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Estates General of 1789
The Estates General of 1789 (French: États Généraux de 1789) was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France.
Summoned by King Louis XVI, the Estates General of 1789 ended when the Third Estate, along with some members of the other estates, formed the National Assembly and, against the wishes of the king, invited the other two estates to join. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.
The suggestion to summon the Estates General came from the Assembly of Notables installed by the king on 22 February 1787. The Estates General had not been called since 1614. In 1787, the Parlement of Paris refused to ratify Charles Alexandre de Calonne's program of financial reform, due to the competing interests of its noble members. Calonne was the Controller-General of Finances, appointed by the king to address the state deficit. As a last measure, Calonne was hoping to bypass the nobles by reviving the archaic institution. The initial roster of Notables included 137 nobles, among them many future revolutionaries, such as Comte de Mirabeau and Marquis de Lafayette, known at this time for his central role in the American Revolution. Calonne received little cooperation from the assembly, being dismissed on 8 April 1787 and banished shortly after for proposing a 'Subvention Territoriale', or land tax. He continued to comment on the French political scene from London.
Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, president of the Assembly of Notables, succeeded Calonne as the Controller-General of Finances. He was offered the post of prime minister by the king, which was to include being controller. The Notables nevertheless remained recalcitrant. They made a number of proposals, but they would not grant the king money. Lafayette suggested that the problem required a national assembly. Brienne asked him if he meant the Estates General. On receiving an affirmative answer, Brienne recorded it as a proposal. Frustrated by his inability to obtain money, the king staged a day-long harangue, and then on 25 May he dissolved the Notables. Their proposals reverted to the Parlement.
Turning again to the parlements, the king found that they were inclined to continue the issues that had been raised in the Assembly of Notables. The proper legal function of the parlements, besides giving advice to the king, was only to register or record the king's edicts as law unless the registered edicts were not lawful. The king's antecessors had been able to command this matter of simple obedience, sometimes by sternness, threats, and losses of temper.
On 6 July 1787, Loménie forwarded the Subvention Territoriale and another tax, the edit du timbre, or "stamp act", based on the British model, for registration. The parlement refused to register an illegal act, demanding accounting statements, or "States," as a prior condition. It was the king's turn to refuse. The members of the parlement insisted that they required either the accounting States or a meeting of the Estates General. The king would not let this slight to his authority pass and commanded the parlement to assemble at Versailles, where on 6 August he ordered them in person to register the taxes. On 7 August back in Paris, parlement declared in earnest this time the order to be null and void, repudiating all previous registrations of taxes. Only the Estates General, they said, could register taxes.
For the second time, the king summoned the parlement away from Paris, where crowds of people cheered their every action from the street, this time to meet at Troyes, Champagne on 15 August. He did not personally appear. By messenger he and the parlement negotiated an agreement: the king withdrew the stamp tax and modified the land tax to exclude the lands of people of title in return for the assured registration of further loans. The parlement was allowed to return on 20 September. Encouraged, Loménie, with the support of the king, went beyond what was agreed by parlement—the granting of specific loans. He proposed an emprunt successif (successive loan) until 1792 giving the king a blank cheque. When parlement delayed, the king resorted to a ruse; he scheduled a royal hunt for 19 November. On that day at 11:00 am the king and his peers noisily entered the session of parlement dressed in hunting clothes. They would confer with each other and have the decisions registered immediately, they said.
Nearly the entire government was now face-to-face. They argued the problems and issues concerned until dusk, some six hours later. Parlement believed that the problem had gone beyond the government and needed the decisions of the Estates General which did not correspond to the king's concept of monarchy. At the end of the day, the king demanded the registration of the successive loan. The Duc d'Orléans (a previous Notable, a relative of the king, and an ardent revolutionary), later known as Philippe Égalité, asked if this were a royal session of the peers or a session of parlement. On being told it was a royal session, he replied that edicts were not registered at royal sessions. The king retorted, "Vous êtes bien le maître (do as you will)," with some sarcasm as the king's will was legally required, and strode angrily from the session with a retinue. Lettres de Cachet, or arbitrary arrest warrants, followed on 20 November for D'Orleans and two others. They were taken into custody and held under comfortable conditions away from Paris; D'Orleans on his country estate. Parlement began a debate on the legality of lettres de cachet. The men being held became a cause célèbre.
