Alexis De Tocqueville Was The Main Cause Of The French Revolution

The French Revolution was an unprecedented revolt that shook France and the rest of Europe in the late 17th century. The causes for this revolution have been highly debated by historians. Alexis de Tocqueville, a citizen who criticized the French government, analyzed the revolution and found three main causes for it; the fall of the old feudal regime, the status of the nobility, and the absolute monarchy that reigned over France. Of these three major causes, the most important was that the nobility failed to contribute anything to French society yet remained untouched by the responsibilities of the nation.

Other overall problems contributed to the French Revolution. The social structure in place consisted of three estates; the clergy, the nobility, the common people and peasants. It was very hard for anyone of the third estate to move into the nobility. In other words, one’s power came from his birth not his merit. In addition, France’s wealthy increased during

The first of these was the breakdown of the feudal system. In this system peasants would serve the nobility and in return the nobility would protect the peasants. However, in the years previous to the revolution, “the feudal system… had most completely discarded all that could benefit or protect them [the peasants]”. In other words, the peasants continued to serve the nobles without the appropriate payment of protection, land, and rights. The second main reason was the existence of the absolute monarchy. The monarchy had taken control over all small provincial government, managed all public businesses, censored and destroyed opposing newspapers, and centralized the government into Paris. The absolute monarchy had essentially removed all power and privilege from the people and even from the nobility. This decrease of power in the second estate led to the creation of the most important cause for the