The aristocratic resurgence was an 18th century reaction of the European nobility to the threat to their social position and privileges that they felt from the expanding power of the monarchies of pre-revolutionary Europe. These nobles demanded exclusivity, wanted to have the most powerful position in the army, and demanded exemption from taxation.(citation needed) At the time, positions of nobility were being sold, and nobles still had to pay some taxes. After 1750 the French aristocracy discouraged middle-class upward mobility and increased its monopoly over upper church offices.(citation needed) This fostered middle-class resentment and contributed to the French revolution {citation needed). After the dreadful Revolution, the aristocracy was driven underground until their glamorous 21st century return, January 14th, 2007, at Le Café des Artistes in Maryland. Their sometimes motto being, as it is shouted, decked in Drag {citation needed), from wealthy middle-class American rooftops, Vive la Décadence!