Third Estate

In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term Third Estate (tiers état) indicated the generality of people which were not part of the clergy (the First Estate) nor of the nobility (the Second Estate). From these came the name of the medieval French national assembly: the Estates-General (Fr. Etats-Généraux), the analogue to the British Parliament but with no constitutional tradition of vested powers, nor with any permanency: the French monarchy remained absolute, and the estates general were convened only episodically.

1789: End of The Estates General

Main article Estates-General of 1789

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In May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates-General in order to address the financial crisis of the kingdom, which was effectively bankrupt. By this point, however, the French aristocracy had declined in power and influence, while the bourgeoisie had become much more important and conscious of itself as a class. The aristocracy still refused to support the effectively bankrupt monarchy, citing immunity from taxation. The Third Estate, containing representatives of the bourgeois, asked for a greater share of representation than it had possessed in earlier centuries; they were given twice as many representatives, but since voting was to be by the three Estates rather than by individual representatives, this gave them no immediately meaningful advantage. The Third Estate then asked for all estates to meet together as a single body.

Related Topics:
1789 - Louis XVI

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When Louis XVI did not respond, the Third Estate declared itself (June 17, 1789) the National Assembly, invited representatives of the other two estates to join them, and signed the Tennis Court Oath demanding a democratic constitution for France. The Third Estate, along with the support of sympathetic clergy and aristocrats, managed to win support of both the popular mobs of Paris and of much of the national military, and thus found itself in a position to reorganize the French state as it saw fit, marking the beginning of the first modern revolution the world had ever seen.

Related Topics:
June 17 - National Assembly - Tennis Court Oath

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