Overall, the peasants made up approximately 90% - 93% of France's population. .
The social structure had the king at the top, who ruled absolutely. The absolute monarchy meant the king was not answerable to anyone, and had not been a parliament in France in 16146. Where leadership is good, strong and fair in may be argued that absolute power may not always disadvantage the weakest in society, but in the case of Louis XVI, leadership was not undertaken in the context of stewardship, but with an arrogant attitude. The result was a significant social gap and inequity. In a contemporary text, Travels in France by Arthur Young, the story of a peasant woman is told, which demonstrates the level of hardship suffered. Young tells the tale of a woman who had only a small morsel of land, one cow and a poor horse, but had to bear extortionate taxes that they could not afford, to one Lord they had to pay three chickens and 20 kg of weight, to another Lord they had to pay 60 kg of oats, one chicken, and five pence, as well as the taxes to the King. In addition to these taxes there was also the tax to the church, equating to one tenth of either income or produce. In many cases peasants did not own the land on which they live, and therefore also had to pay rent in the form of cash to their landlords, who would be there Lord, with the rent determined as a proportion of the annual production. From the amount of income they could earn from their land, the taxes were extremely high, often at an affordable level. .
The social structure in France was a significant factor, especially with the inequity and the thoughts of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a period during which there were significant changes in thought, where there was increased questioning of the world around and movement away from blind acceptance of religion and tradition, towards science and reason. Jean Jacque Rousseau, the well-known French philosopher of the French Enlightenment, was an advocate of natural law, and held that men should be born free, and that no man should be able to force others into servitude, but observed that "man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
