France was facing an economic crisis under King Louis XVI's rule due to debts from aiding the American Revolution. The king used a regressive tax system and fired a financial advisor sympathetic to the lower class, igniting public unrest. On July 14, 1789, civilians stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, killing the governor and bringing weapons and gunpowder under public control. Weeks later, the Declaration of the Rights of Man established that all humans are equal under reasonable law. In October, thousands of women rioted over food shortages and took the royal family hostage in Versailles, increasing revolutionary control over the monarchy.