Source+A

Homebased Learning! Source A

**The //Parlement// President’s response to King Louis XVI’s decision to tax the nobility and the clergy (6 August 1787), in view of the growing debt the government was facing.**

Your //Parlement// has considered this issue of taxing the nobility and clergy for twelve years. We conclude that it does not have sufficient power to approve these measures as they are excessive and unreasonable.

Given the fact that your //Parlement// finds it impossible to vote for such crushing taxes, it can only urge Your Majesty to agree to the summoning of the Estates General.

If, despite the appeals, arguments and views of your //Parlement,// Your Majesty were still to feel obliged to make use of your absolute power, we would continue to protest with firmness and respect, against such practices which would be both disastrous and illegal.

Type in your answers here:

Source A disagrees with the statement as it can be inferred that the unwillingness of the nobility in Parlement to introduce tax reforms triggered the French Revolution. This is evident as Source A states that the nobility viewed tax reforms as "excessive and reasonable", and that they "finds (found) it impossible to vote for such crushing taxes". This shows that they were unwilling to introduce tax reforms whereby members of all estates paid taxes in their own interests as they did not wish to pay taxes. Also, it states that should the King "feel obliged to make use of your (his) absolute power, we (they) would continue to protest with firmness and respect", reflecting their unwavering stand in refusing to implement tax reforms. From prior knowledge, First and Second Estate members were exempted from taxes and different associations comprised of the nobility such as the Assembly of Notables refused to implement tax reforms. Source A shows that the Parlement stood firm by their decision not to implement tax reforms and the system of taxing only the third Estate continued, which led to the discontentment of the Third Estate as they felt that the taxation system was unfair. This resulted in the French Revolution, thus, since the cause of the French Revolution was reflected to be the Parlement's unwillingness to pass tax reforms, Source A disagrees with the statement.

-Zera

Source A does not support the statement that the french revolution was due to deteriorating economic conditions as it can be inferred that the revolution was caused by the inability of the king and unwillingness of the Paris parlement to make tax reforms. It can be seen from the source that tax reforms of "taxing the noblility and clergy for twelve years" were proposed by the king, which is a major change. However, the parlement is unwilling to approve these changes, shown by it saying of itself, " it does not have sufficient power to approve these measures" and also want to prevent the king from acting upon it himself, threateing to "protest with firmness and respect" but also warning that such action is " disastrous and illegal". This can be cross referenced to my contexual knowledge that King Louis XVI and his finance ministers all wanted to introduce tax reforms that would tax the nobility and clergy so as to generate more income for the government of France that was facing bankrupt and deeply in debt. However, the Paris parlement would not approve of it and thus, the nobility and clergy enjoyed many exemptions while the 3rd estate paid most of the taxes. This was damaging to the state's finances and also angered the people in the 3rd estate who felt that the current system of taxation is very unfair towards them and were unhappy at the Kings inaction towards this issue of administering tax reforms.Thus, the inability of the King and unwillingness of the parlement to introduce is a cause of the French revolution and Source A does not support the statement.

-LIU Ziwei-

Source A challenge the statement that the French Revolution was due to to deteriorating economic conditions as it shows that the refusal of the Parlement to introduce the tax reforms tiggered the revolution. From the source, we can see that the Parlement "finds it imposssible to vote for such crushing taxes" as they felt that the reforms are "excessive and unreasonable". They stood firm in their stand and even stated that they would "continue to protest" even if the king uses his "absolute power". This corroborated with contextual knowledge. From contextual knowledge, the king and his finance ministers tried to introduce tax reforms which includes a land tax paid by everyone including the nobility and the clergy in order to bring in more revenue for the government which was facing bankruptcy. They seeked the support of the Parlement but the latter refused to give approval to the reforms. Refusal to the tax reforms by the Parlement which comprised of nobles from the second estate was detrimental to the France's finance which was already strained. The burden of paying the high taxes still lies on the third estate in which majority are poor peasants while the walthy and well off first and second estate continued to enjoy exemptions from tax. This lead to increasing grievances of the people in the third estate, encouraging them to take on position against the aristocracy in the Estates General which was summoned due to the failure to pass the tax reforms in the Parlement. This marked the start of the French Revolution. Therefore, it is evident that the unwillingness of the Parlement to pass the tax reforms triggered the revolution and thus source A does not support the statement.

