The family was relatively well off, since his father also owned fields and vineyards, and put his children to work.

[1] During the French Revolution in 1789 his father joined the Avignon volunteers, and reached the rank of captain in the Army of Italy.

[2] Agricol grew up speaking the Occitan language of Le Midi, very different from the French of the north.

[2] The White Terror was particularly severe in the southeast of France and strongly affected Agricol Perdiguier.

Both of his masters belonged to societies of compagnons, or crafts guilds, and M. Poussin advised Perdiguier to join one.

In 1823 he was hired by M. Ponson, who advised him to make a Tour de France, a form of apprenticeship where an artisan works for a series of different masters in different locations.

[2] During his tour Perdiguier taught himself by reading the classical authors, and learned about the different places he visited.

[4] He was initiated to Freemasonry on March 17, 1846, at "Hospital of Palestine", a Supreme Council of France lodge in Paris.

[6][7] After the French Revolution of 1848, Perdiguier was elected to the Constituent Assembly on 29 April 1848 for both Vaucluse and the Seine.

He sat with the moderate left, and defended limits to the length of work days against the Conservatives.

After the coup of 2 December 1851 in which Napoleon III seized power, Perdiguier was among the proscribed Republicans.