The main problem in France during the 1700s was

inequality.

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French society was divided into three groups called estates. The high-ranking clergy and nobles made up the First and Second Estates.

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The Third Estate (professionals, peasants, and laborers) made up 97% of the French population. This group paid more than their share of taxes.

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The lawmaking body of France, the Estates General, represented all three estates. But this body rarely met and each estate had only one vote even though the Third Estate had more representatives.

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When King Louis XVI needed money, he called the Estates General into session.

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The Third Estate felt that each representative should be given a vote. When the First and Second Estates disagreed, the Third Estate withdrew and formed the National Assembly.

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On July 14, 1789, an angry crowd captured a fortress called the Bastille in Paris after the king threatened to arrest the leaders of the National Assembly. The French Revolution had begun.

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When the people stopped paying

taxes, the government

broke down. The king was forced

to accept the revolutionary

government led by the National

Assembly.E. Napp

In August 1789, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen. It declared that “all men are born free and equal in rights.”

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Perhaps the Assembly’s most important work

was the Constitution of

1791. It reformed the

government by establishing a

limited monarchy.E. Napp