The Estates General in France - Essay Example

Question The E s General The E s General was an in France that was comparable to similar onesall over Europe such as Parliament in England and the Cortes in Spain. This institution was meant to be a representative assembly for all the social classes that were found in France. In addition, it consisted of three estates that represented the clergy, the nobility, and all the other classes in France and before the Revolution; they met according to the will of the king. The clergy formed the First Estate and they can be considered to have been the richest within the institution. By the time of the Revolution, they numbered about 10000 in number but regardless of this, they were the largest landowners in the country. Most of the land that the clergy held was done in the name of the Church and given that, this institution was recognized to be supreme in the state, all its members were exempted from payment of tax. The nobility, whose titles were hereditary and, passed down from generation to generation, formed the Second Estate and they too were exempt from taxes, despite their large number. The Third Estate consisted of those people who were from the lower classes of the society and at the top of this group were the bourgeoisie. These tended to find ways of escaping the burden of taxation in various ways and this left the burden on the poorest elements of French society. Moreover, these elements were for a large part responsible for the development of the Revolution because of the oppression they felt from the other Estates. The National Assembly This body was formed during the transitional period of the Revolution after the collapse of the Estates General. The members of the Third Estate, who after growing dissatisfied by the ineffectiveness of the Estates General chose to take matters into their own hands, mainly dominated it. As a result, by means of this dominance came political power and this made some members of the First and Second Estates to join them eventually for their own survival. The formation of this assembly met with stiff resistance from the king, who felt that his power was being eroded. On the other hand, despite this resistance, the assembly continued to meet until it finally came to be officially recognized. This assembly declared the right of man and citizen in France, stating that all men born within its territory was free and equal. This body was later on reconstituted and in its place, the National Constituent Assembly was formed. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity This idea is a legacy of the Revolution that was inherited from the ideas of the Enlightenment and it was the belief that every man was born free and that one had the right to choose one’s own destiny without any coercion. Furthermore, all men were believed to be equal and because of this, no man had the right of declaring himself to be above the other because of social status. In addition, there was the belief that all men were brothers and because of this brotherhood, all were the same. This idea was quite widespread for the period of the Revolution and it was used from time to time within this period. The Convention The Convention was the constitutional and legislative assembly that existed during the Revolution; moreover, it held administrative power in the new republic until the Directory substituted it. The most important reason for the formation of the Convention was the fact that with the suspension of the monarchy, there was need for the drafting of a constitution. This was a task given to the Convention, which not only drafted the new constitution, but it also came to be the highest authority in the nation. All men who were over twenty-five years old and had their own source of income elected the deputies of the convention. The members of this institution came from all classes in society but lawyers mostly dominated it. In addition, the colonies of France were also represented in the Convention despite the fact that not all of them managed to send their representatives to the home country. The head of the Convention was elected every fortnight and the incumbent was often eligible for reelection every time the process was held. One of the greatest legacies of the Convention was that it not only saved France from the looming civil war which almost took place during the Revolution, but it also saved it from the Austrian invasion to bring to an end the revolution and restore the power of the monarchy (Bentley and Ziegler 624-629). The Directory This was a group of five directors who were tasked with the responsibility of holding executive power during the Revolution. In addition, while the Directory was responsible for the creation of stability during the Revolution, the atrocities committed by some of its members made it so unpopular that the French people wanted to be rid of it. Therefore, in order to stay in power, the Directory used any means possible to do so including the prolongation of wars, which were not supposed to have lasted for so long. Instead of relying on the French people for their power, the Directory came to rely heavily on the military to maintain it, and to court the support of the military, they gave it what it wanted the most; wars to fight. In addition, the military victories ensured that the directory did not lose its power but in the end, this was no longer possible since wars could not go on without end. The Directory eventually ended when general Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew it who would not only become Consul, but would eventually bring himself to the fore position of French emperor, hence ending the Revolution. Question 2 The events, which unfolded during the Revolution, ensured that the ideals, which it espoused, were fulfilled, in view of the fact that it led to the path of the stabilization of France under its greatest ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte. Within a few years of becoming a general, Napoleon came to gain power in France, as one of the three consuls who ruled the country. His political genius then came into play as he had the constitution revised, making him the most powerful man in the country. This new power made it possible for him to have the authority to appoint all the people who were to occupy strategic positions. As a result, with Napoleon’s rise to power, it can be said that the French Revolution officially ended, as his actions show that he was indeed a child of the revolution, as he used to say. He swiftly reformed all the crucial sectors in the government, making them more efficient than they had ever been before. Reforms were carried out in sectors such as the economy, the judicial system, as well as the education system. Napoleon’s greatness can further be seen when he brought back those basic freedoms, which the French people had been denied. One of these freedoms was the freedom of religion, which Napoleon reinstated by inviting the Catholic Church back to France. On the other hand, he did not give the Church the absolute authority it once had, and as an alternative, its activities were placed under the supervision of the state. This ensured that the Church did not abuse its powers as it had done previously. Thus, the ideals that were behind the Revolution came to be fulfilled as France came to become the most powerful nation in nineteenth century Europe. Work Cited Bentley, Jerry and Ziegler, Herbert.Traditions & Encounters, Volume 1 From the Beginning to 1500. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing, 2010. Print Read More