Which of the following was true of the French Estate system

The Estates General was the legislative body of France up until the French Revolution. The king would call a meeting of the Estates General when he wanted the advice on certain issues. The Estates General didn't meet regularly and had no real power.

The Estates General was made up of different groups of people called "Estates." The "Estates" were important social divisions in the culture of ancient France. What estate you belonged to had a major impact on your social status and quality of life.

• First Estate - The First Estate was made up of the clergy. These were people who worked for the church including priests, monks, bishops, and nuns. This was the smallest estate in terms of population.
• Second Estate - The Second Estate was the French nobility. These people held most of the high offices in the land, got special privileges, and didn't have to pay most of the taxes.
• Third Estate - The rest of the population (around 98% of the people) were members of the Third Estate. These people were the peasants, craftspeople, and laborers of the land. They paid taxes including the gabelle (a tax on salt) and the corvee (they had to work a certain number of days for free for the local lord or the king each year).

In 1789, the King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General. It was the first meeting of the Estates General called since 1614. He called the meeting because the French government was having financial problems.

How did they vote?

One of the first issues that came up at the Estates General was how they would vote. The king said that each estate would vote as a body (each estate would get 1 vote). The members of the Third Estate did not like this. It meant that they could always be outvoted by the much smaller First and Second Estates. They wanted the vote to be based on the number of members.

The Third Estate Declares the National Assembly

After arguing over how they would vote for several days, the Third Estate began to take matters into their own hands. They met on their own and invited members of the other estates to join them. On June 13, 1789, the Third Estate declared itself the "National Assembly." They would begin making their own laws and running the country.

King Louis XVI did not condone the formation or the actions of the National Assembly. He ordered the building where the National Assembly was meeting (the Salle des Etats) closed. The National Assembly was not to be denied, however. They met on a local tennis court (called the Jeu de Paume). While at the tennis court the members took an oath to keep meeting until the king recognized them as a legitimate government body.

The taxation system under the Ancien Régime largely excluded the nobles and the clergy from taxation while the commoners, particularly the peasantry, paid disproportionately high direct taxes.

Learning Objective

Distinguish between the three Estates and their burdens of taxation.

Key Points

• France under the Ancien Régime was divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners). One critical difference between the estates of the realm was the burden of taxation. The nobles and the clergy were largely excluded from taxation while the commoners paid disproportionately high direct taxes.
• The desire for more efficient tax collection was one of the major causes for French administrative and royal centralization. The taille became a major source of royal income. Exempted from the taille were clergy and nobles (with few exceptions). Different kinds of provinces had different taxation obligations and some among the nobility and the clergy paid modest taxes, but the majority of taxes was always paid by the poorest. Moreover, the church separately taxed the commoners and the nobles.
• As the French state continuously struggled with the budget deficit, some attempts to reform the skewed system took place under both Louis XIV and Louis XV. The greatest challenge to introduce any changes was an old bargain between the French crown and the nobility: the king could rule without much opposition from the nobility if only he refrained from taxing them.
• New taxes introduced under Louis XIV were a step toward equality before the law and sound public finance, but so many concessions and exemptions were won by nobles and bourgeois that the reform lost much of its value.
• Although Louis XV also attempted to impose new taxes on the First and Second Estates, with all the exemptions and reductions won by the privileged classes the burden of the new tax once again fell on the poorest citizens.
• Historians consider the unjust taxation system continued under Louis XVI to be one of the causes of the French Revolution.

  What was the estate system in France?

  The Three Estates French society comprised three Estates, the aristocracy, the clergy and the bourgeoisie and working classes, over which the King had absolute sovereignty.

  How would you describe the estate system in the French Revolution?

  The three estates were the different classes in France at the time of the revolution, each representing a particular segment of society. The first estate was the clergy; the second estate, the nobility, and the third estate the commoners. The year was 1789, the French King Louis XVI had been on the throne for 15 years.

  Why was France divided into 3 estates?

  The political and financial situation in France had grown rather bleak, forcing Louis XVI to summon the Estates General. This assembly was composed of three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to decide on the levying of new taxes and to undertake reforms in the country.

  Which was true of the Third Estate in French society?

  The Third Estate was made up of everyone else, from peasant farmers to the bourgeoisie – the wealthy business class. While the Second Estate was only 1% of the total population of France, the Third Estate was 96%, and had none of the rights and priviliges of the other two estates.