The unequal distribution of wealth and power among the three estates of French society became more acute in the 18th century. of French society became more acute in the eighteenth century. The clergy (first estate) and the nobility (second estate) were the privileged ones: they did not pay taxes, owned most of the land, received taxes and alms from the peasants. The third or common state lacked privileges and had to pay taxes. It was a very diverse group, from the poorest to the richest bourgeois, all upset and resentful, some because of hunger and others because of lack of access to political power. The situation worsened in the 1780s, after a series of bad harvests, which produced a rise in prices, especially for bread. This provoked popular revolts. The ideas of the Enlightenment were among the bourgeoisie, a movement of thinkers who applied reason, believed in the dignity of the human being, denied that power came from God, affirmed that the true sovereign was the people, proposed the separation of the three powers (Executive, Legislative and Judicial), and the equality of all citizens before the law, abolishing all privileges. It was a time of political and social rebellion in France that began in 1789 due to the inequalities that existed between the rich and the poor.
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