The financial situation in France led to revolution because the tax system was based on

• French king of the Bourbon dynasty who took the throne in 1774; inherited massive debt problems but was unable to fix them

• Wife of Louis XVI, whose self-indulgent tendencies became a symbol of royal excess and extravagance

• Controller general of finances appointed by Louis XVI in 1783; recommended across-the-board taxation as the only way to salvage France’s dire financial situation

The French royalty in the years prior to the French Revolution were a study in corruption and excess. France had long subscribed to the idea of divine right, which maintained that kings were selected by God and thus perpetually entitled to the throne. This doctrine resulted in a system of absolute rule and provided the commoners with absolutely no input into the governance of their country.

In addition, there was no universal law in France at the time. Rather, laws varied by region and were enforced by the local parlements (provincial judicial boards), guilds, or religious groups. Moreover, each of those sovereign courts had to approve any royal decrees by the king if these decrees were to come into effect. As a result, the king was virtually powerless to do anything that would have a negative effect on any regional government. Ironically, this “checks and balances” system operated in a government rife with corruption and operating without the support of the majority.

Power Abuses and Unfair Taxation

The monarchs of the Bourbon dynasty, the French nobility, and the clergy became increasingly egregious in their abuses of power in the late 1700s. They bound the French peasantry into compromising feudal obligations and refused to contribute any tax revenue to the French government. This blatantly unfair taxation arrangement did little to endear the aristocracy to the common people.

France’s Debt Problems

A number of ill-advised financial maneuvers in the late 1700s worsened the financial situation of the already cash-strapped French government. France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country’s participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783. Aggravating the situation was the fact that the government had a sizable army and navy to maintain, which was an expenditure of particular importance during those volatile times. Moreover, in the typical indulgent fashion that so irked the common folk, mammoth costs associated with the upkeep of King Louis XVI’s extravagant palace at Versailles and the frivolous spending of the queen, Marie-Antoinette, did little to relieve the growing debt. These decades of fiscal irresponsibility were one of the primary factors that led to the French Revolution. France had long been recognized as a prosperous country, and were it not for its involvement in costly wars and its aristocracy’s extravagant spending, it might have remained one.

Charles de Calonne

Finally, in the early 1780s, France realized that it had to address the problem, and fast. First, Louis XVI appointed Charles de Calonne controller general of finances in 1783. Then, in 1786, the French government, worried about unrest should it to try to raise taxes on the peasants, yet reluctant to ask the nobles for money, approached various European banks in search of a loan. By that point, however, most of Europe knew the depth of France’s financial woes, so the country found itself with no credibility.

Louis XVI asked Calonne to evaluate the situation and propose a solution. Charged with auditing all of the royal accounts and records, Calonne found a financial system in shambles. Independent accountants had been put in charge of various tasks regarding the acquisition and distribution of government funds, which made the tracking of such transactions very difficult. Furthermore, the arrangement had left the door wide open to corruption, enabling many of the accountants to dip into government funds for their own use. As for raising new money, the only system in place was taxation. At the time, however, taxation only applied to peasants. The nobility were tax-exempt, and the parlementswould never agree to across-the-board tax increases.

John and Abigail Adams | Article

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Throughout the 18th century, France faced a mounting economic crisis. A rapidly growing population had outpaced the food supply. A severe winter in 1788 resulted in famine and widespread starvation in the countryside. Rising prices in Paris brought bread riots. By 1789 France was broke. The nobility refused to pay more taxes, and the peasants simply couldn't. Even the opulent King Louis XVI, fonder of hunting and locksmithing than governing, recognized that a crisis loomed. He convened the Estates-General, made up of the Roman Catholic clergy (the First Estate) the nobility (the Second Estate), and everyone else (The Third Estate). The First and Second Estates owned most of the land and were lightly taxed; the Third owned little and was heavily taxed.

National Assembly
On June 17, 1789, after Louis denied its petition for a one man-one vote policy, the Third Estate seceded and formed the National Assembly. On July 11 Louis XVI ordered the army to disband it. On July 14 a mob stormed the Bastille prison in Paris looking for arms to protect itself from the king's forces. The capture of the Bastille ignited one of the greatest social upheavals in Western history, the French Revolution. Violence spread to the countryside, where peasants demanded the feudal system be dismantled. Fearing powerlessness, the nobility and landowners joined the National Assembly. On August 27, it issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man, guaranteeing all French citizens freedom of speech, press, and religion, as well as a representative government and equality before the law. Some citizens, however, were more equal than others; women and slaves were excluded, and only property owners could hold seats in the new legislature.

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!
The following summer, the National Assembly created a new constitution. While King Louis XVI remained the nominal head of state, the National Assembly held all legislative power. On June 20, 1791, Louis and his family, including his despised Austrian queen, Marie-Antoinette, attempted to flee France and were captured. The newly created Legislative Assembly wanted to spread the revolution across Europe. In April 1792, France declared war on Austria. The war went badly, and Louis XVI was blamed. Accused of treason, he was stripped of his title and imprisoned. In September 1792 a new National Convention declared France a republic and abolished the monarchy. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was marched to the guillotine. His severed head was paraded for the gathered thousands and met with cries of "Vive la Republique!"

Madame Guillotine
On September 5, 1793, Maximilien Robespierre began the Reign of Terror in response to the invasion of France by foreign troops. Thousands of so-called counterrevolutionaries were slaughtered; estimates range from 14,000 to 40,000. France remained in Robespierre's bloody grip for 10 months until he too was captured and beheaded. With the Reign of Terror over, France found some peace, but the country remained at war with Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain following Louis XVI's execution.

Emperor of the French
In 1795, a new constitution was adopted, with the Directory — five men elected from the National Assembly — acting as an executive branch and remaining in power throughout much of John Adams presidency. Four years later, Napoleon Bonaparte and his army overthrew the Directory and signed the Convention of 1800 with the United States, a commercial agreement that ended the so-called Quasi War. Napoleon would eventually declare himself "Emperor of the French." John Adams had feared just such a chaotic end: A revolution of this sort, he had argued, would lead not to democracy but despotism. France had abolished its monarchy only to find itself under the rule of an emperor. Years later Thomas Jefferson would admit that his own support for the French Revolution was misguided: "Your prophecies," he wrote to Adams, "... proved truer than mine. ... I did not, in '89, believe they would have lasted so long, nor have cost so much blood."