Cahiers de doléances

[1] While the cahiers conveyed the grievances of common people, they were not meant to directly challenge the Ancien Régime.

[3] Although they had, until then, opposed the idea of commoners entering their ranks (as shown by the Segur Ordinance), they finally accepted the fact that merit, as much as hereditary status, should qualify men to hold certain offices (including Military, Administrative and Venal Offices).

[4] The cahiers were also highly variable in tone depending on where they came from, meaning that while they are often summarized as raising more sweeping and general complaints about French society at the time, many of the grievances shared were highly specific, such as Parish of St. Germain d'Airan asking "That dovecotes be destroyed...and that it be ordered that those remaining shall be closed in such a way that pigeons may not leave during the times of planting and harvest.

In December 2018 and January 2019, Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Fifth Republic, asked for a compilation of Cahiers de doléances from across the country, which was completed in mid-January.

Macron responded to the large number of petitions by calling for self-organized town halls, which took place over the period of January to March.