ts and measures operating in France so costs varied. When a trader was travelling they had to pay on-costs every time they crossed a border. This plus the tax and the ancient dues taken by the aristocracy resulted in little or no profit for the producing class, instead the profit fell on the consumers. To solve this the governments structure had to be changed, from an the ancient structure in place at the time to a more modern structure. But again the Monarchy was reluctant to do so. So the middle class was left with two way of getting the changes they needed, getting into positions within the state or force. The problem was though that one had to be of noble birth to be able to hold a government post. This left force as the only way to solve the problems. Poverty again played no part in the issues in the build up to the revolution, it was a struggle against privileges. The commercial and industrial Bourgeoisie had been growing in importance in the Eighteenth century and had become stronger economically than the nobility.2 If this was the case then surely the government should have seen that if they made a capitalist society France might begin to find her feet again. To gain their full economic and social potential the Bourgeoisie had to have a capitalist society. But the Monarchy was still not making reforms to move in that direction, even though it would be backing the strongest class, economically, in France. The only way was to revolt against the King in order to get rid of the privileges that were stopping them from entering government offices, to try and do something themselves, and from having to pay ancient dues that were cutting into their profits. Once again poverty had nothing to do with this issue. Another reason why the middle class was heading towards a revolution was because the nobility had used its privileges to broaden the gap between the two classes and thus create discontent. The Bourgeoisie saw its fight as A strugg...
