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The French Revolution
…setting the stage for democracy
 
 France in the 1780s
A
round
 
1780, France fell upon hard times. Badweather caused many crops to fail. With so littlewheat from the crops, many of France’s people couldnot afford bread. Many people starved to death.The ruler of France was King Louis XVI. King Louiswas a weak king who borrowed large sums of moneyfrom his nobles so that he could have riches andpalaces. He often chose to play games and go huntingrather than govern France.The poorest people in France had little power andpaid half of their income to the nobles. People wantedmore liberty and were interested in democracy andequality.Because France was in severe debt, the nobles forcedLouis to call an assembly of the nobles, priests, andpeasants. This meeting was called the Estates-Generaland took place in 1789.
The King of France, Louis XVI
 
The Meeting of the Estates General
 T
he Estates-General was madeup of three groups, or estates.The assembly was called to solvethe financial crisis and pass a newtax law. Each estate was a socialclass. The First Estate was madeup of the priests of the RomanCatholic Church. The SecondEstate was the nobles, and thethird was the representatives ofthe peasants. Each estate had onevote and met in a separate hall todecide what their vote on theissue was oin to be.
The Estates-General assembly in 1789
Although the peasants had their voice, they were not happy. The Third Estaterepresented most of the people in France. For every nobleman or priest in France,there were a hundred commoners. But the Third Estate together got just one vote,meaning their opinion had no value if the noblemen and clergy disagreed with them.The Third Estate tried to change this by suggesting that the estates get one vote forever deleate the had. Kin Louis turned down their reuest.
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