By: Sami Baldock, Brittany Fromm, and Michael Tropp

The French Revolution marks an important part of history, where the middle class of the people took the main control of the government. During the latter half of the 18th Century, this breaking away of the Third Estate tro form the National Assembly changed the social dynamics of the French Government. Through combative actions, the beogeosie (middle class) threw the nobility and clergy out of power, and tooke control until the time of Napoleon.

In 1789, King Louis XVI was pressed to raise money for the treasury of France. The depleting funds, due to the prominent French assistance during the American Revolution, ultimately burdened Louis to resolve the problem. With the fear of passing taxes by himself and being solely blamed, Louis called the Estates-General to rule over the matter. The First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) approved of the taxation, yet the Third Estate disapproved. Since the opinion of the Third Estate rarely mattered, the Third Estate broke away from the Estates-General and formed the National Assembly. This break away from the States-General set into morion rebellious ideas within the people and soon resulted in the French Revolution. The eventual act of rebellion against the French government was due to the incredible amount of taxation and burden put upon the middle class. In the French cartoon, the middle-class worker is forced to carry the burden of the entire society to pay taxes and fix the waning treasury; whiule the nobility adds to that difficulty and the clergy stands by and watches, yet does not offer to help (Doc 8). In the excerpt taken from Arthur Young's journal, Arthur explains the Intendent System and the fact that the middle-class had to pay incredible amounts of taxes, while the remaining Estates paid nothing (Doc 11). The burden of taxation that was ultimately left up to the Third Estate to resolve, led the middle-class to revolt against the government that they felt was not just and did not help all of its' citizens.

The heavy taxation coupled with the pent-up aggression of the middle-class led to the start of the French Revolution. The excerpt from the Bible explains the true over take of the French government, by the middle-class destraying what the nobility had built (Doc 10). The first strike of the middle-class was the Storming of the Bastille, the consequential take over of the Bastille was very violent and left hundreds of nobility dead (Doc 9). The Storming of the Bastille signified the true beginning of the revolt and left much of the French middle-class passionate to overthrow the entire French government and create a National Assembly. Riots became prevalent among the people of the Third Estate and also manifested itself through fear among the rural people. Many small regions of France were revolting against Paris (symbolically the Crown) by 1793 (Doc 3). This insurge of small revolts around the country ultimately created a sense of mass hysteria around the country that eventually led to the overthrow of the Monarch.

Throughout and after ther revolution the Third Estate had felt justified in their actions due to their unfair treatment. When the National Assembly was formed, they created a document called the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen." The docutment essesntially statesthat the Third Estate was capable and certainly allowed to conduct their own business and rule over themselves (Doc 7). The middle-class had grown weary helping the rest of their society regain money, when they received nothing in return. The Third Estate felt that as a whole they were capable and justified in overthrowing the government and that without them, the entire nation would be nothing (Doc 1). The Third Estate essentially helped the nation of France to function and they were given nothing in return, except taxation, therefore pushing them to revolt and an eventual taking of power.

The French Revolution began to encompass the idea that forceful power and fear was the best way to weild power. Robespierre stepped up to power among these French people and used threats of death and destruction in order to control them and keep them in check. Robespierre's "Reign of Terror" used the idea that strong nationalism coupled with war against internal evils can lead to controlling these people, even if it is through fear (Doc 6 & 12). Of course, the Directory then came in and ended Robespierre's "Reign of Terror," executed him, and led France to a more controlling leader, Napoleon.

The Third Estate essentially created a new social order among the French public in order to show that they are an equal counterpart in French society. Through aggressive physical and published actions by the bourgeosie managed to overthrow the reigning power and turn into the most important social component of France. The Third Estate's ruthless success worked fantastically for a short time until the eventual control of Napoleon, which they brought on themselves.