User:Rebeccaczech/sandbox

Pre-Revolutionary France
Before 1789, France was ran by an absolute monarchy by Louis XVI. Absolute monarchy is a form of governing in which the king of the country had supreme power over everything. This is something that is best summarized by KIng Louis XIV (aka the Sun King)'s statement "l'etat c'est moi" or "the state, it is I." The country was split into what is called the Three Estates: the clergy (the First Estate), the nobility (the Second Estate), and the peasantry (the Third Estate). The Third Estate was by far the largest of the three and also the most subjugated. These people of France were paying heavy taxes to pay for issues that did not pertain to them: wars abroad, giant palaces (such as Versailles), and the extravagant lifestyle of the monarchy. Because of this, the economy was in crisis, and the people were angry. https://prezi.com/1qnn03ppgg_p/life-styles-of-the-poor-during-the-french-revolution/ Louis XVI recognized the issues with the Third Estate and the crisis that was coming with it, and decided (with the help of his advisers) to reconvene the Estates-General, which has not met since 1614. There were several issues coming into the meeting of the Estates-General, one of those being the fact that each estate only gets one vote, despite the fact that the Third Estate is vastly larger compared to both the First and Second Estate. The Third Estate also was greatly varied in terms of socioeconomic status, causing rifts within the estate.