Political Causes:
Political causes affected the upcoming of The French Revolution as well too. The political causes included the following:
By 1789, King Louis XVI was an absolute monarch who ruled by Divine Right. He placed hundreds of people in jail and killed others. Nobles had most of the power. There was no democracy. King Louis XIV led poor legislation by ruling with complete authority towards the people.The Old Regime allowed the clergy and nobility to enjoy their royal privileges like receiving exclusive access to high government offices and exempt from most taxes. Also, the American Revolution and Enlightenment ideas created a desire for change in France. Louis XV, Louis XVI's grandfather, when asked by the Americas for support with their revolutions against the British, agreed to help out. Because of Louis XV's decision, this caused to put ideas in the heads of the French Citizens that Enlightenment ideals could be put into practice. Kings were in danger of possibly being overthrown and a form of government for the people , by the people could be established. King Louis XVI and his Austrian born wife, Marie Antoinette were wildly unpopular. Marie Antoinette was very unpopular with the French because she spent too much money and was German. Paris had become the center of Enlightenment ideas. This was harmful to an absolute monarch who ignored the complaints of the people and refused to make reforms. When King Louis XVI tried to raise taxes on the nobility, they forced him to call a meeting of the Estate's General to get approval. In 1789, under pressure, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General (a representative body similar to Parliament). The meeting was held on May, 1789, and was the first in 175 years.
This political cartoon shows Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette on top a peasant which has also a nobleman that expresses the purpose of the Old Regime. Notice the sequence of the Three Estates from bottom to top. The third estate in general are displayed as weak and damaged by the absolute monarchy and noblility economically, politically, and socially.