Explain The Political Changes That Occurred During The French Revolution
Draft 2
The political change that occurred during the French Revolution was based on the political philosophies of the 18th Century Age of Reason. The French Revolution hoped to use reason and natural law to reform the French government because of its inability to serve the needs of the nation. However, evident by the dramatic change in the revolution, the political philosophies used were not consistent throughout the period of 1776 to 1815. The beginning stages of the French Revolution were characterized by the Enlightenment ideas of Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Paine; however, as the French Revolution continued the political theories changed to reflect Hobbes' theories of the Social Contract and ultimately fulfill the prophecy stated by Montesquieu about the needs for checks and balances. …show more content…
Social classes in France were separated into three Estates: the First Estate consisted of the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility, and the Third Estate was the rest of the population. The Third Estate was a cluster of “everyone else” so the wealthy bourgeoisie were in the same economic class as the poor peasants. Nobility status into the Second Estate was bought, and as the prices of office, rows it increased the tension between social classes. In addition, the aristocrats, consisting of the First and Second Estates, were used to living an extravagant and wasteful lifestyle, which was supported by taxation of the Third Estate because the other two were exempt from taxation. The artificial nature of the French social economic divisions created long-term tensions within and between social classes, in addition to not serving the needs and interests of the people. The worsening of the economic conditions due to drought, astronomical inflation, and food shortages, exacerbated the long-term tension of the economic separation and created hardship for the Third
The political change that occurred during the French Revolution was based on the political philosophies of the 18th Century Age of Reason. The French Revolution hoped to use reason and natural law to reform the French government because of its inability to serve the needs of the nation. However, evident by the dramatic change in the revolution, the political philosophies used were not consistent throughout the period of 1776 to 1815. The beginning stages of the French Revolution were characterized by the Enlightenment ideas of Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Paine; however, as the French Revolution continued the political theories changed to reflect Hobbes' theories of the Social Contract and ultimately fulfill the prophecy stated by Montesquieu about the needs for checks and balances. …show more content…
Social classes in France were separated into three Estates: the First Estate consisted of the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility, and the Third Estate was the rest of the population. The Third Estate was a cluster of “everyone else” so the wealthy bourgeoisie were in the same economic class as the poor peasants. Nobility status into the Second Estate was bought, and as the prices of office, rows it increased the tension between social classes. In addition, the aristocrats, consisting of the First and Second Estates, were used to living an extravagant and wasteful lifestyle, which was supported by taxation of the Third Estate because the other two were exempt from taxation. The artificial nature of the French social economic divisions created long-term tensions within and between social classes, in addition to not serving the needs and interests of the people. The worsening of the economic conditions due to drought, astronomical inflation, and food shortages, exacerbated the long-term tension of the economic separation and created hardship for the Third