Three Estates Of French Revolution

With political tensions rising high throughout France, the revolution was well on its way, manifesting dark and liberating years for the people of France. Moderately conservative; the French revolution started out with a bang of ideas from the Enlightenment, strong but not yet active. It quickly took a turn to a bloody and devastating attempt by the citizens to revoke old Absolutist power. Power struggles between the people and oppressive government, class resentment, enlightened thinking, unstable leadership, and savage affairs caused a series of events to take place and shift the Revolution violently. Starting with an unsuccessful meeting piloted by a clueless leader, the lower class fought for equal representation.

The Third Estate was a social class which was established by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes in 1789, right before the French revolution. This Third Estate had goals of gaining freedoms that the other “estates” had at the time. The Third Estate was defined majorly as the common people of France or the middle class, while the first estate was made up of the clergy of the church and the second estate was made up of the french nobility and monarchs. This Third Estate ultimately played a major factor in spurring on the French Revolution by igniting the passions of those trying to achieve freedoms among the French population.

the French revolution began in 1789 and ended in 1799. Louis XVI was King of France in 1789. Louis was a kind man, but he was raised to be a king and had little knowledge of common people. There was a story in France that when Louis' wife, Marie Antoinette, heard that the people had no bread, she said, "Let them eat cake." Marie Antoinette never said that, but it shows how little she knew (and some say cared) about life for the common people of France.

During 1700’s France had three main classes or “estates”. The first estate and the most powerful one was made up of clergy this estate only accounted for 1% of France's population, but owned 10% of the property. The next estate was made up of nobles that were only 2% of the population but controlled 20% of France's land. Then there was the third estate than represented 97% of France's population but only owned 70% of the country's land. The third estate comprised of everyone from the middle class or the “bourgeoisie” to merchants all the way to peasants. The third estate was only estate that payed taxes which made them really mad because the two richer estates did not need to pay anything. Another reason why the third estate was unhappy is

The last main cause of the French Revolution was the social condition. The social classes were divided into three groups- the Clergy, Nobles, and Common People (Rana). The big Clergy category had two different groups; the higher clergy, and the lower clergy (Rana). The higher clergy managed the top buildings, and never had to pay taxes. They had it a lot better than the lower clergy, the higher clergy only lived in mansions and anywhere luxurious. The lower clergy didn’t get any of that, which means their life wasn’t so great. The nobility was a lot like the higher clergy, because they also

Revolutions are a common occurrence throughout world history. With the amount of revolutions in history, there are those that get lost and those that are the most remembered or well known. One of the well known revolutions is the French Revolution which occurred in the years 1789 to 1799. Before the French Revolution, France was ruled by an absolute monarchy, this meaning that one ruler had the supreme authority and that said authority was not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs, a definition given by wikipedia.com and the feudal system, which was a system that said a peasant or worker would receive a piece of land in return for serving under a king, a definition given by vocabulary.com. Those who opposed the, then

peasants were most affected group at the bottom who paid about a third or more of their income for taxes that supported the privileged classes of the first and second estates. Out of their hard work, they were only left with a little amount of food and money for their survival. Among other grievances, the tax burden was one of the peasant's greatest discontent to get rid of this burden during the 1789 revolution.

This statement shows how poorly people of the lower class were treated, and how corrupt this system of government is on the people of France. Once the French monarchy faced bankruptcy in 1787, the Estates General was called, and a new form of government was formed called the National Assembly. This government was composed of members of the third estate, because they were the only estate that had to pay taxes when they were already poor. The National Assembly was the rightful representatives of the French people, who demanded tax reform and greater political equality. In a report of the British Ambassador, the Duke

The French Revolution is known to be one of the major events in the world history. The revolution was led by some reformers in the government who demanded some changes in the political system. The purpose of the revolution was to eliminate the power of king and the rich people who owned most of the lands, and to have a government that is elected by the citizens. Although the revolution started as a movement for government reforms, but it turned out so violent that led to the execution of the royal family. The French revolution made a major change in France and inspired some other revolutionary movements throughout Europe. Three

There are very few members in the first and second estates, yet they owned the most land, while the third estate made up most of the population, yet owned very little land. “First: Clergy - 1% of the people owned 10% of the land. Second Estate: Nobles - 2% of the people owned 35% of the land. Third Estate - Middle class, peasants, city workers 97% of the people owned 55% of the land.” (Document 2) There were high prices, high taxes, and people were listening to enlightenment ideas. Louis XVI decided to tax the Second Estate. They called a meeting of the Estates-General - an assembly of representatives from all three estates. (ROI) In addition, as a political cause, the third estate had no privileges or say in the government,while both the clergy and nobles did. As mentioned before, the inequality of taxes proved another gap in the social classes. “The Revolution had been accomplished in the minds of men long before it was translated into fact.... The middle class...was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The Revolution came from them-the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” (Document 4) Estates- General was the first such meeting in 175 years. Met on May 5th,1789 in Versailles. In the Estate- General each estate had one vote. (ROI)

The French Revolution (1789-1814) was a period that affected the outcome of world history tremendously. This is considered a major turning point in European history which has led to dramatic changes in France and other regions of the world. Various social and political issues led to the start of the revolution. Politically, France suffered under the rule of Louis XVI, who ruled by absolute monarchy. Many people had their natural rights renounced and weren’t able to have a political voice. Socially, France had divided its population within 3 estates (classes). French citizens took it upon themselves to remodel their country 's’ political structure. The French Revolution had encountered both positive and negative effects. However, many Europeans viewed the Revolution as much more than just a bloody massacre. The French Revolution was used to demonstrate new ideology that would emphasize the principles of liberty and equality throughout Europe.

These third estates members wanted representatives voted in and were unhappy they were being taxed the most when they made the least amount of money. These commoners and their general of finance Jacqus Necker thought the other estates church and noblemen should be taxed more since they had more money. They also found it unfair how they were the largest group and each group only got one vote.

In the 1700s, Bastille was a symbol of royal authority, military and legal, and home to various political prisoners where they could live a luxurious life style. Before it became a prison, it guarded the east entrance of France. On the 14th of July, 1789, Bastille was guarded by a small number of troops, when the 80,000-people stormed it. This attack was symbolic as, the people were challenging royal authority; an act that was uncommon in the 1700s. The next day, the king was invited to put of the revolutionary cockade, which was the symbol of the French Revolution. However, the reason for the attack on Bastille developed in early 1760s. France was on the verge of bankruptcy because of the debt collected from the Sever-Year War, and the American Revolution. The solution for this was to tax the Nobility, however based on Enlightenment thinking, people believed the government was flawed, and there was another solution for progress and improvement. The Nobility’s argued that there was no

France was in a financial crisis before Louis took the throne. The country participating in the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence did nothing to help the economic issues. There was heavy taxation on the people of the Third Estate, including the taille, a land tax, and the vingtième, a 5% property tax. This caused strife for the Third Estate because they could not afford to pay these and still feed themselves. In addition to this, Louis wouldn’t introduce taxes for the First and Second Estates, as they would convince him not to. While the Third Estate were struggling to pay feudal dues, rumours of the Monarch’s lavish lifestyles were reaching the lower classes, which angered them greatly. That being said, the Clergy and Nobility