A peasant had to work on the land of his landlord from sunrise to sunset.Sometimes, the landlord sold his dues to a moneylender and the latter harassed him a great deal. When Calonne proposed a general tax which was to be paid both by the privileged and the unprivileged classes, he was removed from office. While the people were exploited, the Government did not benefit in any way.The system of framing of taxes was the most objectionable. “The seed sown by these remarkable writers fell upon fruitful soil. The news that Louis XVI was going to increase the taxes, was regarded as the immediate cause of the French Revolution. No such atmosphere existed in other countries of Europe. "The revolution was cause by a myriad of problems. Their overlapping jurisdictions added to confusion and injustice. The middle-classes had brains. The maintenance of the rank and file amounted to 44 millions in all.Weights and measures had different names and different values in different provinces. You simply act on the spur of the moment, prompted by the favourites in whom you believe Listen to the advice of a friend, give up all these intrigues, have nothing whatever to do with public affairs and think only of deserving the King’s affection and confidence for the rest, do some reading, improve your mind. It became the gospel of the Jacobin Party and Robespierre became its high priest.The political influence of Rousseau was incalculable not only in France, but all over Europe. They had acquired the right of registering royal edicts and ordinances. They had wealth and brains and consequently were not in a mood to put up with the inequality which the Ancien Regime imposed on them.They were profoundly influenced by the philosophy of Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu. It cannot be denied that it was the French participation in the War of American Independence which precipitated the financial crisis which led to the French Revolution.The financial system of France was deplorable.
“Since we are all steeped in error and folly, we must forgive each other for our follies.” “Worship God and be a good man.” On account of their literary merit, Voltaire’s writings were widely read and he commanded tremendous influence on his age.For 25 years, he flooded France with “plays, poems, philosophical tales, satires, burlesques, histories, essays, diatribes, deistic sermons and anti-biblical pamphlets, and won for himself, the reputation of the intellectual ruler of his age.” He was not an atheist. The whole of the administrative system of France required a thorough overhauling.De Tocqueville says, “The Government seldom undertakes and soon abandons the most necessary reforms which demand a persevering energy but it constantly changes particular regulations. Turgot and I are the only persons who love the people,” he dismissed the Controller of Finance in 1776 and thereby brought trouble for himselfNecker, a banker of Geneva, was appointed in 1776 as the successor of Turgot. Salvemini says, “The lower clergy grew exasperated at so insolent and scandalous a display of luxury and canons, abbots, friars, bishops and archbishops were all detested by the humble parish priests. They were reluctant to any reform designed to weaken or destroy their privileges.The method of collection of taxes was hopelessly faulty. The members of the court had merely to say what they wanted and the same was granted by Calonne. It was very helpfulI’m writing a 15 page paper about the french revolution and this was a excellent source.Educative, it really exposes an A-level student to real history and the basic approach to questions of the samegreat synopsis of the troubled times in France…can’t help but notice how much of it dovetails with present day AmericaI am a high school student and currently working on French Rebolution. He used to say: “After me, the deluge.”“At Court, there is nothing but confusion, scandals and injustice. He not only wasted a lot of money on palaces and mistresses, but also had the audacity to take part in many wars. The occupants of the palace considered themselves to be the darlings of the gods.The king, the queen, the royal children and the brothers, sisters and aunts of the king had their separate establishments. His hobby was lock-making and shooting deer from the palace window. The condition in hospitals, prisons and workshops and workhouses was indescribably bad.The bourgeoisie or the middle-class also belonged to the unprivileged part of French society. As a result, on July 14, 1789, a rioting mob attacked the Bastille prison in order to obtain weapons. Different laws were in force in different parts of the country. He did not care for the spread of knowledge and art. Rousseau became “the immortal seducer of unquiet souls, the oracle of whoever feels himself misunderstood and disinherited.” He became the hot-gospeller of temporal salvation and the prophet of secular society.Lord Morley assessed the influence of Rousseau in these words: “In the first place, he spoke words that can never be unspoken and kindled a hope that can never be extinguished; he first inflamed man with righteous conviction with the evils of the existing order of things, reduced civilisation to a nullity for the great majority of mankind….second by the fervid eloquence and the burning convictions which he kindled in the hearts of great number of men, he inspired energy enough in France to awaken her from the torpor as of death which was stealing so rapidly over her.”The view of Prof. Salvemini is that Rousseau was not a real revolutionary. However, he worked at his schemes with a passionate zeal for justice and humanity. Thus about one per cent of people owned about 40 per cent of property in the country. It is the enlightened middle-classes which led the way and the peasants merely followed them. Though there was little thought of republicanism, the mystique of monarchy had almost evaporated.”Louis XVI (1774—93) became king at the age of 20. Thank you very much for the article. The Social Contract supplied the text and lit the fire of revolution. He stood for a benevolent despotism and had no love for democracy. Another tax paid by the peasant was Vingtieme or income-tax.