Between 1787 and 1789, the foundations of French absolutism fractured, leading to the convocation of the Estates-General amid profound social and economic turmoil.
Political Developments and the Breakdown of Absolutist Authority
The Fiscal Crisis and Royal Response
By the late 1780s, the French monarchy was mired in an acute financial crisis that exposed the limits of royal power. France’s debts, largely from costly wars, far exceeded royal revenues. Ministers like Calonne, the Controller-General of Finances, attempted ambitious fiscal reforms but met fierce resistance.
In February 1787, Calonne convened the Assembly of Notables — a hand-picked group of nobles, clergy, and magistrates — to approve new taxes, including a universal land tax that would affect the privileged estates.
Rather than support the plan, the Notables criticised royal finances and demanded transparency, undermining the authority of the crown to rule without challenge.
Calonne’s dismissal in April 1787 and the appointment of Brienne as his successor did little to resolve tensions.
Clash with the Parlements
With the Notables refusing to cooperate, Brienne sought to push reforms through the Parlement of Paris, the highest court of appeal and a defender of noble privilege.
The Parlement resisted registering new tax edicts, claiming only the nation’s representatives could authorise such measures.
In August 1787, Louis XVI exiled the Parlement to Troyes, provoking widespread protests and pamphleteering condemning royal despotism.
The exile of the Parlement turned public opinion further against the crown, portraying the king as a tyrant unwilling to negotiate with France’s traditional bodies.
The Royal Backdown and the Failure of Absolutism
Faced with mounting opposition, riots in Paris, and financial ruin, Louis XVI was forced into a humiliating retreat:
By November 1787, the Parlement had returned, more defiant than ever.
In May 1788, the king attempted to bypass the Parlements altogether through the May Edicts, which curtailed their powers. This sparked further outcry.
Unrest spread to the provinces, with Day of the Tiles riots in Grenoble symbolising open defiance of royal authority.
Ultimately, lacking funds and coercive power, the monarchy capitulated and agreed in August 1788 to summon the Estates-General for the first time since 1614.
The repeated failures to enforce royal will demonstrated the breakdown of absolutist authority and emboldened demands for broader representation.
The Estates-General: Composition and Purpose
What Was the Estates-General?
The Estates-General was a traditional representative assembly made up of three estates:
First Estate – the clergy.
Second Estate – the nobility.
Third Estate – everyone else, including bourgeoisie, urban workers, and peasants.
It was intended to provide advice to the king, not to wield power independently.
Composition and Voting System
Historically, each estate met separately and voted by order, meaning the First and Second Estates could outvote the Third two to one, despite the Third representing over 95% of the population.
In 1789, the Third Estate demanded double representation to reflect its size. Louis XVI granted this but retained voting by estate rather than by head, nullifying its advantage.
Delegates for the Third Estate were mostly educated professionals, lawyers, and urban elites. Peasant voices were rarely direct, though rural grievances shaped the cahiers de doléances (lists of grievances) drafted for the meeting.
Purpose of Summoning
The Estates-General was summoned primarily to resolve the fiscal crisis:
The monarchy hoped it would agree to new taxation to restore royal finances.
Many among the nobility and clergy saw it as a chance to limit royal power and safeguard privileges.
The Third Estate increasingly viewed it as an opportunity for broad political reform and a constitution that would curb absolutism.
The conflicting expectations among estates foreshadowed deadlock and radicalisation.
The Socio-Economic State of France (1787–1789)
Worsening Poverty and Grain Crisis
France in the late 1780s suffered severe economic distress, intensifying popular resentment:
Poor harvests in 1787 and 1788 led to a grain shortage, driving up bread prices dramatically.
In an economy where bread was the staple diet, price hikes meant widespread hunger. Many urban workers spent up to 80% of their wages on bread alone.
The winter of 1788–1789 was particularly harsh, exacerbating hardship and increasing unemployment, especially in urban centres reliant on trade and textiles.
Rising Unemployment and Urban Distress
Economic stagnation and food scarcity led to factory closures and wage cuts.
