The French witnessed the success of their American counterparts and decided to create a similar republic. For years, France was the center of Enlightenment thinking, but Americans were the first to put the ideas into practice. The French Revolution began under different circumstances than the American Revolution. At that time the government was an absolute monarchy ruled entirely by King Louis XIV on the basis of divine right. The king was known for spending large sums of money on lavish clothing and castles, which contributed substantially to the national debt. French society was classified into three states. The first class was made up of the clergy and represented less than 1% of the total population. The second estate was the nobility and made up 2% of the French population. Finally, the third estate included the remaining 97% of the population made up of skilled workers, farmers and factory workers (643). The third estate was very unhappy with having only one vote in the Estates General but representing the majority of the country. The seeds of the rebellion of the French Revolution germinated in 1789 when the Estates General met with King Louis XIV. Disagreement over power-sharing, wealth, and the success of the Americans against the English encouraged the French to embrace the political thinking of Montesquieu's theory of separation of powers. After weeks of unproductive debate,