There were actually two decades of very bad harvest droughts. Cattle disease. It put a hurting on the urban poor. Prices also went up on the bread. The poor had a really bad time then. There were also: The Enlightenment, Conflict between the Monarchy and the nobility over the reform of the tax system that led to paralysis, International. Struggle for hegemony.
Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but two decades of poor harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor.
Slavery played the central role during the American Civil War. The primary catalyst for secession was slavery, especially Southern political leaders' resistance to attempts by Northern antislavery political forces to block the expansion of slavery into the western territories.
