25 What were the social, economic, and political issues that led to the French Revolution?

Social Issues: The Three Estates
The estates system was the class structure or hierarchy in France before the French Revolution. The same groups that
held power during the Middle Ages still had control after the Middle Ages ended.
clergy: people who work for the church
like the Pope, bishops, and priests
nobility: wealthy landowners and people
with high status in society
commoners: peasants and city-workers
Image 1
Source: Schwartz and O’Connor, Democracy and Nationalism, Globe Book Company (adapted) from the NYS Global History
and Geography Regents Exam, August 2007
Image 2
Source: Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2003 (adapted) from the NYS Global History and
Geography Regents Exam, January 2007.
Image 3
The Three Estates, You Should Hope this Game Will
Be Over Soon , 1788
Source: Reproduced with permission from the National Museum of France from the NYS
Social Studies ToolKit.
1. Under the estates system, what were the three social classes?
2. Under the estates system, which social class was taxed the most?
3. Under the estates system, which class was the largest portion of the population? 4. What does image 3 reveal about social issues in pre-revolutionary France?

5. Based on the images above, identify the social issues
facing pre-revolutionary France?
6. How might these social issues lead the French people

Political Issues: Absolute Monarchy
An absolute monarchy is a form of government in which one ruler has supreme authority without limitation.
Portrait of King Louis XVI of France painted by Antoine-
Francois Callet
Image is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and is public domain.
. . . Powers of the king .—The King, Louis XVI, was absolute. He
ruled by the divine right theory which held that he had received
his power to govern from God and was therefore responsible to
God alone. He appointed all civil officials and military officers. He
made and enforced the laws. He could declare war and make
peace. He levied taxes and spent the people’s money as he saw
fit. He controlled the expression of thought by a strict censorship
of speech and press. By means of lettres de cachet (sealed letters
which were really blank warrants for arrest) he could arbitrarily
[without reason] imprison anyone without trial for an indefinite
period. He lived in his magnificent palace at Versailles,
completely oblivious to the rising tide of popular discontent
[frustration]. . . .
Source: Friedman & Foner, A Genetic Approach to Modern European History,
College Entrance Book Co., 1938 from the NYS Global History and Geography
Regents Exam, January 2007.
7. Using the text above, identify five powers held by King Louis XVI and describe why these powers may lead the
French people to revolt against their government.