HY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 55: River Corve, Physiocracy, Mercantilism
30 May 2018
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Chapter 18 – The French Revolution
I.Introduction
A. France and European culture
B. The ancien régime
1. Aristocrats resented monarchical inroads on freedom
2. Middle class resented a society of privilege that was outmoded
3. Peasants resented the increasing demands of the central government
C. The French Revolution and the West
II. The French Revolution: An Overview
. Moderate stage: 1789-1792
A. Radical stage: 1792-1794
B. The Directory: 1794-1799
C. Napoléon: 1799-1815
III. The Coming of the Revolution
. Long-term causes of the Revolution
1. An issue of class conflict?
2. A new elite blurring the boundaries between aristocracy and middle class
A. The three estates: membership based on status
1. First Estate: clergy
2. Second Estate: nobility
3. Third Estate: everyone else
B. Causes
1. Social boundaries between noble and non-noble ill defined
a. Fifty thousand new nobles created between 1700 and 1789
b. Nobility of the sword (ancient)— nobility of the robe (purchased office)
c. From bourgeois wealth to noble wealth
i. Most noble wealth was proprietary—tied to land
ii. Influx of new wealth from banking, shipping, slave trade, and
mining
iii. Identified with the nobility, not the common people
iv. Prosperous members of the Third Estate aired their frustrations in
public debate
2. The articulation of discontent
. Locke, Voltaire, and Montesquieu appeal to discontented nobles and middle class
. Noble leaders as defenders of national political community threatened by
the king and his ministers
a. Economic reform and the physiocrats
. Simplify tax system
i. Free the economy from mercantilist restrictions
ii. Government should lift controls on price of grain
b. French economy was ailing
. General price rise created hardship for the peasantry and urban workers
i. Poor harvests of the 1780s
ii. 1789: 80 percent of income of the poor went to purchase bread
iii. Reduced demand for manufactured goods, increasing
unemployment
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Document Summary
Moderate stage: 1789-1792: radical stage: 1792-1794, the directory: 1794-1799, napol on: 1799-1815. Influx of new wealth from banking, shipping, slave trade, and mining. Identified with the nobility, not the common people. Prosperous members of the third estate aired their frustrations in: the articulation of discontent public debate. Locke, voltaire, and montesquieu appeal to discontented nobles and middle class. Noble leaders as defenders of national political community threatened by the king and his ministers: economic reform and the physiocrats. Government should lift controls on price of grain: french economy was ailing. General price rise created hardship for the peasantry and urban workers. 1789: 80 percent of income of the poor went to purchase bread. Reduced demand for manufactured goods, increasing unemployment: the peasantry. Owed obligations to landlord, church, and state: direct and indirect taxation a heavy burden, the corv e, finances.
