To this day, French politicians and grassroots movements refer to the cahiers de doleances of the Ancien Regime as a primordial democratic legitimation tool for self-expression, for the pooling of opinions and the negotiation of social interests. The precursor of the petition, it has entered collective memory as the "French recipe" of political participation from below. As a mouthpiece for democratic articulation, this text type not only documents the actual state of a society described by its authors, but also far-reaching visions of the future. It can thus be read equally as an indicator of the disposition prevalent in a society at a given time, but as a social history of France as well. Based on culture-oriented linguistics, this study traces the evolution of the cahiers de doleances from the beginning of their lore to its end. This study work was awarded the "Prix Germaine de Stael" as well as the advancement award "Language and Law" of the University of Regensburg.