A detailed study of the social and institutional causes that produced a major political upheaval, arguing that long-standing centralisation, decaying feudal rights, and entrenched administrative tutelage weakened local liberties and estranged social classes. The author analyzes how uniformity of manners, worsening rural conditions, the rise of intellectuals as political actors, and widespread irreligion shaped public opinion and expectations, so that demands for reform outpaced commitments to constitutional liberty. Combining institutional history and causal analysis, the work traces how antecedent reforms and administrative habits set the stage for a comprehensive political rupture.