... social distress, many desperate men moved to the towns. This introduced the element of violence, as it helped form the Paris mob and led to the peasant riots of the countryside in 1789. There was a general sense of discontent among the ordinary citizens of the nation. Financial strength in the country was restricted to the 1st and 2nd Estates until the arrival of the industrial revolution, which created a new middle class, who (though they were not landowners) were well educated and affluent to boot. They consisted of teachers, lawyers, physicians and businessmen who were able to criticize the current system. The industrial revolution made it easier for people to travel to places like England, where men (like the philosophers) observed how people prospered under political systems that made feudalism seem outmoded. The philosophers wrote books on this matter, which were vociferous when expressing their ideologies, suggestions ...

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