ominally, the benevolent Louis XVI (reigned 1774 92) was the absolute ruler of a united country. Actually, the king had little freedom of action because so many rights and privileges were retained by provinces, towns, corporate bodies, the Roman Catholic clergy, and the nobility. Moreover, offices in the legal and administrative system and the noble rank that went with them could be purchased and bequeathed as property. A "new aristocracy" of ennobled officials had developed by the 1780s. These men were able to monopolize profitable employment, to frustrate royal reforms, and to prevent the monarchy from raising taxes to meet the ever increasing costs of government and of war.
Beside the limitations of the existing status quo, one must compare and contrast the vivid potentials of the mind that France enjoyed in the 18th Century, aka "The Age of Enlightenment." With popular philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot setting the pace, French thought on then-arcane subjects such as "The Rights of Man" were at the forefront of European social consciousness, such as it was. Stimulated by the Enlightenment and the example of America, there was an undercurrent of desire for reforms and more participation in government.
There were definitely economic pressures leading to the French Revolution. The expense of the French participation in the American Revolution was an economic disaster; it made fiscal reform, or increased taxation, imperative after 1783. However, since Louis' advisors correctly perceived that no further revenue could be raised from a peasantry already overburdened by taxes and manorial dues, they made the only logical choice: the royal ministers attempted to tax all landowners, regardless of privileges. Not surprisingly, this plan met with resistance in the law courts and provincial assemblies, which the royal court could not control.
So it was that the first "revolt" of the French Revolution...