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Estates General of 1789
The Estates General of 1789 (French: États Généraux de 1789) was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France.
Summoned by King Louis XVI, the Estates General of 1789 ended when the Third Estate, along with some members of the other estates, formed the National Assembly and, against the wishes of the king, invited the other two estates to join. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.
The suggestion to summon the Estates General came from the Assembly of Notables installed by the king on 22 February 1787. The Estates General had not been called since 1614. In 1787, the Parlement of Paris refused to ratify Charles Alexandre de Calonne's program of financial reform, due to the competing interests of its noble members. Calonne was the Controller-General of Finances, appointed by the king to address the state deficit. As a last measure, Calonne was hoping to bypass the nobles by reviving the archaic institution. The initial roster of Notables included 137 nobles, among them many future revolutionaries, such as Comte de Mirabeau and Marquis de Lafayette, known at this time for his central role in the American Revolution. Calonne received little cooperation from the assembly, being dismissed on 8 April 1787 and banished shortly after for proposing a 'Subvention Territoriale', or land tax. He continued to comment on the French political scene from London.
Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, president of the Assembly of Notables, succeeded Calonne as the Controller-General of Finances. He was offered the post of prime minister by the king, which was to include being controller. The Notables nevertheless remained recalcitrant. They made a number of proposals, but they would not grant the king money. Lafayette suggested that the problem required a national assembly. Brienne asked him if he meant the Estates General. On receiving an affirmative answer, Brienne recorded it as a proposal. Frustrated by his inability to obtain money, the king staged a day-long harangue, and then on 25 May he dissolved the Notables. Their proposals reverted to the Parlement.
Turning again to the parlements, the king found that they were inclined to continue the issues that had been raised in the Assembly of Notables. The proper legal function of the parlements, besides giving advice to the king, was only to register or record the king's edicts as law unless the registered edicts were not lawful. The king's antecessors had been able to command this matter of simple obedience, sometimes by sternness, threats, and losses of temper.
On 6 July 1787, Loménie forwarded the Subvention Territoriale and another tax, the edit du timbre, or "stamp act", based on the British model, for registration. The parlement refused to register an illegal act, demanding accounting statements, or "States," as a prior condition. It was the king's turn to refuse. The members of the parlement insisted that they required either the accounting States or a meeting of the Estates General. The king would not let this slight to his authority pass and commanded the parlement to assemble at Versailles, where on 6 August he ordered them in person to register the taxes. On 7 August back in Paris, parlement declared in earnest this time the order to be null and void, repudiating all previous registrations of taxes. Only the Estates General, they said, could register taxes.
For the second time, the king summoned the parlement away from Paris, where crowds of people cheered their every action from the street, this time to meet at Troyes, Champagne on 15 August. He did not personally appear. By messenger he and the parlement negotiated an agreement: the king withdrew the stamp tax and modified the land tax to exclude the lands of people of title in return for the assured registration of further loans. The parlement was allowed to return on 20 September. Encouraged, Loménie, with the support of the king, went beyond what was agreed by parlement—the granting of specific loans. He proposed an emprunt successif (successive loan) until 1792 giving the king a blank cheque. When parlement delayed, the king resorted to a ruse; he scheduled a royal hunt for 19 November. On that day at 11:00 am the king and his peers noisily entered the session of parlement dressed in hunting clothes. They would confer with each other and have the decisions registered immediately, they said.
Nearly the entire government was now face-to-face. They argued the problems and issues concerned until dusk, some six hours later. Parlement believed that the problem had gone beyond the government and needed the decisions of the Estates General which did not correspond to the king's concept of monarchy. At the end of the day, the king demanded the registration of the successive loan. The Duc d'Orléans (a previous Notable, a relative of the king, and an ardent revolutionary), later known as Philippe Égalité, asked if this were a royal session of the peers or a session of parlement. On being told it was a royal session, he replied that edicts were not registered at royal sessions. The king retorted, "Vous êtes bien le maître (do as you will)," with some sarcasm as the king's will was legally required, and strode angrily from the session with a retinue. Lettres de Cachet, or arbitrary arrest warrants, followed on 20 November for D'Orleans and two others. They were taken into custody and held under comfortable conditions away from Paris; D'Orleans on his country estate. Parlement began a debate on the legality of lettres de cachet. The men being held became a cause célèbre.