The French Revolution – Chapter 7
THE IMPACT OF THE REVOLUTION (only more specific and unstudied facts)
Dismantling the ancien regime
Abolished: nobility, privileges, payd d’etats, legal Estates distinction, generalities, intendants,
Farmers-General, old financial structure, venal offices, guilds, tithes, taille, capitation, vingtieme,
indirect taxes, internal customs
Changes: careers opened to talents, admin system, court system, centralised treasury, single
metric system
Church monopoly over education removed
25K (1/6) of the clergy were deported or immigrated
Separation of Church and State until the 1802 Concordat
Feudal dues cost nobles 60% of their income
Vingtieme and capitation usually took about 5% of their income; new land tax averaged 16%
At least 16.5K nobles emigrated
1.2K nobles were executed
26/30 of the highest tax payers in 1811 were nobles
Nobles returned under Nap and recovered 100K acres of land in Sarthe by 1830
Nobles recovered 1/4 of what they had
French industrial capitalism = an economic system where money is invested in industry for the
purpose of profit-making
Fewer trade, finances and industry representatives: 85/648 in the NCA and 83/749 in the NC
Most manufacturers were worse off in 1799
By 1799 the bourgeoisie owned between 30%-40% of all Fr land
Voting system favoured the bourgeoisie: 166 in the NCA, 278 public officials; 241 lawyers and
227 officials in the NC
700 => 6000 lawyers in administration (1780-1794)
Cottage industry (small-scale textile production carried out in a peasant’s cottage or workshop
supplying income) was damaged
Landlords raised peasant rates by as much as 1/4
But peasants gained from inflation and were able to pay off their debts
Over 1 million elected to local councils in 1790
Feudalism provided them with work => it was abolished
By 1799 real wages were higher than in 1789
CPS gave a maximum price of bread in 1793
Urban workers disliked free-market economy and opposed it in 1794 => prices rose dramatically
1/4 of urban population relied on poor relief = Church could no longer provide relief after the rev
changes
1847 = number of hospitals was 42% lower, although population had increased by 7 million
1795-6 = mortality rate x 2 and x3 in later years in Rouen; increase in suicides
14 August 1791 = slave revolt in the West Indian island of Saint-Domingue
1797 = France had only 200 ocean-going vessels, 1/10 of the 1789 number
1790s = Fr exports fell by 50%
1789 = foreign trade = 25% of foreign GDP; 8% in 1796
Prosperity in iron, coal, cotton industries
THE IMPACT OF THE REVOLUTION (only more specific and unstudied facts)
Dismantling the ancien regime
Abolished: nobility, privileges, payd d’etats, legal Estates distinction, generalities, intendants,
Farmers-General, old financial structure, venal offices, guilds, tithes, taille, capitation, vingtieme,
indirect taxes, internal customs
Changes: careers opened to talents, admin system, court system, centralised treasury, single
metric system
Church monopoly over education removed
25K (1/6) of the clergy were deported or immigrated
Separation of Church and State until the 1802 Concordat
Feudal dues cost nobles 60% of their income
Vingtieme and capitation usually took about 5% of their income; new land tax averaged 16%
At least 16.5K nobles emigrated
1.2K nobles were executed
26/30 of the highest tax payers in 1811 were nobles
Nobles returned under Nap and recovered 100K acres of land in Sarthe by 1830
Nobles recovered 1/4 of what they had
French industrial capitalism = an economic system where money is invested in industry for the
purpose of profit-making
Fewer trade, finances and industry representatives: 85/648 in the NCA and 83/749 in the NC
Most manufacturers were worse off in 1799
By 1799 the bourgeoisie owned between 30%-40% of all Fr land
Voting system favoured the bourgeoisie: 166 in the NCA, 278 public officials; 241 lawyers and
227 officials in the NC
700 => 6000 lawyers in administration (1780-1794)
Cottage industry (small-scale textile production carried out in a peasant’s cottage or workshop
supplying income) was damaged
Landlords raised peasant rates by as much as 1/4
But peasants gained from inflation and were able to pay off their debts
Over 1 million elected to local councils in 1790
Feudalism provided them with work => it was abolished
By 1799 real wages were higher than in 1789
CPS gave a maximum price of bread in 1793
Urban workers disliked free-market economy and opposed it in 1794 => prices rose dramatically
1/4 of urban population relied on poor relief = Church could no longer provide relief after the rev
changes
1847 = number of hospitals was 42% lower, although population had increased by 7 million
1795-6 = mortality rate x 2 and x3 in later years in Rouen; increase in suicides
14 August 1791 = slave revolt in the West Indian island of Saint-Domingue
1797 = France had only 200 ocean-going vessels, 1/10 of the 1789 number
1790s = Fr exports fell by 50%
1789 = foreign trade = 25% of foreign GDP; 8% in 1796
Prosperity in iron, coal, cotton industries
