French Revolution Work Sheet

1)
a- The Nobility.
The peasants were most critical to the nobles because they had almost complete control over them. The peasants were very angry and thought that they had no rights to take control over them. They believed that man is born free, and no one has natural authority over them.

b- The King.

The king had the luxurious life. He ruled with absolute power, and no one could tell him what to do. He had complete authority over France.

c-The Clergy.

The Clergy were like the nobles. They usually lived in luxury in chateaux and

palaces. They didn't really have to pay taxes, and so people in France were critical to them.

2)

Most French peasants had to pay impossible taxes. They had to pay almost ten times what they had. One small article says that a woman and her husband owned a small piece of land. They only owned one cow and a poor horse, but had to pay 20Kg of wheat, three chickens, 60Kg of oats, and more.

3)

The authors point was that peasants had most of the work to do. The cartoon shows a peasant carrying the burden of maintaining the feudal lords and the clergy. The person carrying the other two people is a peasant. The people the peasant is carrying represent the feudal lords and the clergy. the caption, "One hopes this will end soon," is important because its showing that the peasants are desperate for a change. They don't want everyone else to have all the power.

4)

It is clear that source B shows the downside of a French peasants life. (If there are any good sides) Source B explains that the peasants were taxed heavily, and most couldn't even keep up with them. This particular person owned a small amount of land, and only a cow with a poor horse. He was being taxed way more than what he had. The quote at the end, "The taxes and feudal dues are crushing us," means that they can barley survive with these taxes.

5)

Sources A, B, and C do explain why poor people resented the rich because all of them show how hard life is from a peasants point of view. For example, source C shows that all of the people in the higher classes get a yearly income, some more than others. But, the peasants don't make any money.

(6)
Rousseau was an influential writer at this time. Along with other writers
like Voltaire, he wanted France to have a more democratic form of government. The peasants would highly be influenced by his words. Peasants lived a desperate and unfair life. They are born free, then "taxed to death." The wealthy classes ruled all the people, while in Rousseau's pamphlet he states that power to make laws belongs to the people and only to the people. He disliked the current government, as almost all of the peasants did.

(7)
The pamphlet made from Rousseau was banned in 1775. It was probably banned because it opposed the way the government stood. The wealthy members of the French society would want it to be banned. The pamphlet would influence peasants and could cause a revolt against the government. The wealthy estates would lose their money, power, luxury, and privileges.