2.4.3 Economic Factors — The Estates General


In the 1780s, France was on the brink of bankruptcy. The king of France, Louis XVI (16th), was becoming more desperate to find a solution to France's massive economic problems.

The following areas were a major drain on France's royal treasury.

  • The ongoing wars between France and other European kingdoms
  • Maintaining France's colonies, such as New France (which eventually became Canada)
  • Building and maintaining the Palace of Versailles
  • Maintaining the royal family's luxurious lifestyle

Go to your textbook, Understanding Nationalism, and read page 46. This page will further your understanding of the French Revolution's economic factors that shaped French nationalism.
Continue to take notes on the 2.4 Notebook Organizer (Word, PDF, Google Doc) about what you have read. When you are done, return here to continue.

Digging Deeper

Explore the Palace of Versailles website for pictures and a virtual tour. The palace took over 60 years to build, has over 550 000 square feet in floor space, has 700 rooms, and the original gates were decorated with 100 000 real gold leaves.

Versailles was also the main residence of King Louis XVI, so you can see why the palace cost so much! During the French Revolution the palace was stripped of most of its furnishings and artwork.

Click here to learn more about Louis XVI, King of France. How would you characterize Louis XVI as an absolute monarch?

In light of France's impending bankruptcy, Louis XVI requested the First and Second Estates pay taxes to help ease France's financial burden. This request meant the taxes from the Third Estate were not enough to pay the bills. However, the First and Second Estates refused the king's request.

But wait, how could the First and Second Estates refuse Louis XVI's request for them to pay taxes? The King was a weak political leader. He wanted to give the impression that the First and Second Estates had a say in his decisions. He also needed to request the support of the First and Second Estates because the Church and the nobility had some power, unlike members of the Third Estate. The king did have to listen to them about some things, and taxation was one of those things.

Calling the Estates General

With nowhere else to turn, Louis XVI called the Estates General. The Estates General was an assembly of all three estates, which was only occasionally summoned by the French monarchy (usually in times of war or crisis). Before the French Revolution, the Estates General had not been called in 175 years!

In the Estates General, all three Estates were allowed to participate in the king's decision-making, but the king did not have to accept the decisions of the Estates General. The Estates General was the one institution in France that allowed the Third Estate a say in political decision-making.

As you might guess, the Estates General's structure gave advantages mainly to the first two estates. Each estate sent representatives to the assembly, but each estate was given only one vote. As the first two estates generally voted the same way, this meant that usually the Third Estate was outvoted two to one, despite the Third Estate representing over 96% of France's population.

In May 1789, the Estates General met at the Palace of Versailles. The representatives of the Third Estate were generally educated men from the middle class, mostly lawyers. The middle class of the Third Estate were the most dissatisfied, and most wanted to change the traditional feudal ways of the Ancien Régime. But, for change to be achieved, the Third Estate representatives knew the voting system needed to be changed in favour of each representative getting a vote, rather than one vote per estate. The Third Estate hoped enough lower clergy and reform-minded nobles would agree with and support this change in voting structure.

The Oath of the Tennis Court
Artist: Jacques Louis David, 1791
© Library of Congress
(click image for a larger view of this painting)
King Louis rejected the idea of changing the voting structure, and then took steps to prevent the Estates General from meeting. Angered to find their meeting hall at Versailles locked, the Third Estate gathered in a nearby indoor tennis court, and proclaimed themselves the National Assembly of France. The National Assembly, formerly representatives of the Third Estate, took what came to be called the Tennis Court Oath, which was a declaration not to disband until France had a constitution.

One line of the Oath reads:
"The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the kingdom... decrees that all members of this assembly shall immediately take a solemn oath not to separate... until the constitution of the kingdom is established on firm foundations...."
June 20, 1789
As the Third Estate had hoped, they were joined by numerous lower clergy, and even some nobles. They decided France needed a new constitution. Because so many representatives had come with lists of grievances drawn up by the people they represented, they felt this was the only way to save the kingdom of France.
Centre Block, Palace of Versailles

Source: Jorge Láscar
King Louis had not anticipated this development when he called the Estates General. Being a weak king, he gave in and instructed the three estates to meet as one body, and gave each representative one vote.

Thus, France had an elected National Assembly, a truly representative body of the majority of the nation's citizens (the first of its kind in Europe). This was the momentum needed to enact further change, and thus the Revolution was on!


Complete the 2.4.4 Critical Viewing: Source Analysis Assignment on the next page. Ensure you have a clear understanding of events so far in the French Revolution by completing your notes and the Notebook Organizers.