Urban centres like Paris and Lyon experienced heightened tension, with angry crowds gathering outside bakeries and granaries.
Rural poverty was equally severe; peasants struggled under feudal dues while facing high rents and tithes.
Resentment of Privilege
The harsh conditions deepened resentment toward perceived injustice:
The nobility and clergy remained largely exempt from direct taxation, fuelling anger among commoners who bore the brunt of the tax burden.
Nobles often increased feudal dues or reclaimed traditional rights to maximise income, which peasants viewed as exploitative.
Popular pamphlets and press portrayed the privileged estates as parasites draining the lifeblood of the nation.
This environment of hardship and inequity set the stage for a population receptive to radical demands for change.
Public Expectations and Political Mobilisation
The Cahiers de Doléances
In preparation for the Estates-General, all three estates compiled cahiers de doléances:
These notebooks allowed communities to articulate local grievances and hopes.
Common themes included calls for fair taxation, an end to feudal dues, freedom of the press, and regular meetings of representative bodies.
While moderate in tone, they revealed widespread desire for political and social reform.
Atmosphere of Political Awakening
Between 1787 and 1789, public political engagement exploded:
Pamphlets, newspapers, and political clubs multiplied, discussing rights, sovereignty, and constitutionalism.
Influential works like Sieyès’ ‘What is the Third Estate?’ argued that the Third Estate alone represented the nation, galvanising popular opinion.
Paris, in particular, buzzed with debate, while rural villages held assemblies to select delegates and air grievances.
Expectation of Reform
Many in the Third Estate and among the broader populace saw the Estates-General as a moment of historic transformation:
There was hope that it would deliver a new constitution, limit royal authority, and secure equality before the law.
Radical voices even envisaged dismantling noble privilege altogether.
The monarchy’s perceived weakness emboldened critics to push for unprecedented changes.
The heightened political consciousness and expectation made compromise unlikely once the Estates-General convened, setting the Revolution’s momentum in motion.
Key Takeaways
February 1787–May 1789 marked the erosion of royal absolutism through fiscal failure, parliamentary defiance, and widespread popular unrest.
The Estates-General, originally intended to resolve the fiscal deadlock, became a platform for sweeping demands for reform.
France’s socio-economic crisis — hunger, unemployment, and privilege resentment — intensified the urgency for change.
An atmosphere of political mobilisation and high public expectation ensured that when the Estates-General finally met, it did so amid revolutionary fervour.
FAQ
Between 1787 and 1789, the French press and growing public opinion were crucial in eroding royal authority. The monarchy’s desperate attempts to raise revenue, suppress dissent, and exile the Parlements generated widespread outrage, amplified by pamphlets and clandestine publications. Restrictions on printing were increasingly ignored, and an explosion of political literature criticised royal ministers and exposed corruption. Satirical cartoons mocked Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, portraying them as extravagant and out of touch while people starved. Coffeehouses, salons, and public reading rooms became hubs for debate and rumour, where news of events like the exile of the Parlements spread quickly and fuelled anger. This politicised environment allowed radical thinkers and pamphleteers to frame the king’s actions as tyrannical. Consequently, the public no longer saw the king as the benevolent father of the nation but rather as a ruler resisting necessary reform. The press thus fostered distrust and mobilised citizens against the monarchy’s absolutist tendencies.
The Day of the Tiles, which occurred in June 1788 in Grenoble, was a dramatic example of provincial resistance that foreshadowed wider revolutionary unrest. When royal troops attempted to dissolve the local Parlement, townspeople hurled roof tiles at soldiers from the rooftops, injuring several and forcing the soldiers to retreat. This open defiance was significant because it was one of the first violent confrontations against royal authority in the lead-up to the Revolution. It demonstrated that ordinary citizens were prepared to protect their local institutions against perceived tyranny. The event inspired further acts of resistance and emboldened Parlements across France to resist royal decrees more openly. Additionally, it signalled to reform-minded nobles and the Third Estate that public support for change could be harnessed. The Day of the Tiles is therefore seen as an early precursor to the popular uprisings of 1789, highlighting the erosion of royal control even in the provinces far from Paris.
