The French Revolution was a civil uprising that broke out in France against the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church, which lasted from 1789 to 1799. This led to the creation of France as a republic, democratic government and questioned the necessity of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as its power. The French Revolution ended the thousand-year rule of the monarchy in France and began when King Louis XVI brought together representatives of the 3 social groups called the Clergy, Nobility and commoners to resolve the large national debt and economic crisis that France was going through. The American Revolution is believed to have greatly influenced the French and may have inspired the French Revolution. Because the French played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War and financed the Americans in their revolution, revolutionary ideas of freedom and independence spread between the two nations, inspiring the French to start their own revolution. The French Revolution was also influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, a movement that promoted reason and science rather than traditions. The Enlightenment gave rise to the ideas of equality and freedom of the individual, democracy in governments, nationalism, citizenship and freedom of speech. The Enlightenment also challenged the power of the Catholic Church and the rights of the nobles. The unjust way of treating common people compared to royalty and nobility formed the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity, which led to the French Revolution. Unfair taxes aimed only at common people, positions in high society that could only be obtained by nobles, food shortages that only affected the poor, and the power of royalty over everyone caused the c......middle of paper .. ....and the Party of the Nation. Likewise, the National Assembly also made changes to the Catholic Church. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was issued which meant that the Church became a state organization and the clergy became employees of the State. The clergy also had to swear an oath of allegiance to the nation and church properties were handed over to the state. In 1791, France became a constitutional monarchy with the publication of a new constitution. This new constitution made citizens equal, marriage a civil contract, and noble titles ended. This caused conflict to arise between the three different states and the formation of a counter-revolution. King Louis XVI and his family attempted to flee France along with other nobles and clergy to join the counter-revolution, but failed. Captured by National Guard forces, the king was returned to Paris