Priscilla Montes
Guerrero
Humanities
February 25, 2009
I. Thesis: A weak ruler is the leading cause to a revolution.
II. Louis xvi was never to take on the challenges of ruling over a country that was in a revolution. (Weigel,65)
a. Louis xvi when he became king he inherited a bad economy, social unrest, a debauched court, and problems with nobility and parliament in France. (Weigel,65)
b. The aristocracy was living on borrowed money and labor of the lower class. (65)
The court was in debt and need if money because of its extravagance and two wars. (65)
c. The king grew tired of his country’s problems and was unhappy. (65)
III. Louis xvi ignored the issues that were happening in France.
a. The government remained a disinterested spectator in the conflict.
(Ferrero,10)
b. The estates-general, which had been convinced to transform France, appeared suddenly to have become impotent. (Ferrero,11)
c. The country was in ferment. (Ferrero,10)
IV. When Louis xvi was not prepared to take on the challenges of the revolution.
a. How could Louis xvi be expected to exercise the power necessary to translate theses thirty-six folio volumes into reforms, when he had convoked the estates-general precisely because he felt incapable of balancing the budget of the kingdom? It was an impossible situation. (Ferrero, 11)
b. The three orders never agreed on anything. The days passed and nothing was accomplished. The financial situation grew worse. For more than a month, from May 5 to June 10 it was completely immobilized. (Ferrero, 10 11)
c. This power, which was concentrated ultimately in the hands of five or six persons, did not at all correspond with the vital needs of the country of 25 million inhabitants. (Ferrero, 12)
V. A revolution would never occur if a ruler were strong and knew how to regulate a country.