estates general Flashcards
(6 cards)
the esates general
was a legislitie assembly of the diff estaes of french soc it had a seperate assembly for each of the three esates which were all called and dismissed by the king it had no true power in its own right and was not required to approve royal taxation
was more of an advisratory body to the king
the build up to the esates general
aug 1188-brienne regins as controller general replaced by necker who triumphantly proclaims the eg will meet in may 1789
last met may 1614 the procedure was structured and outdated
the old procedure meant that the esates met seperalty and dissused issues before voting
the voting system woked by estate and not head this meant the noblity and clergy always outvoted third esatete
third wanted voting by head and double the representation
sep 1788-dec 188 paris palement debates procedural changes but being mostly upper c;lass it decides o keep the old system
parlemnt changes form beig a friend of the third esate to an enamny out to get more power for itsself
louis stubborn and reluctant to change old system
dec 1788 the king is under pressure and agrees to increase representation of the third estate but not change the vote
jan 1789-what is the third estate pamplet
election to the eg was complicated the clergy and noblity had an omov system while the third estate has a complex system of tiered and indiect voting
the eg convenes may 1789
first estate represented by many parish priests
51 bishops 16 monks 32 other 291 parish priests
second estate-majority were old traditional voters 90/282 could be considered liberal
third-no peasents
40% civil servant
30% lawyers
13% from trade industry
580 in total
third had no political experince
nothing said about a new constitution which is what the third estate wanted
instead focused on tax reform
the third estate wanted the e g to covinece in one assembly hall and refused to do anything else until this demnd was done so between may and une little was done
national assembly froms
17 june the third esate decided to work with other estates declaring its self the national assembly
it assumed control over its own affairs and decided upon taxation
two days later on the 19th the first estate voted to join third posing a direct challneg to louis power
the king needed to act and decided on a seance royal which was a meeting with all estaes and king on june 23rd
the estates reaction
24 june 151 deputies from first meet w national assmebly
25 june
4 nobels join
27 june union of estates
louis reverses his decison and allows allesates to meet tg after growing disorder voting was done by head and not by order
4 july 300,000 troops were stationed in paris rummorsspread that the king wanted to dismantle the assmebly by force
the royal session
louis inlunced by his wife and brother decided to delecre the na dull and void
he ordered the estates to keep meetng seperatly
the king did not conceed restition to his own power eg leters de cachet no taxation w out consluation
once dismissed each estate was told to go to its own hall the clergy and second followed third refused to go
