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from estates-general to national assembly
the estates-general was composed of repesentatives from the three orders of french society.the first and second estates had about three hundred decates each.the third estate had almost 6 hundred decates,most of whom were lawyersfrom french towns. -
the destruction of the old regime
the peasant revolts and fear of foreign troops had a strong effect on the national assembly,which was meeting in versailles.one of the assemblys first acts was to destroy the relics of fedulism,or artistocratic privilages.on the night of august 4,1789,the national assembly voted to abolish the rights of landlords,as well as the financial privilages of nobles and clergy. -
financial crisis
social conditions ,then,formed a long-ranged background to the french revolution .the immediate cause of the revolution was thenear collapse of government finances.the french economy,although it had been expanding for 50 years,suffered periodic crises -
background to the revolution
the year 1789 witnessed two far-reaching events:the beginning of a new United Stated of America and the begining of the french revolution ,the french revolution.compaired with the american revolution,the french revolution was more complex,more violent ,and far more radical.it tried to create both a new political order and a new social order. -
the three estates
the first estate consisted of the clergy and numbered about 130,000 people.these people owned approximately 10% of the land.they were exempt from the taille france's chief tax.