French Revolution Research Paper

The French Revolution had numerous reasons for the revolt. Financial crisis, the Enlightenment, and social changes throughout France were the key reasons behind it. The monarchy had made poor financial decisions during the 18th century. They had to borrow money from foreign nations increasing their debt and leading to their inevitable bankruptcy. Then they had a poor harvest of wheat in 1788 and had high bread prices in 1789 this made it hard on struggling families. Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were unaware of the extent of their peoples suffering.The Enlightenment brought this ideal of people having new ideas thought of by themselves. Different philosophes influenced a new idea of equality between all men and government. France had social inequalities and it became apparent during this time. The Third Estate, or the common people, wanted their own rights and a voice in government. These were the reasons revolt began to happen. The French Revolution had long-lasting effects …show more content…
Many of their ideas went into the French Constitution, The Declaration of Right of man and Citizen. Charles de Scondat de Baron De Montesquieu was a great thinker and is best known for his ideas on the separation of powers. Montesquieu believed no power should become stronger than the other in government. He analyzed the French government and thought France was divided into three parts; monarchy,aristocracy, and the common people. He wanted an administrative power with three pieces: executive, judicial, and legislative. Each part of government just as strong as the other. We call this theory today the separation of power, but during his time this was considered a radical theory because it ended a feudal system. Jean Jacques Rousseau was another Enlightenment thinker that changed the French Revolution. Rousseau believed that in each society there were positive and negative