Before the revolution, the absolute monarch was the political system that France followed. This meant that France was ruled by one person, the king. Everyone was under the King and also a member of an estate. The composition of the society was a major reason for the social tensions before the French revolution. France, as a nation was divided into three estates. The first estate included the clergy, the second including the nobility, and the third included of the commoners which were 96-98% of the population. One of the factors that set the 3 estates apart was taxation. The first two estates earned a lot of money while paid little or no taxes. However, the third estate paid the highest amount of taxes and did not earn very much, hence taxation burdened the third estate. The clergy and nobility being more privileged caused a feeling of bitterness towards the ancien regime and the system that France followed from the third estate. With time this hatred only grew larger because of the ideas from the enlightenment. These ideas from the enlightenment came from the American revolution, therefore the American revolution also had an impact on France leading to the French revolution. The American revolution brought in revolutionary ideas, philosophies, and ideas which lead to the people of France being able to question the society the lived in which helped in laying the foundation for the revolution, therefore perspectives and ideas were one of the key factors that lead to the