Following the heavy losses of the French and Indian War, as well as France’s involvement in the American Revolution, the country found itself in a massive financial crisis. Debt, inflation, a lack of food, King Louis XVI’s lavish spending practices and an archaic taxation system. The First Estate of the Clergy and the Second Estate of the Nobility was not required to pay taxes, leaving the commoners in the Third Estate with the duty of filling the national coffers.

The United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland are not the only countries to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Canada also gets into the act every March 17. Each year hundreds of thousands of Canadians descend to their local bar and partake in the festivities of green beer and wild times. Evan Canadians are Irish on [...]