French Revolution

1 Pages 362 Words

The statement “The essential cause of the French Revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie, and an entrenched aristocracy defending is privileges,” is correct. The French Revolution occurred because the French middle class wanted change, and the nobles and king did not want the government to change.

Before the revolution, the ruling powers in France were the king and nobles. The immediate cause of the revolution was a government in extreme debt. The amount of taxes collected was insufficient because certain groups were exempt from taxes, and the government was corrupt. A proposed solution was to increase tax revenue. This increase in taxes was targeted for the nobles. They rejected this tax increase and demanded that the king summon Parliament. He did. Each group represented had different expectations of the government. While the nobles wanted more power for their group, the bourgeoisie wanted to change the entire system. Because the bourgeoisie were in the minority in Parliament they met separately and called themselves the National Assembly. They agreed not to disband until a new, acceptable constitution was written.

This oath by the National Assembly started the revolution. In July of 1789, violence spread throughout France, generally aimed at the nobility. The National Assembly then passed a resolution to end noble knights. The group also passed the “Declaration of Man and Citizen,” which stated the purpose of the revolution.

The king then asked the nobility and the National Assembly to meet with him and help write a new constitution. The new constitution declared that the king’s power was limited to a “leadership” vote. The constitution created a one-house legislature which made the laws, and ruled France. Therefore, this became the end of feudalism, and made the groups all equal in power.

Although France was peaceful again, many people were not happy wit...