Of all the long term causes of the French Revolution, the Ancien Regime was perhaps the most deeply-rooted. The Ancien Regime was the old system of government, the old order of things, before the Revolution, and it divided French society up into three ``estates'': the nobles, the clergy, and the common people (ie. everyone else, which included both peasants and the middle classes). The first a

The upshot of this was that there no formal opposition to the government, and the masses had no say in government. The monarchy had the power to grossly misgovern the country; one of the causes of the Revolution.

In addition to this, the monarch exercised complete power in France; France was an autocracy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the will of the sovereign was law (``The thing is legal because I wish it'' - Louis XVI). Critics of the government could be arrested via a royal writ (a lettre de cachet) without trial. Earlier on, the French provinces (etats) were each represented by their own parlement, but these had declined by the 18th century. The States-General (which bore a closer resemblance to England's parliament) had not been called since 1614. Lastly, the parlement of Paris, which registered the King's edicts, was the only body left that could have opposed the King, but by the 19th century had no real power to reject the edicts.

Also in the medium term was the rise in prices that had occurred before the Revolution, with no corresponding rise in wages, which meant an obvious increase in the cost of living. This caused widespread poverty at the bottom of society, ie. the third estate, and to some extend in the second estate, who were not necessarily rich.

More inspirational to the French, though, was the American Revolution. At the time of the French Revolution, the American War of Independence had happened only recently, with the Declaration of Independence happening in 1776. America had become a democratic republic after a war sparked off by unfair taxation (in a similar way to how the French third estate was overtaxed). During the Seven Years War (1756-63), in which France helped Britain fight against America, many ideas key to the US Constitution were brought home by French soldiers fighting in the war. The French were inspired when they saw the American ideals working so well.

The US Constitution had also, in turn, been influenced greatly by various philosophers in France who were critical of the Ancien Regime, and included their ideas. These philosophers included Voltaire (1694-1778), who was critical of existing institutions in France, especially the Church (``If God did not exist, you would have to invent him''), and attacked religious persecution, unfair taxes, and torture (all things forbidden by the US Constitution, and the later French ``declaration of the rights of man and the citizen''). Montesquieu (1689-1755) suggested that the English constitution was suitable for France, and advocated checks and balances in government (with separate legislature, judiciary and executive; an idea again implemented in the US Constitution). Rousseau's (1712-1778) ``Social Contract'' put forward the case for direct democracy (as opposed to representational democracy), and, although this idea was never realised in France or America as it was more radical than!

Also in the medium term was the rise in prices that had occurred before the Revolution, with no corresponding rise in wages, which meant an obvious increase in the cost of living. This caused widespread poverty at the bottom of society, ie. the third estate, and to some extend in the second estate, who were not necessarily rich.

Another long term cause was the growth in nationalism that had occurred as a result of the Enlightenment (nationalism being, in this case, a belief that the nation should be the focus of the state, rather than any mutated 20th century meanings of the word). Central to the Enlightenment was reason: it encouraged criticism, and freedom of thought, speech and religion, and was seen as the end of man's self-imposed irrationality at the hands of the Church in particular. However, once religion was discredited, and the notion of the ``divinely-appointed'' monarch discredited with it, people became increasingly dissatisfied with the government, which before was held in place by its association with God. Nationalism had existed prev

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3520
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)