rbzpr:

The political awakening of the population was further intensified by the great flood of pamphlets published and circulating throughout the country. Stimulated by the exceptional events and by the king’s apparent efforts to solicit their views— notably through the end of censorship— literate citizens everywhere began focusing their attention not only on finances but on a range of other problems besetting the state. They sorted through the great diversity of ideas that had emerged in the century and improvised new solutions to fit the circumstances, proposing their own plans for reform or offering commentaries on the plans of others. They applied themselves in much the same spirit of pragmatic reform—“daring to know”— that had moved citizens in previous years to propose solutions for poor relief or improved agriculture or street lighting.

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The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution (Timothy Tackett), p.44