HWH UNIT 4
CHAPTER 6.1

“The most perilous moment for a
bad government is one when it
seeks to mend its ways.”
-Alexis de Tocqueville,
French Historian, 1850s
French Society: The Old Regime
The Three Estates

 First Estate: The Clergy
 Second Estate: The Nobility
 Nobility of the Robe
 Nobility of the Sword
 Third Estate: Everyone Else
 Bourgeoisie
 Peasants
 Urban workers
A Quick Note…

PEASANTS
≠
URBAN POOR!
The French Urban Poor
80

70
60
50
1787
1788
40
30
20
10
0
% of Income Spent on Bread
The Three Estates
Compared: Population
1% 2%
97%
First
Estate
Second
Estate
Third
Estate
Taxation in France, 1789

0%
100%
First
Estate
Second
Estate
Third
Estate
Land Ownership in France, 1789

10%
25%
First
Estate
Second
Estate
65%
Third
Estate
The Agenda of the
Estate

3rd Estate
 Urban Poor
 Peasants
 Bourgeoisie
rd
3
Desire
Lower Bread Prices
Political Voice
Fair Taxes
End of Feudal Obligations
Fair Taxes
Political Power
Fair Taxes
Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792)
and Marie Antoinette

Louis XVI’s Problems

Inflation
 1730-1780: Price increase 65%, wages increase 22%
The “Feudal Reaction”
War Debt
 ½ of Royal budget went to interest on the debt
Taxation system
 Inefficient
Jacques Necker (1732-1804)

 Finance Minister
 Exposed royal spending
 Proposed taxing all estates
The Problem of the Estates
General
“Voting by estate”
First Estate
1 Vote
Second Estate
1 Vote
Third Estate
1 Vote

 The First and Second
Estate ALWAYS voted
together
The “Doubling of the
Third”

1st Estate
300
2nd Estate
300
Third Estate
648
Emmanuel Sieyes

 What is the Third Estate?
Cahiers de Doléances

 Lists of complaints drawn up by each estate
 Exposed problems in society and government

The Turbulent Summer of
1789
The Estates General meets
(May 5, 1789)

June 17, 1789: The Third Estate walks
out; National Assembly formed

June 20, 1789: Tennis Court Oath

June 27, 1789: Members of the 1st and
2nd Estate join the National Assembly

July 11, 1789: Necker is dismissed

July 14, 1789: Parisians storm the
Bastille
