1789: Burden Of The Third Estate

During the years between 1789–1792, the French revolution would change the country, through new development in its society, government and philosophy.
Source A, a visual source, “1789 – Burden of the Third Estate”, depicts the three estates and the vast differences putting pressure on the struggling French society. The smallest and highest estate titled the ‘first estate’ is represented by a man dressed in a Mitre hat, Crosier and cross motifs to represent the church, like clergy and bishops, who owned land, money and were exempt from tax. However, this estate did not alleviate the burden, depicted by his fingers only grazing the surface of it and looking away, pretending to ease or not notice the weight. The second estate was made up of nobility
who earned money through owning land. They are represented as a knight, holding a sword while pressing down on the burden, adding more pressure and averting their eyes. Finally, the third estate was the largest class, making up 97% of the nation, but at the bottom of the social hierarchy. A peasant represents this estate in Source A, who is bent over, sagging under the weight of the burden.
Situated near tools, he symbolises the working class ranging from peasants, sans-culottes and the bourgeoisie. They lived a poor quality of life under this regime due to higher taxes and tailles put on salt and food to support the weight of the burden. However, most of the money was spent indulging the royals’ lavish lifestyles. The monarch's presence and power are further illustrated by a massive crown which presides over the burden on the people, only adding to it. The crown symbolises the Ancient Regime, governing France by an absolute monarchy who asserted their power through their ‘divine right’. The royalties influence on the burden is also evident in Source A, through the "fleur-de-lis", used to represent royalty but depicted the monarchy's burden on the third estate. Due to the absolute, backbreaking burden put solely on the third estate and severe lack of financial management of the French government, this developed into public dissatisfaction amongst the third estate and it slowly became too much until it forced the estate to act. It further developed into the people's complaints on the governing system and asked for reforms through the "list of grievances" and further influenced
by the concepts of enlightenment philosophers who presented ideas of equality and change in government put forth by Voltaire, Denis Diderot, and Turgot.
Source B, a primary source titled "a nobleman describes the October days (1789)".
Recounts the march to Versailles, by Charles, Marquis of Ferries. It occurred during the early stages of the French revolution and the beginnings of the incredibly violent stages of the revolt. the Royal family was forced back to Paris, to demonstrate their "support" for the national assembly and forced the family to acknowledgment these new laws. The March began when Parisian demanded bread. The people of Paris had become so burdened by the mismanagement of French taxes, forcing prices to swell up for bare necessities until it became unbearable. The third estate could no longer afford food, resulting in further discontent among the members of France's lower classes, strengthening the opposition seen in source A. The march was notable for its brutal people power. The huge mob was explained by Miomandre, a guard, as "facing two thousand tigers "before he was struck by a pike (spear-like weapon), then abandoned, "streaming with blood", and "left for dead". Due to the ferocious nature of the October-day march and the strong people power, it left the royals threatened which forced Louis XVI to act according to the people’s wishes. This would later develop into the more radical movement of the sans-culottes, who were the face of the violent revolution during the 1790s. They had radical demands and frequent use of violent intimidation to force change, typically depicted in political cartoons as
cannibalistic or savage. Furthermore, this savagery is demonstrated in Source B “We’re going to cut off her head, tear out her heart, fry her liver…". The march signified a new balance of power that displaced the ancient regime, ending the king’s independence and shifted the power towards the people.

The Flight to Varennes, the next development of the revolution, would signify the effects of the revolution on the royals and lead to the demise of monarchy. The Flight to Varennes occurred during 20–21 June 1791, Louis XVI and his family attempted to flee Paris in hopes to find safety away from the angry mobs and gain support of the Austrian Emperor, to help him return to the crown’s full power. Due to the citizens desired the king to acknowledge the new government by forcing him back to Paris, shown in source B, Louis resisted the reforms by trying to flee Paris. The Flight to Varennes developed into the downfall of the monarchy as controversy and suspicion surrounded the King conspiring with Austria, the National Assembly defended their new republic, by waging war. The suspicion surrounding the escape revealed the unreliability of the monarchy, consequently leading to Louis and Marie-Antoinette's execution in 1793 on charges of treason for conspiring with Austria. The deaths of the monarchy would develop into the Reign of Terror