The French Revolution: Social Causes

In the 1700's, France was considered the most smart or advanced country of Europe. It was the center ofthe Enlightment and it had a large population and a prosperous foreighn trade. France was always busy, caused by high prices, high taxes, and disturbing questions raised by the Enlightenment ideas od Rousseau and Voltaire.
There was about 98 percentage of the people that belonged to the Third Estate. The three groups that made up this estate differed greatly in their economic conditions. The first group were merchants and artisans. they were well learned and beleived strongly in the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality. Many felt that their wealth entitled them to a greater degree of social status and political power. So the First Estate made up of clergy of Roman Catholic Church. The Second Estate was made up of rich nobles that held the highest offices in government. They Disagreed about Enlightenment ideas. The Third Estate was an urban lower class, and peasant farmers. They did have no powers to influence government but they embraced Enlightenment ideas.