As did the American Revolution, the French Revolution had its immediate origins in the financial difficulties of the government. The efforts of the ministers of King Louis XV (r. 1715–1774) to raise taxes to meet the expenses of the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War were thwarted by the high courts, known as the parlements. The noble judges of the parlements resented this threat to their exemption from taxation and decried the government’s actions as a form of royal despotism.

When renewed efforts to reform the tax system similarly failed in 1776, the government was forced to finance its enormous expenditures during the American war with borrowed money. As a result, the national debt soared. In 1786 the finance minister informed King Louis XVI (r. 1774–1792) that the nation was on the verge of bankruptcy. Fully 50 percent of France’s annual budget went to interest payments on the ever-increasing debt. Another 25 percent went to maintain the military, while 6 percent was absorbed by the royal family and the court. Less than 20 percent of the national budget served the productive functions of the state, such as transportation and general administration.

Spurred by a depressed economy and falling tax receipts, Louis XVI’s minister of finance revived old proposals to impose a general tax on all landed property as well as to form provincial assemblies to help administer the tax. He convinced the king to call an assembly of notables in 1787 to gain support for the idea. The assembled notables, mainly important noblemen and high-ranking clergy, declared that such sweeping tax changes required the approval of the Estates General, the representative body of all three estates, which had not met since 1614. Louis XVI’s efforts to reject their demands failed, and in July 1788 he reluctantly called the Estates General into session.