Chapter+2

The Crises of 1789 Hunter Brown Vicky Peralta Lisa Robison Callan Wettach 
 * Chapter Two  **

Louis XVI was crowned as the King of France during a financial crisis. The nation was near bankruptcy and the people were beginning to question the kings actions in the midst of crisis. This debt was beginning to arise because of France’s involvement in the Seven Years War and its participation in the American Revolution.
 * Intro:** (Vicky, Callan, Lisa)

Part 1: Vicky The debt in the country enforced a tax upon the peasants, bourgeoisie and sans-culottes. The nobles and clergy were exempt from this tax because of their compromise with the King, Louis XVI. The reason the third estate felt so abused was because they made up 97% of France’s population, but could still be outvoted by the other 3% which was made up of the clergy and nobles. This was a major problem and needed to be changed so that it would be equal. Charles De Calonne, controller general of finances, was appointed by Louis XVI to evaluate this financial crisis and to see if he could find a solution and calm the French people down. Calonne convinced the King to get the nobles and clergy together and have a conference to address the situation they were facing in France. This meeting was called the Assembly of Notables. After Calonne spoke about the issues, he proposed that the notables either agree with the new taxes on them individually or to forfeit the exemption to the current taxes they hadn’t been paying before. The notables revolted because they refused both plans, questioned Calonne on his work ethics, and later dismissed him, which left France's economic stand worse than before. The Estates General was then called to session as a way to fix this financial crisis.

A main reason for the French Revolution was that by 1788, France was bankrupt. This was caused by the past French kings who had fought in foreign wars. France supported the Americans in the American Revolution and they helped fight in the 7-years war. This, of course, caused a huge debt. To make matters even worse, the tax system was completely unfair. They issued taxes such as gabelles, which were taxes on salt, tailles, and taxes on peasant produce. One of the worst taxes was the corvee, which was a yearly tax owed by the peasants to the government. The government also made the third estate pay for all of the kings’ debt and they made the 1st and 2nd estates almost totally exempt from the taxes, even though the third estate only owned 55% of the land and the nobility and the church owned the rest The financial administrator, Jacques Turgot proposed a brilliant idea to solve France's financial problems. It was to eliminate the corvee and to take away the tax privileges from the upper class and to end industrial monopolies created by the guilds. His plan was immediatley shot down since the people who decided were the people who would've been affected negatively by this plan. On top of that, the king and queen spent tons of money on palaces and other useless gifts. The economy in France had quickly gone out of control and was creating a lot of angry people.
 * __Hunter Brown:__**

During this time, not only was the economic downturn contributing to the discontent of the French people, but there began to be a famine. The famine killed many of the people in France, due to the shortage of food. A limited amount of bread, an essential meal of the people in France, was one of the main causes of the famine. The shortage of bread made the prices rise, which made it unaffordable to most of the Third Estate. The peasant class was dying of starvation, because they couldn’t afford the price of the bread so they finally decided that enough was enough. Bread riots broke out all throughout Paris, and women and men rampaged through the streets in revolt. The Roman Catholic Church levied a tax on crops called the tithe. Even though the tithe lessened the severity of the tax increase, it still wasn't enough to effect the peasants lives.
 * __Lisa Robison:__**

Debt and Famine were the two main reasons for the French Revolution. The King and the nobles went on to upset the third estate even more. This crisis led up to the Estates General which was a quick notice call to attempt to fix the problems that were happening. The most famous attempt was a pamphlet written by a liberal clergy member, Abbey Sieyès titled “What Is the Third Estate?” The pamphlet argued the strong feeling in the France that though the country was controlled by the 1st estate, a small percentage of the population, the country truly belonged to the masses. Sieyès’s pamphlet convinced the Third Estate to take action into their own hands since the aristocracy didn‘t give them the rights they deserved.
 * __Callan Wettach__**