European History, The French Revolution - Personal Statement Example

Dear child, This is probably the last correspondence that I am making to you; I have been tried at the court today and shall end my life by tomorrowat the court's orders. As you know we have been witnessing havoc out here since last four years, but the real reasons for this lie in the degrading situation since the late 70s when the economic inefficiencies began to surface. At that time financial system of the monarchy had no centralized bank or treasury and coupled with the fact that the state got involved in a number of wars, the economic condition consistently deteriorated with the state taking more loans than what it could repay.

At times it also appeared that the royal family's lavish spending was unsustainable. The sources of tax collection were also not adequate and efficient as the since many people like us (the nobles) and the clergy paid almost no tax and the peasants, who were already poor, were levied with much burden of tax and thus resulting into inequalities. The chargeable tax also varied from region to region. The rising prices of food compelled the middle class to lose faith in the government. Other irregularities like the persecution of religious minorities and the state intervention in personal lives also annoyed the public.

The people became increasingly dissatisfied with the monarchy. The antiquated legal system only added to the woes of the people with the government becoming synonymous with corruption and inefficiency. Earlier it was not so but now the king had a very autocratic and absolute behavior. The parlement had many times opposed the king's action feeling that traditional rights and liberties of the people were threatened. However, I always felt that the king was well intentioned because he made many attempts to restore normalcy since the time he was enthroned.

In the mid 70s he had appointed Turgot as chief finance minister to take care of the worsening situation. Later Necker also made attempts to restore balance but all in vain because of the continuous pressure of the nobility and financial groups. When the king appointed Callone as the finance minister in, he proposed new plans to generate more revenue and loans but somehow the parlement did not trust his suggestions and it thought that the king was trying to generate more income and they did not believe that the state economy was in crisis.

As no issues were solved out, the king ended up dissolving all the parlements and reorganizing the judiciary system. The public viewed this as absolute action and opposed this with violence and disobedience. As the food crisis worsened, many civilians took it to the Versailles the king to come to Paris. This took away what ever reputation the king had had with himself and then he stayed in a situation of house arrest. Now the king and government had no morale left with it and people frequently turned violent to display their dissatisfaction.

On the other side the national assembly took steps to reform the constitution by placing constitutional monarchy and providing more republican powers to the government. The assembly recognized each citizen as equal and all the nobles like us and the church were stripped of our status and our property seized. In further proceedings and conventions, it was decided that the king was at fault with the people and that he should be tried for treason. The poor king was executed in public before about a year.

Robespierre has acted cunningly and has taken many advantages of the deteriorating situation and has also played a lead role in putting the king and all of us under the guillotine. It is mostly because of his actions that France is moving towards republic from the monarchy system. For people like us and other nobles it is increasingly difficult to survive in such situations as there is no hope left with us.Blessings to you for your life that you have to live without us. With lot of love Your Mother