The Assembly of Notables, convened in February 1787 by Calonne, was intended to lend credibility to new taxation proposals and bypass the hostile Parlements. However, it failed spectacularly. The Notables, mostly high-ranking nobles and clerics, questioned Calonne’s financial management and demanded to see detailed accounts, which the government hesitated to provide. They suspected mismanagement and corruption, leading to heated debates and no consensus on reforms. This failure exposed the monarchy’s fiscal mismanagement to the public for the first time, undermining the myth of competent royal governance. When the Notables refused to approve Calonne’s proposals and he was dismissed, the monarchy’s authority was weakened further. The king’s inability to secure the cooperation of even a hand-picked assembly of loyal elites suggested deep dysfunction. This heightened scepticism among the wider population and emboldened calls for a more representative assembly. By showcasing royal weakness and elite self-interest, the Assembly’s collapse eroded public trust and accelerated the call for the Estates-General.
Although Louis XVI’s decision to grant double representation to the Third Estate for the Estates-General of 1789 appeared progressive, it did not satisfy reformers. The main issue lay in the voting procedure: votes were cast by estate, not by individual deputies. Thus, despite the Third Estate having twice as many delegates, their collective vote still counted as just one, equal to that of the First and Second Estates. This ensured that the privileged estates could always outvote the Third Estate two to one, preserving their advantages and blocking meaningful reform. Reformers viewed this arrangement as a cynical tactic to appear accommodating while maintaining the existing social hierarchy. Many in the Third Estate began to argue that true representation meant voting by head, which would give them a decisive majority. The frustration over this contradiction fuelled the radicalisation of deputies, leading them to break away and form the National Assembly. Therefore, double representation without voting by head highlighted the monarchy’s reluctance to share real power.
The cahiers de doléances, or grievance notebooks, collected before the Estates-General, offer a fascinating insight into the complexities of pre-revolutionary France. On one hand, they showed remarkable unity in calling for systemic reforms: fair taxation, equality before the law, and regular representative meetings were common demands across all three estates. This shared language of reform indicated a widespread belief that France’s problems could be solved through legal and constitutional means, not yet through revolution. On the other hand, the cahiers also revealed deep social divisions. While the Third Estate frequently denounced noble privileges and feudal dues, the nobility’s cahiers often defended traditional rights and sought to preserve their social status, even as they criticised royal mismanagement. Clerical cahiers were equally varied, with lower clergy (curés) often aligning with Third Estate grievances against higher church officials. Thus, while the cahiers united the nation in articulating the need for change, they also highlighted conflicting visions for France’s future, foreshadowing the struggles that would unfold within the Estates-General and beyond.
Practice Questions
Explain how the summoning of the Estates-General in 1789 reflected the breakdown of absolutist authority in France between 1787 and 1789.
The summoning of the Estates-General clearly demonstrated the monarchy’s loss of control. Facing financial ruin and resistance from the Assembly of Notables and the Parlements, Louis XVI could not enforce reforms alone. His failed attempts to exile judges and silence dissent only fuelled protests and defiance. Local unrest, such as the Day of the Tiles, showed the government’s inability to impose order. Ultimately, recalling the Estates-General, dormant for 175 years, exposed the regime’s dependence on wider consent, marking a dramatic erosion of absolutism’s foundations.
Assess how the socio-economic conditions in France between 1787 and 1789 contributed to political mobilisation among the Third Estate.
Severe economic hardship intensified political consciousness within the Third Estate. Poor harvests and a harsh winter triggered a crippling grain crisis, causing bread prices to soar and hunger to spread. Unemployment rose as urban industries declined, fuelling frustration. Resentment of noble tax privileges deepened class tensions. Against this backdrop, the cahiers de doléances voiced popular grievances and demands for reform. Pamphlets and political clubs flourished, spreading radical Enlightenment ideas. This combination of misery and enlightenment emboldened the Third Estate to challenge entrenched privilege, ensuring the Estates-General became a stage for revolutionary action.
