Maria Theresa felt sympathy for the serfs and saw herself as the "mother of her people". However, this alone wouldn't have made her attack the status quo in her empire and make her challenge the power of the nobles. By 1740 it was becoming clear that not only was serfdom cruel but as a system of agriculture it was inefficient and restrictive. The French physiocrat Quesnay said: "Poor peasant, poor kingdom, poor kingdom, poor king."

However, Maria Theresa had to be careful because any reform she made could make the nobles revolt or even give the serfs ideas about their station. By introducing cautious reforms, Maria Theresa could keep the nobles on side whilst also reforming the economy. Because she was ruling an Empire and there was no centralised legal system, some of her reforms were only for Austria herself. The reforms began in 1753 with the abolishment of the nobles' control over serfs' marriage.