Background

At the beginning of the French Revolution, there were three classes of people in France. The privileged class consisted of nobility and high-ranking clergy; the middle class, of merchants and professional people; and the lowest class, of peasants and working people. The peasants, who either were tenant farmers or owners of tiny plots of land, were heavily taxed by the government. They had additional dues imposed by the feudal lords and the Church. What was left of their meager crops barely sustained them. When crops failed, as in 1788, there was near famine. Bread prices became so high that many city workers were near starvation.

The bourgeoisieconsisted of doctors, lawyers, manufacturers, merchants, and government officials. They carried much of the tax burden, but had almost no voice in government, which remained in the hands of the king and the privileged class. Their thinking was influenced by the writings of French intellectuals. One of these, Voltaire, attacked the absolute authority of the monarch and the power of the Church. Another, Jean Jacques Rousseau, urged that a country should be governed according to the will of the people.

Toward the end of the 18th century, France's financial condition became desperate. Louis XV, who reigned 1715-74, emptied the treasury by his extravagance and poor government. He was succeeded by Louis XVI, a well-meaning but weak king. Queen Marie Antoinette and the court were extravagant. Assistance to the United States in the Revolutionary War also drained France's resources. France was almost bankrupt. Louis needed money badly, but the common people were already taxed to the limit and the land-owning aristocracy was exempt from taxes. In this crisis, Louis called a meeting of the States-General, the national assembly, which had not met since 1614.