during the French Revolution, broken down into several parts. The first part of A Beginner's Guide to The French Revolution will focus on the underlying causes of the revolutionary response as well as a survey of the social, economic, and political structure in France during the eighteenth century.

First, it is important to know what kind of government France had. Like most other regions of the continent (with the exception of The Netherlands, Germany, and Italy), France had an absolute monarch in charge of the state. An absolute monarch was a king or queen who wielded extreme power over all aspects of his or her respective state. Although the absolute monarch had close advisors, he or she had final say in all matters. The absolute monarch of France during the time of the French Revolution was Louis XVI.

French society in the eighteenth century was divided along three very distinct lines. There was an upper class constructed of wealthy clergymen such as bishops and abbots, titled nobility, as well as the royal family and his advisors. Below this was the middle class which included those involved in commercial occupations such as merchants and bankers, as well as professionals like doctors and lawyers. The middle class had begun to expand due to France's commercial expansion as an overseas power during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As the country's economy widened, so to did occupations that were essential to sustaining it. Finally there was a lower class. This social order consisted primarily of rural peasants who were bound to lands according to ancient feudal dues. Other members of the lower class included poor urban laborers and artisans who crowded in France's cities.

Although France had distinct upper, middle, and lower classes during the seventeenth century, its society was not arranged that simply. Social standing, political rights, and legal rights were determined according to what was known as the "Estate System." There were three Estates, or official social orders in France. The First Estate was made up of members of the Catholic clergy. In turn, this Estate was broken down into two levels of clergy-the higher clergy and the lower clergy. The higher clergy was made up of men who were already privileged by birth and had gained high church positions through ties with the French King. These bishops and abbots enjoyed many privileges which weren't extended to lower social orders, such as the ability to tax the land that they owned. The higher clergy controlled a good deal of the land in France (up to ten percent) even though the entire First Estate only constituted about one percent of the total population of eighteenth century France. The lower clergy was made up of parish priests who were responsible for the majority of the daily religious activities in France. Although they belonged to the First Estate, these lower clergymen had few privileges and actually were socially more aligned with the lower class.

The Second Estate was made up of the nobility. In order to be a nobleman, you had to be born a nobleman. There was no way you could buy a title of nobility in France, no matter how wealthy or powerful you were. These nobles enjoyed many privileges like those belonging to the First Estate. They could hunt on public lands, wear a sword in public, as well as tax those living on their estates. In fact, the majority of the nobility's income came from feudal dues collected from their estate lands. For those of you who don't know, feudalism is a decentralized system of administration and economics in which peasants work and pay rents on a noble's land in return for protection. This system had emerged during the early Middle Ages in an effort to defend against barbarian invasions when there were very few powerful monarchs on the European Continent. However, as these invasions decreased in frequency and the French king's power began to eclipse that of the nobles, feudal dues became increasingly exploitative of the peasants. Members of the Second Estate comprised about two percent of the population of eighteenth century France.

The final Third Estate contained the rest of the 97% of the French Population and is perhaps the most interesting Estate. It is so interesting because it contained some of the most wealthy people in France as well as some of the most destitute. Merchants and other rich members of the commercial class were resigned to the Third Estate because they were not of noble birth. This led to widespread dissatisfaction on the part of many merchants who wanted to be extended the same privileges that the nobility enjoyed because they were rich enough. They also wanted more of a voice in political matters and resented being lumped in with the common folk of France. The other dimension of the Third Estate contained the urban and rural poor of France. By far the largest part of the Third Estate was the peasantry. The Third Estate felt most of the tax burden in France and was not extended privileges by France's King.

In the next part of A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution, I will discuss how these Estates related to the start of the French Revolution. Also covered will be economic and political factors that helped spark one of the most pivotal of historical events in Europe.