BACKGROUND

• France was ruled by a dynasty called House of Bourbon, which firmly believed in Political absolutism and the Divine Right theory.
• Louis XIV (1638 – 1715) was a strong and powerful ruler from this House of Bourbon who continued his predecessors’ work of creating a centralized state governed from the capital.
• He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism from France and, by compelling many members of the nobility to inhabit his lavish Palace of Versailles, succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy.
• He forced the nobles into becoming his ceremonial courtiers, further weakening their power.
• By all these, Louis XIV became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated a system of absolute monarchical rule in France that endured until the French Revolution. But his wars and his ways ruined the economy of France.
• His successors Louis XV and Louis XVI were weak administrators.
• In 1774, 20 years old Louis XVI ascended the throne of France. Louis XVI (1754-1793) was the most incompetent ruler.
• Under Louis XVI, France helped the 13 American colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy, Britain. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France.
• To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running government offices or universities, the state was forced to increase taxes.
• Moreover, the French society in the 18th century was divided into Three Estates i.e. first estate- clergy, second estate- nobility and third estate of bourgeoisie, urban workers and peasants but only members of the third estate paid taxes.
• The society of estates was part of a feudal system that dated back to the middle ages.
• Peasants made up about 80% of the population and they were highly suppressed. However, only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated.
• About 60% of the land was owned by nobles, the Church and other richer members of the third estate.
• Peasants were obliged to render services to the lord to work in his house and fields, to serve in the army or to participate in building roads.
• The Church too extracted its share of taxes called tithes from the peasants.
• Moreover, the population of France rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789. This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains.
• Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly. But wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices.
• So the gap between the poor and the rich widened. Things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest.
• The 18th century witnessed the emergence of social groups, termed the middle class, who earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods.
• In addition to merchants and manufacturers, the third estate included professions such as lawyers or administrative officials.
• All of these were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth. Rather, a person‘s social position must depend on his merit.
• These ideas envisage a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all.
• The American constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important example for political thinkers in France.