Dbq of Revolution

Thomas Vaselekos                                                                        10/21/16

        There are several causes to the French Revolution. Political, social and economic conditions in France made French citizens angry and upset. Most affected were merchants, artisans, workers and peasants. These Enlightenment Thinkers came up with these new ideas. The causes of the French Revolution are weak leadership, high taxes and different social classes.

        One cause of the French revolution was political problems. As stated in Document #5, “The condition of France alone did not bring about the overthrow of the monarchy.” This proves that at the time France was overall a poor led country. In Document #5 “[T]he American example caused the Revolution to break out.” France has weak leadership now and are now blaming the cause on others. In France, there were 3 estates. The 1 estate that was made of peasants, artisans and workers which was 97% of the population in France. They only had 1 vote in government when it was unfair. It was unfair and unequal because the other 3% of people made up 2 estates. The 3% of people could out vote the 97% of people because each estate had 1 vote and the 3% always agreed together so, the 97% never got what they wanted. If there was stronger leadership in France, there country would have been more successful. Weak leadership was one major cause to the French Revolution.

        One major cause of the French Revolution was Social Issues. As shown in Document #2, The main percentage of people are in the third estate. The 3rd estate should have less people in that social class. More people from the 3rd class should be moving up to the 2nd estate or even the 1st estate to make all of the social classes more equal than they were. In Document #4, It states “The middle class… was inferior to their legal position.” The people keep saying that the middle class is responsible for the French Revolution. If everyone was more equal, they would mostly likely not had this problem. The middle class is not responsible for the French Revolution. The most important cause of the French Revolution is unequal social classes.