Question

How did growing middle class and philosophers contributed towards outbreak of french revolution?

Answer 1

Answer:

The eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of social groups,

termed the middle class, who earned their wealth through an

expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods such as

woollen and silk textiles that were either exported or bought by the

richer members of society. In addition to merchants and

manufacturers, the third estate included professions such as lawyers

or administrative officials. All of these were educated and believed

that no group in society should be privileged by birth. Rather, a

person’s social position must depend on his merit. These ideas

envisaging a society based on freedom and equal laws and

opportunities for all, were put forward by philosophers such as John

Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In his Two Treatises of Government,

Locke sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch. Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a

form of government based on a social contract between people

and their representatives. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu

proposed a division of power within the government between

the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. This model of

government was put into force in the USA, after the thirteen

colonies declared their independence from Britain. The American

constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important

example for political thinkers in France.

The ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons

and coffee-houses and spread among people through books and

newspapers. These were frequently read aloud in groups for the

benefit of those who could not read and write. The news that

Louis XVI planned to impose further taxes to be able to meet the

expenses of the state generated anger and protest against the system

of privileges.

Explanation: