The French Revolution

1a) The people of France were critical of the nobility because the nobles had the most power of the peasants. The peasants were forced to use the nobles' mill, oven and wine press and they had to pay for them. The nobles were exempt from paying taxes because they were the wealthiest.
b) The peasants didn't like King Louis XVI because he was a horrible ruler. He was in debt and he let the upper class have the most power. The ninety percent of the country lived in poverty while the King lived in his palace far away from France's economic problems.
c) The clergy were the Church officials. They too taxed the third estate and had complete control over the country like the nobles had. The clergy lived in luxury and watched as the the peasants were forced to do military service.

2) In 1789, the French peasants were angered because there was a shortage of grain. There wasn't enough crops to grow them, and the prices of bread doubled. Many people could barely afford the bread, let alone the heavy taxes.

3) The cartoonist from Source A is describe the fact that the peasants were controlled by the nobles and the clergy. They didn't care about the peasants and obviously enjoyed their absolute power over them. The peasants were waiting for the day that France would become democratic. They wanted their voices to be heard. The third estate were waiting for the revolution to begin.

4) Source B is describing the daily lives of the peasants. Life in France was becoming unbearable for them. Not only did they make up most of the population in France but they were poorly treated. The nobles set high taxes for the peasants for using the nobles land and possessions. The King also put burden on the peasants because they also had to pay their taxes to him. The peasants had very little things and lived in despair.

5) Sources A, B, C, explain why the poor resented the rich. The peasants did everything for them and in return they were poorly treated. They had the least income while the rich enjoyed their luxuries. Nothing was easy for the peasants, they were waiting for the day when their lives would turn around. Generation by generation the Third estate were forced to see that their wages were being taken away by the rich. The rich looked down upon them and took them for granted.

6) The Third Estate would be most influenced by Rousseau's writing. The were sick of the way the government treated them. Rousseau wrote about "the power to make laws belongs to the people and only to the people " no man has any natural authority over others;". The Third Estate wanted to have some control over the government because the upper class had made a rule that there could be only one vote from each estate which would mean that they would always outvote the lower class. They didn't want to be controlled any longer. Peasants were also inspired by the Americans and wanted to overthrow the monarchy so their country could be democratic. By being democratic it would change the way France was run, it promised freedom, and the right to choose their little and most of all it gave them a chance to let their voices be heard.

7) The pamphlet was banned because it went against what the upper class believed in. The King loved having power over everything even though the people of France disliked him. The nobles and the clergy loved living in luxury while the peasants worked everyday to pay their taxes. They didn't want the peasants to get any ideas of revolution because the first and second estate loved the way of the Old Regime.