Who constituted the middle class in French Society? How did they participate in the French Revolution?

A new social group emerged in the 18th century, called Middle class. The middle class were the prosperous section of society and also had the opportunity to pursue education and to create new ideas. These people earned their livelihood through overseas trade and from the manufacture of the goods like wool and silk textiles. They participated in the French Revolution in the following ways:

• They were educated enough to tell people that no group in society should get privileges by birth.

• They passed this idea that every person in the society should be acknowledged based on their merits.

• They brought the social and the economic changes in France by putting forth the idea of freedom, equal laws and opportunities should be given to everyone. Example – this idea was put forward by philosophers like John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. John Locke In his book Two Treatises of Government disapproved with the doctrine of Divine and Absolute rights of the Monarch.