France Levels Up Somewhat

Liberty v. Equality

According to the French liberals of the Revolutionary War, Liberty is the ability "to do anything that does not harm another person," or more specifically is the ability to exert one's natural rights to a freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from unjustified persecution, and freedom from unreasonable government.

Greek-style political equality of only male landowners, legal equality for all, inequality fine for the most part on economic, gender, and financial matters.
That being said, the people were held sovereign and had the authority to create the laws that limited freedom of action.
Economic inequality based on artificial legal distinctions were criticized by liberals, not economic inequality itself

The logical conclusion to liberal definitions of equality. 

Even though the Revolutionary concept of equality was somewhat primitive, it marked a step in the slow reintroduction of the significance of individual rights to social development.
Where equality was a legal affair limited to public perspectives and law, liberty was the inherent right of all humans to contribute to their social environments and to reap the benefits of living in a community that governments are established to protect.

The importance of contributing to one's Community.
...I have never even seen this show.  

Liberal ideas of liberty and equality were more revolutionary than radical as they were clearly based on classical political philosophies of the Enlightenment as taught by such authorities as Plato and Democratic Grecian leaders. The one radical component to liberal  philosophy was the advocation of science as a measurement of the success of various social systems and arguments.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man
Inspired by the Declaration of Independence
One of the founding documents of the human rights tradition.
Vague, syllogistic argument as to why individual rights are fundamental to successful civil order.
Notable as an attempt at unbiased social commentary that defined the relationship of the individual to their government in the most general terms possible as to be universally applicable.

Financial Mess

Origins in financial difficulties of France as caused by excessive borrowing to fund the American War, caused national debt to soar. So much of the state budget was spent on paying back debts that only a small amount was actually used for productive functions of the state. Completely obsolete financial system had no means of creating inflation and no central bank or means of developing credit. Forced to raise taxes which, given France's social structure's dependence on the financial system, caused the chaos that provoked revolutionary sentiment.

A look into the financial workings of pre-Revolution France.  

Social Divide of France

Three Estates: the first: clergy, the second: nobility, and the third: public.
The Bourgousie - middle class of the third estate - grew rapidly in the 18th century and gained some social power from improved education systems of the time.

Common view of French Revolution was that the Bourgeoisie were tired of feudal laws limiting their increasing power and led the entire third estate in a revolution that established a capitalist order based on individualism and a market economy.

Revisionist view - The Revolution was not caused by divides between the vaguely defined three classes, but rather on internal tensions riddled throughout society.  Reasons that the Bourgeoisie and upper class wouldn't need to fight:

• It was relatively simple for the Bourgeoisie to become a part of the nobility.
• Nobility was just a liberal as Third Estates in support of the Parlement of Paris 
• Nobility and Bourgeoisie did not compete in the same financial spheres 

The real cause of the Revolution was the Old Regime's inability to correspond with social reality. France moving towards a society dependent on wealth and education for it elites, frustrated by continued existence of absolutism and Medieval law.