-Yang Jing-

I agree the source tells us the fact that the Parlement refused to approve the king’s proposal to introduce tax reforms. As seen from the source, the nobles treated the measures as “excessive and unreasonable”, and they even threatened the king that they “will continue to protest with firmness” against such “disastrous and illegal” practices if the king persisted to introduce the tax reform. This can be verified by contextual knowledge, in the ancien regime where first and second estate enjoyed the privilege of being exempted from taxes, people of third estate, including those who lived in poverty, borne most of the heavy taxes. In the economic downturn, most nobles who were also on the edge of bankruptcy strongly opposed the tax reform, since they feared the share of taxes may cause the final ruination of their finance. The decision of not introducing tax reforms stirred anger among the third estate, and finally led to the outbreak of French Revolution. Hence, on the surface, the source might challenge the statement since it suggests that the Parlement’s objection towards tax reform was the real cause of the revolution. However, according to further contextual knowledge, what stirred anger among the third estate was not the unfairness in the decision itself, but the financial consequences of the decision. As the royal debts accumulated and the privileged class refused to pay taxes, the economic burden of paying tax faced by the third estate increased. Since the Parlement’s objection towards tax reforms contributed to the deteriorating economic condition faced by the third estate, and led to the outbreak of revolution, this source supports the statement although in an indirect way.

-Xu Hui-

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Source A disagrees with the statement that the French Revolution was due to the deteriorating economic conditions. Firstly, the source implies that it is the privileged class’s unwillingness to introduce tax reform which resulted in the outbreak of the revolution. As stated in the source, the reform was in consideration “for twelve years”. The nobles in the Parliament found the tax reform “crushing”,”excessive and unreasonable”, and “impossible to vote for”. They tried to elude the responsibility of passing the reform by saying they”did not have sufficient power”. Secondly, though King Louis was an absolute monarch, his power was greatly limited as he lacked authority among the nobles. The letter stated that should the king “feel obliged to make use of his absolute power, they would continue to protest with firmness…”, reflecting the determination of the Parliament to resist the tax reform in view of the inability of the King. =====

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These information coincides with accepted historical facts. During the Ancien Regime, only the Third Estate was obliged to pay all sorts of taxes and dues, while the First and Second Estates were largely exempted. Worse, the upper classes were determined not to give away their privileges, which corroborates with the source. Their attitude led to great resentment among the Third Estate and thus played a part to trigger the French Revolution. Also, King Louis was unable to assert his power due to his incompetency and character flaws, which resulted in the upper class reasserting their own powers in resisting the tax reform. Hence, Source A does not support statement. =====

-peiwen :)
(sorry about the font..)

Source A challenges the statement. As mentioned, the parlement considered the newly introduced tax reform as “excessive and unreasonable” and found it “impossible to vote for the crushing taxes”, we can infer that the parlement was strongly against the tax reform. According to contextual knowledge, The nobility firmly resisted all attempts to end their exemptions from taxation and were implacably determined to maintain their privileges. Under the deteriorating economic situation, the second estate still didn’t give up their privilege of being exempted from the taxation, continuing to enjoy their extravagant lifestyle. So the burden of high taxation falls on the third estate, in which most of them were poor peasants. This caused the enormous grievances among them because they felt the extreme social unfairness towards them. The deteriorating economic situation only prompted their sentiment of resentment. Meanwhile, although the large fiscal deficit urged the king to implement the tax reform which may help reverse the situation to some extent, however Louis XVI was weak and indecisive. Under the menace of the second estate, he didn’t fully use his absolute power. Furthermore, Collaborate with contextual knowledge, the king was well intentioned but never came to terms with the State’s financial problems. Thus it is the ruler’s personality allowing for the further deteriorating financial situation which contributed to the social conflict between the privileged class and the third estate. As the result, the tax reform failed to persist, the social inequality created further triggered the discontent among the long oppressed third estate. Hence we can infer, the nobility’s unwillingness and the king’s inability sparked the French Revolution. It is the main reason responsible for the outbreak of the French Revolution instead of the financial crisis.  - Yueyue - 